Winners and Losers of Rally Chile 2024

Winners and Losers of Rally Chile 2024

4th October 2024 0 By Kamron Kent

As the championship looks all but assured, who are the winners and losers of the World Rally Championship’s 2024 Rally Chile Bio Bio?

Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool

Winner: Kalle Rovanpera

The double world champion ran victorious in Chile to take his fourth win of the season. Kalle Rovanpera was there to pick up the scraps when teammate Elfyn Evans’ pace fell in challenging conditions on stage 11. Rovanpera remained in control until the power stage where he missed out on the maximum five points by 0.1 seconds over teammate Sebastien Ogier.

Loser: Sebastien Ogier 

Ogier went into the weekend needing to bounce back following his mishap in Greece – when he rolled out the final stage – to keep his title chances alive. However, a puncture on the opening day put him on the back foot for the rest of the weekend, something he never truly recovered from. However, he did put in the fastest time on Sunday and took the power stage win. 

Winner: Elfyn Evans

The Welshman had a good weekend and looked to be on course to secure his first win of the season. Evans led the first half of the weekend after he snatched the rally lead on the opening day, following adjustments to the nomination time on the opening stage which had issues with spectators. 

Despite losing the lead, the Welshman still brought home a second-place finish to bolster Toyota’s championship ambitions. 

Loser: Adrien Fourmaux

It’s a weekend of ‘what-if’ for the French M-Sport Ford driver, Adrian Fourmaux, as he could’ve been in the mix for a podium scrap. However, he was hindered by a 60-second late check-in penalty. In the end, the Frenchman finished fifth overall when it could’ve been closer to the top.

Winner: Ott Tanak

It wasn’t another visit to the top step in Chile for the 2019 world champion, Ott Tanak, who had won the previous two events in the country. However, he still continued his run of another podium finish at the event, finishing third behind the two Toyota’s. 

Whilst helping his teams championship hopes, a third-place finish also helps Tanak’s championship fight as he finished ahead of his title-rival and teammate, Thierry Neuville. 

Loser: Martins Sesks

It was Martins Sesks’ third outing in the Ford Rally1 Puma, but his second time in the hybrid-less variant. After an impressive debut in Poland and Lativa, we could’ve expected the same. However, this was not the case. 

The Latvian was hit with a double puncture on Friday, on SS3, and then lost his rear wing as he crossed the flying finish on the penultimate stage. It’s a learning curve for Sesks, for sure, but it wasn’t a dazzling performance like he previously had. 

Winner: Thierry Neuville

Despite opening up the final gravel event of the season, Neuville managed to keep himself out of trouble and finished fourth. Whilst the title is not a mathematical certainty just yet, as Tanak remains in prime position to bring Neuville’s championship dreams to tears, the Belgian driver certainly has one hand and four fingers around the title right now. 

Winner: Sami Pajari

Sami Pajari had a mature performance in Chile, replacing Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta. He kept his nose out of trouble and finished the rally in sixth with no problems over the weekend. 

Loser: Esapekka Lappi

In what could be his final Rally1 outing, Esapekka Lappi would’ve liked a better final run (if it is his final event in the top tier, at least). He endured a faceless Hyundai i20 Rally1 on Saturday as he ripped the front bumper on a cut, which was later repeated on Sunday when he hooked a rut in the penultimate stage. He quickly retired from the event after that.  

Winner: Gregoire Munster

Rally Chile Bio Bio was probably one of Gregoire Munster’s cleanest events of the season. It’s a performance that could result in M-Sport giving the Luxembourger a second season in their Rally1 machinery. But has he done enough, over the season, to deserve the seat? Guess we’ll have to wait and see but performances like that in the remaining two events will certainly help.

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Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

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About the author

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

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