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Why tyres will be a huge WRC talking point in Chile
Changeable weather and colder than normal temperatures have left World Rally Championship drivers facing plenty of question marks when it comes to tyre strategy at Rally Chile.
Tyres are likely to dominate the conversation in Chile and could prove to be a decisive factor in determining the outcome of round 11, which will also have a bearing on an intense four-way title race.
Chile has previously been a hard event on tyre thanks to its abrasive gravel. This alone will prove a unique test for the championship’s control Hankook tyres that will tackle the event for the first time, creating a lot of unknown as to how the tyres will react to the surface.
Given the harsh terrain, the hard tyre is usually the preferred option. However, heavy rain in the lead up to the event means that soft tyre is now more likely to be the compound of choice. Under the regulations Rally1 crews are allowed to use a maximum of 28 tyres across the event. Following a late tweak to the tyre allocations, a total of 20 softs can be selected alongside a maximum of 20 hards, which means managing tyre compounds in changeable conditions will be crucial.
“The weather also looks a bit difficult. When it is raining the grip is still quite ok but clearly then you need some soft tyres, but very quickly the roads are drying, and then of course we know how abrasive they are," said Toyota’s championship leader Elfyn Evans, who will start first on the road.
“There is probably quite a fine line between the polished low grip sort of in between wet conditions, and the drying roads that will be very aggressive on the tyre. It could be a tricky call as we don’t have soft tyres as the main choice here, we have hard, so that could be quite difficult.
“I think actually here the mud shouldn’t be too thick and it will be more down to the compound grip in the end. If you get this red clay mud sections, which there are, it could be difficult with this tyre.”
Evans’ Toyota team-mate Kalle Rovanpera agrees and says judging the weather and adapting to the conditions will be vital across the weekend.
“This rally has been really high [tyre wear] with Pirelli [last year] and this year at least for me I have more tyre wear than before with the driving and everything [on the Hankook tyre], so it will be tricky,” said Rovanpera.
“The question will be if it will rain a lot on Saturday or Friday night because then we will need more softs than normal. We will have to wait, so that will be the big question I think.”
Rally Chile begins on Friday with the first of 16 stages to begin at 1215 BST.
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