Tension mounts ahead of spicy Chilean title chapter

The FIA World Rally Championship has just four rounds remaining on the globe-trotting calendar.

The title race is heating up - who can withstand the pressure? Who hasn't shown their full hand? Who is masterminding the strategy?

There are now only five drivers who can realistically win the title come Saudi Arabia in November. Before then - the final leg of the South American double header. Welcome to Rally Chile.

Back for its fourth run, Rally Chile has quickly built a reputation as a favourite amongst the drivers – rewarding those who can build confidence and carry speed - It harks back to memories of Rally GB mixed with Rally New Zealand. The roads are smooth and well-built but demand total precision. Visibility is often limited by fog and tree cover - making it a true commitment to the pacenotes being called by the co-driver.

British driver Elfyn Evans leads the race to the 2025 world championship crown - a position the Welshman has grounded out over the entire season having only relinquished that top spot stop only twice in the ten rounds. The Toyota Yaris Rally1 driver has led for all but two rallies this year and has to endure the mantle of being chased at every turn, but also running first on the road - acting as roadsweeper for the cars behind. 

We tipped it wouldn't hamper him as much in Paraguay last time, but that doesn’t take anything away from an excellent drive to the podium once again. His advantage now - seven points to Kalle Rovanperä. 

Rovanperä blitzed the opposition in Finland to put himself back in the fight, but the Finn struggled on the first southern American event of the year with a puncture and feeling under the weather but him back into a lowly fifth. A quick week of rest and recoup will hopefully recharge the double champion as he hopes to narrow the gap to teammate Evans in Chile, as the margin at the top of the table narrows. It’s getting spicy!

Speaking of spicy, Sébastien Ogier has always been in the news, but he swelled the column inches last time out - firstly with the confirmation we would partake in all the remaining rounds, but then lit the fuse when the Frenchman was disgruntled with the rain that fell on the final stage in Paraguay - denting his rally lead, but importantly costing him the chance to fight for more valuable points in the Power Stage - the disadvantage that only really effected him.

Ogier came out of the final stage swinging with the line “ We’ll keep winning and winning this championship.”  A big, big signal of intent from the eight-time champion who is looking to equal his countryman Sébastien Loeb with nine trophies.

Having started his year - picking and choosing the rounds that suited him - his title race has been perhaps the most tactical - avoiding road sweeping duties and winning four of the seven bouts he has contested and doing enough in the others has negated that three round disadvantage. We can see another Ogier win here in Chile starting from third on the road. The Toyota driver is only nine points shy from the summit of the standings. The dark horse is fastly approaching as a title favourite. 

Hyundai has two, yet realistically one charger in the championship race. Estonian Ott Tänak is 18 points back from Elfyn and is more than likely to be the i20 Rally1 driver the Korean firm back in the final phase of the series. With stablemate Adrien Fourmaux electing to take a retirement to change parts ahead of Chile without penalty, this dropped the Frenchman out of fourth - a tough pill to personally swallow - however, this was to benefit his teammates Tänak and Thierry Neuville on the leaderboard and gift Ott further Power Stage points.

Neuville is 48 points back and mathematically can still retain his title - but the world number one has to win in Chile. If he doesn’t - he might have to concede to the cause and support Tänak's bid instead.

Sami Pajari continues his education in the top-flight and from his sixth in Paraguay will want to better that with a top five in Chile, while Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT2 teammate Takamoto Katsuta will want to bury a difficult Paraguay with a podium showing here.

British privateer team M-Sport Ford had a weekend to forget. The pair of Pumas both finished outside the points. Josh McErlean sustained damage to the sump guard under the car on impact - with oil disappearing at an alarming rate. The Irishman had to retire while no better luck was had on the other side of the team awning, as Grégoire Munster suffered a smiler problem and along with punctures left him a long way away from a top result.

The young pairing will look to regroup. Points for both would be an excellent turn around from the south american fly aways. They will be joined by a third Puma in the hands of local ace Alberto Heller.

In WRC2, Oliver Solberg has a firm grip on the standings, but the Swede can’t let off as Yohan Rossel, Gus Greensmith, Nikolay Gryazin, Jan Solans and Kajetan Kajetanowicz are all eager to take a class win in Chile.

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