Tanak wins the Rally of Chile – “Locked up” the manufacturers’ championship by Toyota

THE Ot Tanak with Ford celebrated his second consecutive victory in Rally Chilewhich is the 11th (out of 13) race of the year in the 2023 World Rally Championship (WRC). The Estonian driver, who had also won the “maiden” Rally Chile, held in 2019, left in second place the Belgian Thierry Neuville with Hyundai (+42.1 seconds). The trio of the podium was completed by the Briton Elphin Evans with Toyota (+1:06.9), who overtook Finnish team-mate Kale Rovanpera, who is the title holder and leader in the drivers’ standings, and celebrated his 23rd birthday today.

Thus, the “battle” between the two Toyota drivers for the title continues in the Central European Rally, which is scheduled to be held between October 26-29 in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic, with the difference between them now being 31 points (s.s. was 33 after the completion of the Acropolis Rally). This means that if Rovanpera finishes higher than Evans in the Central European Rally, he also mathematically takes the title.

It is worth noting that, after today’s result, Toyota was crowned the constructors’ champion, two races before the end of the championship and for the third year in a row.

The top ten of the final classification of Rally Chile is as follows:

1. Ot Tanak (Estonia/Ford) 3 hours 06:38.1

2. Thierry Neuville (Belgium/Hyundai) +42.1

3. Elfin Evans (UK/Toyota)+1:06.9

4. Kale Rovanpera (Finland/Toyota) +2:11.0

5. Takamoto Katsuta (Japan/Toyota) +4:41.5

6. Oliver Solberg (Sweden/Skoda) +8:18.5 –1st in WRC2 category–

7. Gus Greensmith (UK/Skoda) +8:44.3 –2nd in WRC2 class–

8. Sami Payari (Finland/Skoda) +9:20.6 –3rd in WRC2 class–

9. Yoan Rochelle (France/Citroen) +9:53.9 –4th in WRC2 class–

10. Nikolai Griazin (Russia/Skoda) +10:08.2 –5th in WRC2 category–

Driver rating

1. Kale Rovanpera (Finland/Toyota) 217 ​​points

2. Elphin Evans (UK/Toyota) 186

3. Thierry Neville (Belgium/Hyundai) 155

4. Ot Tanak (Estonia/Ford) 146

5. Sebastien Ozier (France/Toyota) 99

6. Esapeka Lapi (Finland/Hyundai) 98

7. Takamoto Katsuta (Japan/Toyota) 77

8. Dani Sordo (Spain/Hyundai) 63

9. Teemu Suninen (Finland/Hyundai) 34

10. Oliver Solberg (Sweden/Skoda) 33

11. Pierre-Louis Loubet (France/Ford) 28

12. Gus Greensmith (UK/Skoda) 26

13. Andreas Mikkelsen (Norway/Skoda) 23

14. Craig Breen (Ireland/Hyundai) 19

15. John Rochelle (France/Citroen) 16

16. Sami Payari (Finland/Skoda) 12

17. Jari-Mati Latvala (Finland/Toyota) 11

18. Kagetan Kagetanovic (Poland/Skoda) 11

19. Emil Lindholm (Finland/Skoda) 6

20. Nikolai Griazin (Russia/Skoda) 6*

21. Adrian Fourmo (France/Ford) 4

22. Miko Marcik (Poland/Skoda) 2

23. Ole Christian Veyby (Norway/Volkswagen) 2

24. Martin Prokop (Czech Republic/Ford) 1

25. Eric Kais (Czech Republic/Skoda) 1

Manufacturer rating

1. Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT 466 points

2. Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT 360

3. M-Sport Ford WRT 247