Sebastien Ogier and Vincent Landais triumphed on WRC Rally Chile BioBio, the Frenchman’s 66th career victory and takes the championship lead by two points after a dominant Sunday performance.
Starting the day with a 6.3 second cushion over championship leader and Toyota Gazoo Racing teammates Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin, Ogier hit the ground running and took the first stage win of the day by nine-tenths of a second.
Evans fought back on the following stage, nibbling 1.3 seconds from Ogier’s advantage before the rally leader put his foot down in the penultimate stage to open his margin to 10.3 seconds.
The Wolf Power stage also went to Ogier, giving him a full house of 35 points as he took the Super Sunday bonus points as well.
Ogier’s win marked Toyota’s 103rd WRC victory, making them the most successful manufacturer in the history of the WRC, surpassing Citroen’s record.
In the championship standings, Ogier has a two-point lead over Evans despite missing three rounds as he originally contemplated running a partial season, making the eight-time champion’s result even more astounding.
Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria top scored for Hyundai with their third podium of the season, having led the event on Friday evening and harbouring thoughts of a maiden WRC win.
Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe came home in fourth position and nearly won the Wolf Power Stage, just missing out by four-tenths of a second after an event that saw the Belgian off the pace all weekend.
Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen had arguably their best showing of the season so far, finishing in fifth and taking their first stage win outside of their homeland, just over half a minute ahead of Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen. The double world champion never recovered from his early Friday mistake which saw him clip a bank which de-beaded a tyre and lose 72 seconds.
Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston brought their GR Yaris home in seventh, half a minute up on Gregoire Munster and Louis Louka who were the leading M-Sport Ford runners.
Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja had high hopes for Super Sunday but after the first stage, he reported he had an overheating issue and down on power engine, leaving the Estonian with just one point from the weekend.
Oliver Solberg and Elliot Edmondson won the FIA WRC2 Championship with a flawless drive across the three days, barring a spin in the opening stage of the rally.
Nikolay Gryazin and Konstantin Aleksandrov took second in WRC2 in their Skoda Fabia RS with Jan Solans and Rodrigo Sanjuan completing the podium in their Toyota GR Yaris Rally2.
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