Rally Chile 2025, Day Three Report

Onto the final day then and with a little under 55km’s over four stages. Two of the M-Sport crews would return as well as Ott and Martin in their Hyundai. They would be looking to set the highest possible pace from third on the road.

 

First up then was SS13 Laraquete 1 – 18.62 km and Seb set the pace from Elfyn and Kalle. Ott was fourth despite reporting that his engine was overheating. He reported that he was a bit ragged, but clearly something was working! Greg in the Puma was running in eighth overall.

 

Into SS14 BioBío 1 – 8.78 km and Elfyn who was trying to catch his rally leading teammate was fastest from Takamoto and Seb. The gap came down a little and with two stages to go was now a little under six seconds. Ott was eighth fastest after setting the benchmark before all the other crews came through beating his time.

 

We came then to the final stage, SS16 BioBío 2[Power Stage] – 8.78 km and Seb set the pace from Thierry and Elfyn. The Belgian was only three tenths faster than Elfyn as the Welshman who had a larger time gap earlier in the stage and came through the final sectors much faster. It was not quite enough though giving him the third fastest time, whilst Sami and Kalle rounded out the top five.

 

Seb and Vincent had taken a second victory in a row in Seb’s two-hundredth WRC round. It was also Seb’s sixty-sixth win. Also taking a well-deserved victory in WRC2 were Oliver and Elliot and with it the 2025 WRC2 crown. Elliot becomes the first British co-driver to take a WRC crown since Robert Reid in 2001 when the late great Richard Burns took the WRC for Subaru in Wales Rally GB.

Let’s take a look at the final finishing positions and hear from the drivers.

Final Overall Classification – Rally Chile

1	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	2:55:42.1
2	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+11.0
3	A. Fourmaux	A. Coria	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+46.5
4	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+59.0
5	S. Pajari	M. Salminen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+1:03.4
6	K. Rovanperä	J. Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+1:35.7
7	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+2:14.0
8	G. Munster	L. Louka	Ford Puma Rally1	+2:44.1
9	O. Solberg	E. Edmondson	Toyota GR Yaris	+8:18.8
10	N. Gryazin	K. Aleksandrov	Škoda Fabia RS	+8:59.0

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“I’m very happy to take another win in South America and to also come away with the maximum points this time: I think they are well deserved after the ones we lost because of the weather in Paraguay. To take the lead of the championship with three rallies to go is definitely positive too. I’m also very happy for everybody at TOYOTA GAZOO Racing that we could achieve this record win. Thanks to our Chairman, Akio Toyoda, for the great support that means we can keep pushing the limits for better. We can be very proud of what we’ve achieved so far and I’m sure that we can keep adding to these great numbers in the coming rallies.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s mixed feelings for us at the finish because we always want to win, but the big positive is that after struggling for pace two weeks ago in Paraguay we were able to come here and show good speed. I think we paid a big price for being first on the road on Friday afternoon but otherwise I think we’ve done a really solid job. Of course, I would have liked to fight Seb harder over the last day or so, but he is always very strong and tough to beat. Well done to him, as well as the team on a record win for Toyota. The championship is still close and we’re looking forward to the next rallies on asphalt and continuing to give it our best shot.”

Sami Pajari

“It’s been a really positive weekend for us. We’ve had good speed in some other rallies but here I was really trying to fight until the very end. I was on a mission to try and catch Neuville, and we could catch him a little bit but not quite by enough. Still, it’s been nice to see that we are able to fight like this. To be fourth on the Power Stage and Super Sunday is also nice to see because everyone is pushing to catch the points. It feels good to be pushing yourself to the limits and there were some really enjoyable moments this weekend. The next rallies are a totally different challenge on asphalt, but we’ll try to continue like this.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“It’s not been a good weekend for us. We needed to get a good result here but unfortunately it didn’t come after what happened on Friday morning. Today we were trying to push hard again and take as many points as we could. It wasn’t going to be easy with our road position and we couldn’t challenge the top times, but I think we did what we could. The championship starts to get more difficult for us now and it’s clear that we need to try to get some wins in the next rallies, but we’ll keep giving it our best.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It’s been quite a difficult weekend for us, but at least we could end with something positive today. Both of the stages were new for me, but we were still able to match the pace of the others sometimes: on the first pass of the Power Stage, we were second fastest. As usual on the second pass we had narrower lines to follow and I think it was getting faster with every car, but still our time was not too far away. I’m glad to finish this rally and now I will move on and start preparing for the coming rallies on asphalt which are important to me, especially Rally Japan, and I will try to do my best.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“I’m happy to be on the podium after missing out in Paraguay, which was really hard to accept. Overall, I would say it has been two strong rallies in South America for me. We ended Friday in the lead and held it well on Saturday morning, but then the advantage shifted to Toyota. However, we managed to keep a world champion in the same car behind, so I am pleased with that. Of course, there are things we need to improve on the car, but I am confident we will be able to push at the remaining events.”

Thierry Neuville

“We survived the day. After three stages, Adrien and I were more or less equal – the gap was pretty steady, and I couldn’t have done much more. I tried a few different settings today that allowed me to push quite well in some places, but the times just weren’t coming. Even though the Power Stage had high grip and was quite abrasive, I knew my tyres weren’t too bad, so I pushed hard. It was a scary run at times, but it paid off!”

Ott Tänak

“It has been a long and frustrating weekend here in Chile. Friday was hard, but it was going quite well for us until our rally went off track. Since then, it’s been a difficult couple of days. The last few rallies have been challenging for us, but we are determined to finish the season strongly. As always, we will go into the final three rallies with full commitment; hopefully, we can finish with some strong results.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Grégoire Munster

“It’s been a good weekend overall and I think we showed some strong pace. We pushed from start to finish without making mistakes, and while there’s always room for improvement, I feel that both the team and I have made a real step forward in performance. It’s a positive way to end the gravel events, and now we look ahead to Central European Rally – an event I really enjoy and one I’m looking forward to.”

Josh McErlean

“It’s been a challenging weekend, obviously it was a shame to miss out on both Saturdays in Paraguay and now Chile. But we still go to do the recce and write the pacenotes, and we got through Friday and Sunday’s stages, but we still need to work on the pace and performance. In Chile it’s been hard to compete with the boys at the top, and we’ve got a lot to take home from the weekend.”

Alberto Heller

“It was a really good rally for us, and we enjoyed it a lot with the team. We learned a great deal, and with all the fans here in Chile it was an amazing experience – the support on the stages was incredible. We gained some valuable kilometres and learned a lot about driving in this category, which is very different and at such a high level. Of course, it was a shame about what happened on Saturday, but that’s part of motorsport and sometimes these things happen. It was nice to be able to restart on Sunday and continue learning, and overall, it’s been a very positive rally for us.”

Oliver Solberg

“What can I say?” smiled Oliver. “This has been my dream for as long as I can remember. We came so close last year, but that ended with disappointment, to do it like we have this year is so important for me. I said at the start of the year that I wanted the title this season and we really had to do it this time – the way we have done it is really nice. Winning five rallies from the seven WRC2 rounds we started is something special.

“I think we deserve this one.

“The rally has been a tough one, we had to play lots of strategy with the tyres, but Toyota, the whole Printsport team, Elliott, everybody back at home – all of my family and my fiancée Chloe – I can’t thank them enough for the support they’ve given me.

“And the same for Monster Energy, HTB Racing, Quadrant, 4F, Autopay, OMP and Bell – all of our partners are so, so important to us. We couldn’t have done this without all of you!

 

“This has been the most amazing year for us, winning Rally Estonia in the [GR Yaris] Rally1 car and now this. Honestly, I’m a little bit lost for words and it’s definitely going to take some time for this to sink in.

“But to bring another world championship – a fourth one – home for the Solberg family. That makes me very proud. I guess we still have one more step to make before I can really equal my dad, but tonight we will definitely be celebrating as world champions!”

Elliot Edmondson

“This one is definitely going to take a moment to sink in. I’ve been so impressed – not just on this rally but for the whole season – with how cool, calm and collected Oliver has been. We knew what we wanted to achieve this year, we knew how close we’d come last year, but we had a plan for 2025 and we stuck to it.

“Well, I say we stuck to it… winning Rally Estonia in a Rally1 car wasn’t part of the plan at the start of the season, but we’ll definitely take it! Like Oliver said, it’s been one very special year – but we still have more to achieve. I would like to thank him, the whole team and all of my family and friends for the support.”

 

Summary

What a drive then from the new leaders of this years world championship. Seb and Vincent had a very good drive to take their fifth victory this year. They did benefit from good road positions to take these wins, but nevertheless it has been quite remarkable.

 

For Elfyn and Scott though, this for me was an even better drive than their teammates. They opened the road throughout Friday and were even leading at the mid-day service on the first day. Then on Saturday’s first stage they moved up two positions in the first stage to hold third place before taking the lead in the last morning stage. They then continued to set great pace throughout Saturday’s stages finishing second overall at the end of the day. Then Sunday saw them take a stage win, their second of the rally and then finish second overall, securing very good points for their championship challenge. They are now just two points from the championship leaders as the next round moves to asphalt for two rounds.

 

Finally, Adrien and Alex had a great result taking a well-deserved podium. They’d lead a rally for the first time on the overnight halt from Friday to Saturday’s stages. Then in the morning stages on Saturday they lost time, but not as badly as their teammates and took a very good result, especially after they were ‘retired’ following the end of the last rally.

 

There is a gap now before the next round, the Central European Rally over the weekend of the 16 to 19 of October. The teams will use that time to head back to their bases and prepare for this event.

 

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 11

1	S. Ogier	224
2	E. Evans	222
3	K. Rovanperä	203
4	O. Tänak	181
5	T. Neuville	166
6	T. Katsuta	94
7	A. Fourmaux	86
8	S. Pajari	70
9	O. Solberg	60
10	G. Munster	25

 

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 11

1	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team	572
2	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	447
3	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	157
4	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2	111