The first full day then of round twelve of this season with the crews facing just under 113km’s over six stages. The day dawned bright and dry, but after the week of rain there were damp sections in the stages and some fog as well. How would Elfyn and Scott do was the question of course.
Into SS1 Pulpería 1 – 19.72 km and Kalle set the pace from Elfyn and Ott. It was a very good stage from the crew in the number 33 Yaris to be only 3.9 from the lead, whilst Ott was a further eight tenths of a second further back. It was not a good stage for Thierry or Seb who both suffered in the stage with a car that was not allowing either of them to drive at their best and they held sixth and seventh respectively. However, there was worse to come for Josh as he suffered a high-speed spin and lost the front bumper including the front splitter.
Next up was SS2 Rere 1 – 13.34 km and Kalle was fastest again from Ott and Adrien. There were some changes in the leaderboard behind Kalle as Elfyn dropped one position to third. Ott had moved past the Welshman and into second overall. Also on the move was Adrien who passed Sami and was now fourth. Greg in his Puma also gained a position, moving into eighth after passing Takamoto.
The final morning stage then, SS3 San Rosendo 1 – 23.32 km and there were more changes as Elfyn moved into the lead after setting a time which could not be beaten from Ott and Seb. Kalle who was leading slid wide on a corner and put one of his rear tyres off the rim. He would lose over a minute and fell to ninth.
After the service break came SS4 Pulpería 2 – 19.72 km and Sami was fastest from Thierry and Ott. The Estonian’s pace saw him move into the lead from Elfyn and Adrien. Thierry also gained a position, passing Seb for fourth position as the changes they’d made to the car meant that they were able to set the pace and helping them climb the standings.
Next up then came SS5 Rere 2 – 13.34 km and Ott also set the fastest time from his teammates Adrien and Thierry. With the pace from the Hyundai crews, they now held the top three positions, whilst Elfyn held fourth as the best of the Toyota crews.
Onto the final stage then, SS6 San Rosendo 2 – 23.32 km and Seb was fastest from Thierry and Sami. Ott sadly retired in the stage after suffering engine issues. With Adrien moving into the lead and Thierry now second, the best placed Toyota crew was now Seb who gained two positions and Sami passed Elfyn, moving into fourth. Greg was the best placed Puma, holding seventh place.
Let’s take a look at the top positions and hear from the drivers.
Classification after Day One
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Hyundai Motorsport
Adrien Fourmaux
“I’m very pleased to be leading the rally, but it’s a shame that Ott had an issue. From our side, we had a consistent day without mistakes. In hindsight I could have pushed more this afternoon, but I was concerned about tyre wear and struggling to finish the loop. Overall, it has been a good day, and it’s great to be in first place at the end of Friday for the first time. We’re expecting rain tonight, so tomorrow morning will be wet and muddy – a big challenge ahead, but I’m looking forward to it.”

Rally Chile 2025, 11-14 September 2025
Photographer: Romain Thuillier
Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Thierry Neuville
“It was a tough day, but we can be pleased with the outcome. This morning was tricky, as we had some issues with the transmission, but we were able to revert to settings we are familiar with. Immediately, the balance was much better, and the road conditions improved as well. All in all, it was a disaster in the morning, but a very good afternoon as we closed in on the lead. We have a chance of a good result here this weekend, but the rally is still long.”
Ott Tänak
“This is difficult to digest. Everything was on track for a strong result, and the car was running well for most of the day. There was no indication that something was wrong, and we tried to carry on when the first signs appeared, but in the end it was terminal. The morning was quite messy, with the gravel not really clearing from the top of the roads, which were also very soft in some sections – very different to what we normally see here. It is a shame to end the day like this, especially when the championship is very close, but as always, we’ll do everything we can to salvage a good result.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing
Sébastien Ogier
“We didn’t make an ideal start this morning. Even after 200 starts, we can still go the wrong way with the setup occasionally and this morning I was missing the feeling and the precision needed for these narrow roads. We knew what we wanted to change in service and things definitely went in the right direction this afternoon, even if the conditions were challenging for the frontrunners. We kept pushing and managed one very good stage at the end which saved the day for us and put us in contention for the lead, so I’m happy with that. Tomorrow could be even more challenging with the rain that’s expected, but we’ll try and continue in this positive way.”
Sami Pajari
“It’s been a good day overall. This morning the feeling was not quite there, and I felt I could do better, but with some different conditions in the afternoon and some small fine-tuning with the car, I started to feel that everything is coming together. We managed to take a stage win and to be fourth overall, 11s from the lead, it’s a really positive day. I tried to save my tyres in the middle stage of the loop, and I probably could have pushed more, because I still had good grip at the end. I’ll try to do my best again tomorrow, when the stages will be more twisty, and the conditions could be more wet and muddy.”
Elfyn Evans
“It was a good start for us this morning. With the moisture in the air and on the road, the conditions were not as bad for us as usual running first on the road, even if there was still some loose gravel in places. The feeling in the car was pretty good after the work we’ve done in Paraguay and between rallies, and it was a reasonably clean morning. Then the afternoon was a big struggle with the cleaning being much worse than in the morning. At the same time, I don’t feel that I did a lot wrong and we’re still in touching distance of the lead, knowing that many things can still happen with the weather this weekend.”
Kalle Rovanperä
“This morning started quite well. I’ve never felt so comfortable on these stages, but today the pace was finally there. We’ve made some progress with a combination of the car setup and my driving; I was doing something differently and it was working well. Unfortunately, we went wide in one narrow place, where the braking is always tricky, and lost the rear. It was not a big hit, but enough to push the tyre off the rim and we lost a lot of time. The afternoon was more difficult with more cleaning than the morning. Tomorrow we expect some tricky weather: hopefully if it’s wet the cleaning won’t be too bad, and we’ll push to see what we can get.”
Takamoto Katsuta
“In the morning I was struggling quite a bit as I was lacking the feeling with the car, and it was not easy to be committed on these fast stages. But we changed quite a lot during the mid-day service, and I felt much better in the afternoon and the times were improving a lot. It was a pity that we lost the time in the morning, but we’re sixth overall with still a long way to go and maybe some tough conditions ahead. I will just keep pushing and trying to improve.”
Oliver Solberg
“Today has been OK. We kind of knew these stages wouldn’t work quite so well for our car – tomorrow and Sunday should be better for us. So, to come here in a strong position is good.
“The morning was quite mixed. We had a half-spin in the first stage, but then in the third one we were able to take some good time out of our rivals. This afternoon the roads have become more abrasive, so we’re really having to focus a little more on looking after the tyres. Because we have a limited supply for the softs, it’s going to be about who has enough to come through the rally – especially if there’s more rain coming tonight.
“I’m happy with the position we’re in for the tyres and, of course, it’s nice to lead tonight and to take some more time out on the final stage.
“Basically, the priority today was to make no mistakes and that’s the way we have to carry on into tomorrow. We have a bigger prize to think about right now.”
Saturday
Day two of the event will see a much longer day with 139.20km’s over six stages. What will we see happen?