Solberg ends first day of Rally Chile with ten-second lead

Oliver Solberg took the lead on the opening day of Rally Chile, winning all three repeated afternoon stages despite suffering a minor back injury after landing on a jump during the fifth stage. He ended the day with a 10.1-second advantage over his nearest rival and teammate, Elfyn Evans.

Evans, who currently leads the championship standings, admitted the afternoon proved tougher than expected, with the team falling short of its targets. Still, he remains in a solid position ahead of his closest title rival, Sami Pajari, who finished the day in fifth place.

Battle for third

In a tight fight for third place, Hyundai driver Adrien Fourmaux held off nine-time world champion Sébastien Ogier on the final stage, finishing 1.7 seconds ahead heading into Saturday. Fourmaux spoke enthusiastically about the day, praising the cars and the experience of driving the stages, while Ogier said the battle was extremely close and that he could have pushed harder in places.

Thierry Neuville finished sixth after a frustrating day that included a minor shock leak in the afternoon; he admitted he lacked both speed and confidence behind the wheel. M-Sport Ford duo Josh McErlean and Johan Armstrong took seventh and eighth as they battle each other, while Esapekka Lappi sits ninth following a difficult day, hoping for better results ahead.

WRC2 class

In WRC2, Lancia driver Nikolay Gryazin has led since the start of the rally, with Estonia's Robert Virves trailing by 8.5 seconds in second and Yohan Rossel third. The sixth stage was briefly stopped after a crash involving Alejandro Cachón, then cancelled entirely following an incident involving Yuki Yamamoto. Estonian driver Rometh Jürgenson also crashed during the day's third stage, though he is not competing in the WRC2 category at this event.