Chile’s first ever FIA WRC event follows on quickly from the previous round in the neighbouring country of Argentina, and although the rally will also be held on gravel, crews expect to discover very different characteristics after crossing the Andes.

Based in the harbour city of Concepción, Rally Chile will feature stages taking place mostly in the surrounding forests, along with some more open sections that have with views of the Pacific Ocean. The roads are expected to be compact and fairly smooth compared to the Argentinian round, as well as cambered in places. Teams will go into the rally with no opportunity for a pre-event test in Chile, and will prepare their pace-notes from a blank sheet of paper during the recce at the beginning of next week.

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville arrives in Chile as the championship leader, and will battle it out to claim his third win in a row after the Tour de Corse and Argentina. His advantage over Citroën’s Sébastien Ogier is just 10 points, while Toyota’s Ott Tänak, a further 18 points behind, is looking to fight back. After missing Argentina, Sébastien Loeb returns to take on the new event in Chile, replacing Dani Sordo in the Hyundai line-up.

Four drivers will compete in the FIA WRC 2 Pro class in Chile, with Great Britain’s Gus Greensmith (M-Sport), Norway’s Mads Østberg (Citroën), Bolivia’s youngster Marco Bulacia Wilkinson (Škoda) and Finland’s talent Kalle Rövanpera (Škoda). The FIA WRC 2 class has a strong local contingent, led by Chile’s series regulars Pedro and Alberto Heller, the former winner on Rally Argentina, joined by eight-time national champion Jorge Martínez and Francisco “Chaleco” López, most known for his achievements in Rally Dakar.

THE 2019 ROUTE

Rally Chile will begin with a ceremonial start in Concepción’s Plaza de la Independenzia on Thursday evening, where thousands of fans are expected for a colourful celebration, before the action gets underway on Friday with two loops of forest stages in the south. The loop includes the longest stage of the rally, the 30.72-kilometre El Puma test, described as the ‘Ouninpohja of Chile’, in reference to Finland’s classic stage. The technically complicated but fast, cambered roads will be a real challenge for the crews. The city will then get its first taste of competitive WRC action with an evening street stage. Saturday has another loop of three stages run twice, this time closer to the city. There are four more stages to close the rally on Sunday: the day begins and ends with the Biobío stage, named after the country’s second biggest waterway closeby, with its second pass as the Power Stage.

MEDIA ACCREDITATION

The Accreditation Centre is located in the Media Center in Puerto Marina Convention Center (Avenida Ifarle Oriente 6701, Talcahuano, Chile)

The opening hours are:

2019 RALLY CHILE TIMETABLE AND MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES ORGANISED BY THE FIA

FIA PRESS CONFERENCE ATTENDANCE

MANUFACTURER WRC ENTRIES, 2019 WRC RALLY CHILE

FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP CLASSIFICATIONS

The provisional classifications for all the WRC Championships is available on the following link:
https://www.fia.com/events/world-rally-championship/season-2019/standings