Estonian Ott Tänak won the Chile Rally on Sunday, the 11th round of 13 in the World Rally Championship, with Finland’s Kalle Rovanperä failing to secure his second consecutive world crown at the end of this event as he could have done. ‘hope.
Tänak, who won his second victory of the season and the 19th of his WRC career, dominated the rally at the wheel of his M-Sport/Ford, ahead of Belgian Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) at the finish by some 42 seconds and the Briton Elfyn Evans (Toyota) by 1 min 7 sec.
Kalle Rovanperä, also on a Toyota, could not do better than 4th and saw Evans take back two points in the championship to find himself 31 points behind the leader while there were still two races to run and 60 points to distribute.
The Finn, however, managed to limit the damage by winning the last special, the Power Stage, pocketing 5 additional points in the championship. Toyota, however, managed, thanks to the results of its drivers in Chile, to seize the manufacturers’ world title ahead of Hyundai.