1. Copec Rally Chile 2019
9. 5. – 12. 5. 2019, Concepción • FADECH • gravel 304.81 km • total distance including road sections - 1245.84 km • Other years
Info
SS16
"It's great to finish this first edition of Rally Chile like this. It's been there very demanding days which required plenty of concentration and energy. I am happy for myself and particularly for the guys at Toyota Gazoo Racing. We lost the lead in two events before, so it was out time to win now."
"I am surprised that my time here was not so bad because the extinguisher went off and the smell in the cockpit was so bad I almost went unconscious. It's a good second place in Chile after an interesting battle with Loeb"
"Congratulations to Hyundai Motorsport for making a very good job. We had a solid pace and the last two days were particularly satisfying. I am happy to see I am among the front-runners again."
"It was a possitive rally for the team, but it was never easy. Conditions were mostly difficult. We gave everything we had until last night and today we took it a little easier."
"It's a good result for us with two good final positions for Elfyn and me. We were able to catch some nice points. M-Sport did a good work here."
"I didn't have enough steering angle, so I spun. The gear lever was very hard when I tried to select first speed again. At least my split times in this Power Stage were good until that happened."
"This was disappointing after our good wrork the other side of the Andes. I think my biggest mistake was to make very agressive notes during the recce. We saw that was not OK in Leg 1 and after that we lost confidence. There were other drivers crashing and we didnt want that for us."
spun
"It was a difficult event and certainly not a result to go home pleased."
"We didn't know about what to expect. It was wet earlier, but now the road was better, so were our times."
"This feels great because we had not had a good start to the season, so a win is fantastic, even more in our first visit to this country. Big thanks to Skoda Motorsport because they did everything right. I am also please with my own performance in these demanding roads."
"I am happy that we were to get some more speed out of the car in Chile. It's a pity we were denied of a new win due to technical issues after leading during the first day."
"It was an eventful rally for me, but at least here we are in the Top-3 again. There were a few problems, but the overall feeling is good"
"This rally was like growing up for me because I had to get used to a few things after almost two years without competing in this kind of surface. Being out of training can really change one's pace. The rally was tricky, but I enjoyed coming here."
SS14
"It was a good stage, no problems. We're just keeping the pressure"
"Both French guys are being quick because of their fight. I am keeping a good pace and trying to save my tyres for the Power Stage a little bit"
"I had to commit myself here. I had some doubts because you need a fine line in this test, but yes, I was determined to push harder"
"This road is very narrow and very fast. I was hesitating in some corners. If you are not accurate, you are off the way"
"I am trying to look after everything in the car and make it to the finish"
"It's a tight batlle. The gap is not enough, but at least I enjoyed driving this special stage"
"For my confidence, it is not the same when the road offers more grip than when it doesn't. These are challenging stages for sure"
"I am playing a safe leg at the moment. It was foggy in some place, so I didn't want to take silly risks"
"This stage had a loose surface. I do what I can, but I am really looking forward to the Power Stage now"
This was really the most technical road I have ever driven. Great stage, but so demanding. You really have to drive here"
"This is really a rally road. It has a rough surface. I liked it. It is nice, but very difficult at the same time, so if you are fighting for a position like Ogier and Loeb it is very easy to make a mistake"
SS13
"It's not a big gap for our hopes. I can't handle the car nicely in these conditions. We tried to have a softer set-up, but it is not really helping much"
"I am OK, but we know Mads Ostberg is coming quickly from behind. I was spinning a lot in slow corners here"
"My plan is to stick to the rally lead, of course. It's not easy because at the beginning it was a mix of mud and fog"
"This is going to be a very competitive day as far as I can see. The truth is I can't do any better than this"
"It was not the perfect stage for me, the grip was changing all the time and it was difficult to get into the rhythm. A couple of small mistakes."
“There’s not a huge amount for us to fight for today, but it was a clean enough run.”
"I am checking how the tyres work like this and I am glad to see my time here was good"
"There is a chance to push for fifth place, but here it was difficult to drive properly because the road is so slippery"
"As far as my popsition is concernced, I am like in no man's land, so there is not su much to fight. However, it is good to try some changes in the car. Conditions are wet and very different today again"
"It was quite a nice stage, similar to Rally GB. I have some WRC 2 Pro guys to catch up this morning if I want to move up the overall classification"
"It was OK. I had a nice drive with less fog in the end of the stage"
"I really wanted a podium finish, so I was pushing really hard. Taking risks is like that. I am sorry for the team. My target for this leg is being fast in the Power Stage."
SS12
"I lost some time because it was raining all of a sudden and there was deep fog in the middle of the stage. We were safe and I am pleased my gap is larger now"
"I lost some time with less grip because there is now a puring rain in the area. Tomorrow it could be a nice fight with Sébastien Loeb"
"There was nothing serious to fight for in my position, so I took it easy, mainly to save tyres"
"It was a possitive day for us. Here, it was foggy at the beginning. We are pleased to be quick and free of problems in the i20 WRC. Latvala's problem in this stage makes it easier to settle in third place"
"It was a solid day. Of course, I'd like a littl bit more in terms of results, but that's how it is"
mechanical issue
"We had a better pace, for sure. I want to do more, but I tried my best"
"My car had some set-up changes after the mid-day service, so I got more fun than before in the last few hours"
"To be honest, step by step I am enjoying a bit more. I would need more kilometers to get more confidence in the car and get closer to the other's pace"
"There were great stages, even if a little foggy recently. It was important to finish this leg"
SS11
"We had a good morning, but now the power steering problems is back one more time. It's annoying"
"We are improving our pace again. It's a shame what happened to us this morning, but we will continue with the pressure"
"I can see he is pushing again. It seems the tyre choice we made is working well in both our cars"
"It's important to be clean in these roads and find a right balance in the pace we set in each stage"
"Everything is fine. Maybe my tre choice is not so bad. It's a little foggy in some places"
I am having problems to keep the rear end of my car stable. It looks like these stage don't suit my car like yesterday."
"Good news about my times in the afternoon. I am trying to get back to rythm"
"Being faster on every split and not making mistakes are helping to gain a lot of time, so I am happy"
"We had a clean stage. Actually, we were kind of discovering the place. It was fine"
"It was a good run all in all. I felt some understeer toward the end of the stage, but I can't complain"
“The first stage this afternoon was okay, but I struggled with the confidence in this one. For me the grip is changing quite a lot.”
"The road was so loose here that I had no proper lines to take and there was not much more I could do"
SS10
"The Skoda feels nicer to drive with new dampers. Hopefully I can keep a good gap ahead of Mads Ostberg"
"I lost about 4 seconds here, but that is not much considering my tyre choice is made more for the coming stages"
"We really had to push to get this time. The car has some set-up changes that I like"
"It was not a good stage for me. Apparently, this road didn't suit me somehow even if everything felt OK along the course"
"For sure it is much better to drive the car after all the work they have done on it a couple of hours ago. Everything is performing well now"
"I guess times are quite good. I didn't know what to expect from the tyres here because I was fighting the car a lot"
"There was a lot of tyre talk in the mid-day service, so we are now checking how our choice works"
"The grip has been incredible in this test. So much that I thought I was driving on tarmac in some places"
"We are trying to step up the pace a bit from this morning. The car is good, it's all about the driving now. We really need to score those manufacturers' points now."
"It's strange that we come from a long time over slippery surfaces and now the ground is really abrasive, with lot more grip"
"They fixed twisted stuff of the car in the service park, so of course now it is nice to drive it again"
SS9
"I've had brake problems since the first stage today. All the fluid went out in the rear brakes and I am lucky to be here. Unfortunately, this might cost us the class win and I guess it's going to be difficult to keep in the fight"
"It is great to keep leading depiste a strange feelilng I am noticing in one of the shock absorbers. It might be a pressure problem because the car doesn't feel the same in every corner. I am waiting for the service park to get the Fabia checked"
"Gaps are very, very small, but I feel fine because we are driving nice and clean. We have no worries at the moment"
"We are doing the best we can, but we have some issues to be faster. It is interesting to see we could take good points from Chile, hopefully, but we would like to be quicker"
"I just got out of the car to check my rear tyres and I can see they are finished. Like this, it was a hard drive during the last few kilometers. Maybe we all expected less rubber waste today"
"Earlier, I was struggling with the fog, but now everything is better. I am starting to understand the car, which was different to what I was used to. I feel this can be a good rally for us"
"Now we are heading to the Service Area and we will talk to the team in case we need some work to do in the car or some set-up change"
"The rally is progressively getting to more normal conditions, but it is still quite of a challenge"
"The fog made it a bit trickier. We recced the stage a bit on the darkness so this made it more difficult. Still driving on the safe side."
"I was hoping that soft or medium compounds would last longer because it was cold in the morning, but it didn't happen and that is making my day more difficult"
"I just went wide, then hit a bank witht he rear end at the exit of a corner and rolled. Fortunately, we are fine and so is the car, because after that we were able to go on"
SS8
"I just hope Neuville and Gilsoul are well right now because that is the most important thing. My C3 is not exactly great this morning, but we are still in the fight"
"It wasn't my plan to be this fast without the windscreen, but it was obviously good news to be told that at the time control"
"I really enjoyed the stage and the car feels pretty well. I pushed hard, so I am pleased to see the time was not bad"
"It was nice, but not perfect. I was struggling in some sections"
"I made some mistakes getting to the end of the test and I had to take it easy on the rubber, too"
”Taking it carefully, trying to keep the concentration up and be safe at the same time.”
"I was slow because I completely killed the tyres in SS7. Had I ushed harder, I would probably have not made it to the finish"
"The day is getting better and this stage was fantastic, the best of the rally so far for me. I just got a junction wrong at the end of it"
SS7
brakes problem
"Most of us thought it was going to be drier, but it is not like that. This stage was as challenging as the ones we drove yesterday"
"Difficult. I'm not really confident, the rear has no grip in the fast sections and I understeer a lot in the slow ones as well"
"It was a slow corner where I ran too wide. There were trees near the edge of the road, I hit some and damaged the car"
"I think Kris didn't realize we were behing him after he went off the road. In these cases, we should have time benefit"
"The car feels good but the stages are very very tricky. It was a good stage but I don't know about the time."
"It's early in the morning and there is not grip at the moment. I was sliding too much everywhere, so I am surprised my time here is not that bad"
"I had quite a big moment going completely off the road for several meters, but fortunately the Fiesta shows no damage"
"I'd say the morning is starting better than yesterday because conditions have improved and it is definitely easier to drive"
"The feeling is better than yesterday on the road, but I lost time when I got stuck in a ditch for a while because the car is understeering"
rolled
"First it is very slippery again, then you find some ruts on the road and finally you get grip. I have a bit of understeering"
SS6
"I am OK now after a disappointing last stage over gravel a while ago after my mistake. Road position is very important in today's rallies, so it makes a difference. Today, I wanted to be good in every stage, not just some of them"
"Even until the last kilometers of the day, the results were not possitive for us. Recently, I hit a barrier and had to select reverse.We need better luck than this"
"I enjoyed this stage so much because with all the people around it looked like a video game. I am glad we made progress during the day"
"Of course I wanted to do more, but it was a really complicated day for many of us. Things went better in the afternoon, though"
"I am going to sleep and start from scratch during the following leg because today I was not up to my expectations and I want to make good use of the car, which is well-balanced now"
"Overall, my day was not so bad, but in recent stages we gave so much time that we will have to recover in Leg 2"
"During the recce it was foggy and it changed today in the stages, so a lot changed from the car. We will get to a better place since tomorrow"
"It was a good morning for me and an even better afteroon. I am getting a great feeling with the car. I will try to keeo this focused in the next two days"
"It was a challenging day. There is no doubt about it. I couldn't match Tänak's speed, but I'll try to reach him tomorrow"
"I don't know if this is exactly the position where I'd like to be, but I'll try harder in coming stages"
SS5
"I must have got my pacenotes wrong because I missed a junction near the end. There is one more test in town now, so here we go"
“We’ve completed all of the stages and hopefully learnt something for the future. But it will be a difficult day running early on the road tomorrow.”
"I have been pushing hard all afternoon and I am pleased with most of this leg and particularly after finishing 3.7s behind Tänak here"
"I need more kilometers in the C3 to get more confidence and be faster"
"I was quickets all stage long until the last split. I can't believe I was so fool to stall the car in a junction. I could have won this stage!"
"The car was on two wheels and we were lucky not to roll after losing the rear end. The i20 is fine, so I'll try to be better tomorrow even if it is the hardest day"
"I am not surprised. I couldn't commit in this stage"
"It's OK to be third quickest so far in this stage, but I am hesitating in some corners and I don't know what is missing"
"I am giving everything I have, but Tänak is very fast again this afternoon"
"I pushed a lot but there is a lot of cleaning this afternoon. I really tried but I had a lot of wheel spin."
SS4
"Not happy with the setup, not working well in the lines. We need to improve"
"It seems that when we fix one problem, other one suddenly comes. It was hard to do half a stage without power steering"
"Despite the road being more consistent, I am not please with my performance and the other guys are proving so fast today"
"I felt like this long stage was the right time to put some pressure and push harder, Luckily, everything went well for me and I am happy about my work here"
"For sure there is better grip than before, but maybe I was too slow"
"Generally, it was a good test for me. I tried to keep my lines as smooth as possible. Nothing seriours happened, so that's fine"
"The grip was a lot higher and it helped with the confidence. It felt than this morning, I think we are going in the right direction."
"The surface looks like polilshed getting closer to the trees, but actually I can't complain about this time"
"The road feels nicer than earlier, but it is still not enough for a clean run"
"The car feels much better than in the morning and that makes me more confident overall"
"This second pass might be better only in some areas, but in the forest there is noto so much grip. I'm on the limit"
"At the beginning, the stage was OK, but not near the end. It's still very slippery and I too no unnecessary risks"
SS3
"I am losing time against my rivals because I didn't feel comfortable where there was no grip. Now, it is drier, but there are places where you can't tell if it actually muddy. Probably I need to change some details in my car"
"Despite being a trick morning, I am driving fine and it is good to be leading the category even though I had to be cautious in some places"
"It's a tough event, indeed. I am trying to make it to the Service Park. I'd like to repair the small damage in the front of the car I did in SS1 and change the set-up a bit"
"This stage was not easy and you had to be very focused. The car is not perfect, but so far, so good"
"I couldn't push harder than this, especially in places where there was fog. One just can't trust when visibiilty is not good"
"This rally can be tricky in several places. However, I am pleased not to make any big mistake. Little by little, I am catching up with the pace setters"
"The car is brand new and yet it is performing quite well. I am trying my best in every stage"
"Obviously the time is good, but I can't still be happy yet because I did some mistakes before the end of the stage"
"When it's twisty we have a nice flow but when it gets fast I don't have enough confidence."
“We made a lot of the notes in the fog so it’s really difficult and we’re struggling to get into a good rhythm.”
"I have been struggling with a number of things. We can't see through the many trees along and the lack of grip is remarkable"
"There are thing to improve, but overall it is a possitive morning for us"
"I struggled with visibility, it's very hard with the sun. The morning was not bad though"
"It was a very demanding test. I don't know if my time here is enough to compensate what happened in the stage before, where I believe we could have done a better time"
SS2
"There is a lot of work to do with the steering wheel. I am not so used to this kind of surface"
"It looks like we were driving over grease rather than gravel. Here, we had to take care of some big rocks, too"
"For me, mud is not the biggest issue. It is the hard surface without any grip at all"
"I particuarly struggle in long corners. The cars gets oversteering, but I'd say because grip is close to zero. I was trying to get to the finish. I had some scary moments soon after the start"
"I lost time because I am sliding around too much everywhere. This reminds me of Finland when it rains"
"I can't get any real feeling at the wheel of the Fiesta because we sping too much and there is no grip. These are really complicated conditions"
"The feeling here was horrible. Far too slippery. The Yaris is performing well, but I am not making it work"
"I didn't feel well with my drive. The roads are extremely demanding. It is hard to get the right pace with our notes. The car is better now"
"It is really hard to find traction in most of the places, but for sure the roads are really pretty"
SS1
rolled
"It's been two years without enterng a gravel rally in a World Rally Car. It was a tricky stage, but I am pleased to be back at the wheel of this car"
"This was a fast and slippery road, a bit like Wales. I am getting used to the surface"
"I ran wide in a long corner after a watersplash and had to select reverse gear"
"It makes me happy to be one of the two quickest crews here, but I am taking things step by step"
"I hit a big rock on the middle of the road, I couldn't do anything to avoid it. After that I couldn't find a rhythm in the fast sections."
"There are many places brokeb, but there is mud beneath, so finding grip is a hard task. We are having a good start in terms of times"
“We’ll take that. We were quite committed in places, but it wasn’t perfect by all means.”
"The lack of grip is crazy. I stalled the Yaris and then could not restart. I guess there is one thing or two to fix in my car."
"I am finding the stage different to what I saw during the recce, probably because of the fog and because it is very slippery everywhere. I stalled the car for a second corssing a small bridge".
"Not the nicest start for me, I struggled to find confidence. My pace notes are not working at all."