Rally of Chile 2026, Day 1: Solberg emerges in a wide-open challenge

Waiting to find out what will happen to the Rally of Saudi Arabia, present on the calendar as the last world championship event, the WRC remained in South America for the Rally of Chile. The second consecutive stage in Latin America after the round in Paraguay, Evans is called to defend his world championship lead from the return of Sami Pajari, but the one who gave his best on this first day, just ahead of the Welshman, was another Toyota driver.

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SS1-SS3: Solberg vs Evans. Katsuta immediately out

The relationship between Katsuta and South American rallies, at least judging by this year’s tests, has proven very complicated, and the confirmation came immediately in today’s SS1: just as happened in Paraguay, the Japanese driver had to retire immediately due to an accident caused by his own error. In this case, the Toyota ended up in a ditch where there were no spectators. Since then, the remote battle between Oliver Solberg and Evans began, with the routes made even more difficult to face due to the rain that fell during the night. While the Swede set the best time precisely in SS1, Evans closed the gap in the next stage, with the morning ending with an excellent performance by Neuville. Thanks to these results, Solberg finished at the top of the overall standings with a lead of only two seconds over his direct rival.

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SS4-SS6: Solberg extends lead

In the first six special stages of the Chilean rally, as many as five different drivers achieved the best performance. Even before Solberg’s repeat in SS6, which allowed the Swede to move to the top with a considerable gap, two other Toyota signatures like Pajari and Ogier finished ahead of everyone, respectively in SS4 and SS5. The top 3 of the first day therefore presents Solberg with a 10-second lead over Evans, who is still in second place ahead of Fourmaux, who finished the first half of the day in third position.

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Rally of Chile 2026, standings after SS6 (Top-10)