Overview
- Oliver Solberg extended his advantage across Saturday and will start Sunday with a 19.1-second lead and four stages — a position that lets him manage tyres rather than attack from the front.
- A penultimate-stage puncture cost Elfyn Evans more than two minutes and dropped him behind rivals, promoting Sébastien Ogier into second and reshuffling the podium battle just hours before the Wolf Power Stage.
- Teams were given an increased Hankook tyre allocation after tyre failures in Paraguay and drivers warned that hot, abrasive gravel would make tyre choice and conservation decisive on Super Sunday.
- Saturday’s high-speed incidents removed several contenders: Thierry Neuville and Jon Armstrong rolled and retired and Takamoto Katsuta was already out, while Nikolay Gryazin’s roll handed Yohan Rossel the WRC2 lead.
- Toyota can clinch the FIA WRC manufacturers’ crown with seven points from this event, and the result in Chile will shift the drivers’ title picture because the final Wolf Power Stage awards extra championship points.