Tanak clinches Rally of Chile as Rovanpera waits on title
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Ott Tanak avoided any final day mishaps to clinch the Rally of Chile on Sunday.
CONCEPCION (Chile) (AFP) – Ott Tanak avoided any final day mishaps to clinch the Rally of Chile on Sunday as Kalle Rovanpera's title celebrations were put on hold.
Defending world champion Rovanpera arrived in South America with a 33-point lead over Elfyn Evans and aiming to wrap up the title.
But the Toyota driver had to put the champagne on ice after only finishing fourth with his teammate Evans in third.
The duo had no answer to 2019 champion Tanak over the three days around Concepcion, the M-Sport Ford driver sweeping into the lead on Friday thanks to astute tyre choice.
Estonian Tanak won four of Saturday's stages to cement his lead which he held on to despite Thierry Neuville winning three stages and Rovanpera the power stage and with it an additional five precious points on Sunday.
"It's great to finally get a good result," said Tanak, who had not won since Sweden in February.
"There are even Estonians here, which is surprising!" he added.
Rovanpera, who celebrated his 23rd birthday on Sunday, commented: "It wasn't the best week for us."
Hyundai driver Teemu Suninen, placed second at the time, went off the road in the penultimate stage to bring a premature end to his interest in this 11th rally of the year.
Tanak claimed his second win of the season and 19th of his career with a time advantage over Neuville of 42 seconds. Evans was 1min 7sec back.
Evans goes into the final two rallies 31 points shy of Rovanpera in the drivers standings, with the constructors' crown having been won in Chile by their team Toyota.
The final two rounds of the world championship are the Central European Rally, a new addition to the calendar, in Austria, Czech Republic and Germany, in late October with Japan hosting the 13th and final leg in November.
