Solberg heading for victory in Chile, Evans second - TimesLIVE

Toyota’s Oliver Solberg headed into the final day of Rally Chile with a 19.1-second lead over championship-leading teammate Elfyn Evans after Saturday’s penultimate leg.

Reigning champion Sebastien Ogier, also for Toyota, was third and a further 1.3 seconds behind with four stages remaining on Sunday.

Ogier in turn was 10.7 seconds clear of fourth-placed Adrien Fourmaux in a Hyundai, with Toyota’s Sami Pajari in fifth.

Solberg took the day’s ninth and final 12th stage after Ogier had won the other four to close in on Evans.

“We have a small gap which is very nice. I will do my best on Sunday,” said the Swede, who led Pajari by 20 points going into the rally with Solberg a further 21 behind.

Evans’s lead would increase to at least 27 points if the current positions remained unchanged.

Thierry Neuville’s rally ended prematurely on the day’s first stage when the Belgian’s Hyundai rolled out, damaging the car too much to continue.

“We tried to push hard this morning to claim back some positions; that was our target for the day because we had nothing to lose. I underestimated the compression, and that was basically the end of it,” he said.