Sebastien Ogier wins Rally Chile, takes the lead in the World Championship and makes WRC history with Toyota – Oliver Solberg is WRC2 champion
Sebastien Ogier has won Rally Chile, the eleventh round of the 2025 World Rally Championship (WRC), and has taken the lead in the World Championship standings. The Toyota driver prevailed in an exciting duel against his teammate Elfyn Evans and celebrated his fifth victory of the season.
At the same time, Toyota achieved its 103rd overall victory in the WRC, overtaking Citroën in the manufacturers’ standings. Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais secured the maximum 35 points after winning the overall victory as well as the extra points for Sunday’s classification and the Power Stage.
With three rallies remaining before the end of the season, the Frenchman now leads Evans by two points in the overall standings. For Ogier, it was his 66th victory in his 200th World Championship start. “The points are well deserved after we lost some ground in Paraguay due to the weather. I’m looking forward to switching back to asphalt now,” said Ogier after the victory. “Vincent is doing a great job, the car is perfectly prepared. Thanks to the team—Toyota now deservedly leads the standings.”
Evans narrowly beaten—Fourmaux saves podium
Ogier got off to a bumpy start, as he got the car setup wrong on Friday morning and fell back to seventh place. He then worked his way up the field step by step. Evans took the lead at times, also benefiting from the difficult conditions on Saturday morning, but Ogier turned the tide in the afternoon. With a series of fastest times, he overtook Evans and defended his lead until the finish on Sunday. In the end, his lead was 11.0 seconds.
Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai) secured third place after a turbulent weekend. After missing out on the podium in Paraguay, this time a solid performance saw him finish in the top three. His teammate Thierry Neuville finished fourth, just ahead of the strong Sami Pajari (Toyota), who achieved his best WRC result to date with fifth place.
Setbacks for Rovanperä and Tänak
Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) started strongly with two fastest times, but lost more than a minute after a puncture and could not finish higher than sixth. He is now 21 points behind the leader.
Ott Tänak (Hyundai) retired on Friday with engine failure and, despite restarting on Sunday, only scored one point. The Estonian is now 43 points behind.
Toyota driver Takamoto Katsuta finished seventh, while Gregoire Munster (M-Sport Ford) achieved his best result since March this year in eighth place.
Solberg crowned WRC2 champion
Oliver Solberg (Toyota) and co-driver Elliott Edmondson celebrated their fifth class victory of the year in Chile, securing the WRC2 title ahead of schedule.
The Swede won the category with a 40.4-second lead over Nikolayi Gryasin (Skoda) and finished ninth overall. Solberg benefited from the retirements of his title rivals Yohan Rossel (Citroen) and Gus Greensmith (Skoda), who both dropped out with engine problems. This means that
With three rounds remaining before the end of the season, Solberg can no longer be displaced from the top of the WRC2 standings. After eleven of 14 World Championship rounds, Ogier leads the drivers’ standings with 224 points ahead of Evans (222) and Rovanperä (203). Tänak follows as the highest-placed Hyundai driver in fourth place (181). In the manufacturers’ standings, Toyota is clearly on course for the title with 572 points, 125 points ahead of Hyundai (447).
The World Rally Championship continues in four weeks (October 16 to 19) with Rally Central Europe, which will once again take place in Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic.