{"id":887448,"date":"2026-09-10T23:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T23:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/887448\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T23:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T23:22:11","slug":"evans-extra-tyres-critical-to-make-it-through-wrc-rally-chile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/887448\/","title":{"rendered":"Evans: Extra tyres critical to make it through WRC Rally Chile"},"content":{"rendered":"

World Rally Championship leader Elfyn Evans<\/a> says the increased tyre allocation for Rally Chile is necessary to reduce the risk of failures on the abrasive gravel stages.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the rally, the FIA confirmed that Rally1 crews will receive eight additional tyres for the event, increasing the allocation from 28 to 36 tyres. Crews will have a choice between a maximum of 16 soft and 28 hard Hankook tyres.<\/p>\n

The regulation change is intended to reduce the risk of a repeat of the punctures and tyre delaminations that plagued Rally Paraguay last month. Hankook believes the failures were caused by a combination of long stage loops, unexpected high temperatures and rough conditions.<\/p>\n

Chile\u2019s stages have previously served up a high puncture risk in the past, with the 2023 running of the event causing several tyre failures for then WRC tyre supplier Pirelli.<\/p>\n

The increased allocation has largely been welcomed by drivers expecting another demanding weekend for tyre wear. Teams may also supply crews with up to two replacement tyres at a designated area in Arauco after the refuel zones, receiving the same number of used tyres in return.<\/p>\n

\u201cChile always has a very varied stage type. Friday is quite fast but quite narrow and cambered roads, whereas Saturday is a bit wider and more flowing, but we also know tyre wear is a huge factor,\u201d said Toyota\u2019s Evans, who expects a difficult task opening the road as championship leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think realistically there was no way to make it through the day without those extra tyres so that was the bare minimum.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still believe Saturday will be tough for the tyres especially in the afternoon. I don\u2019t think it is straight-forward as being a flat out rally [with the extra tyres].”<\/p>\n

\"Rally <\/p>\n

Rally state atmosphere<\/p>\n

Photo by: Toyota Racing<\/p>\n

Hyundai\u2019s Thierry Neuville<\/a>, who like Evans was among those who suffered a tyre failure in Paraguay, added: \u201cIt is the same for everybody but it should slightly decrease the risk of delaminations which was an issue on some of the rougher gravel rallies and especially Paraguay.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere with long loops and some long stages to end the loop on Saturday afternoon, I think those added tyres are very welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the increase in tyre allocation, M-Sport-Ford\u2019s Josh McErlean believes a smart approach will be required to complete the rally without issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we need them [the extra tyres]. From what we have seen in Paraguay with the delaminations and tyre wear, and we know from past year we have had delaminations here with other tyres, so I think come Saturday it will be quite the challenge to make it through the loop, so we have to be smart,\u201d said McErlean.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, not all drivers are in favour of the extra rubber with Toyota\u2019s Oliver Solberg<\/a> adding: \u201cIt helps the people who are not very good with tyre wear. I\u2019m sad about it as normally I\u2019m quite good with tyres. I would love to have not so many tyres, but that is how it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

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– The Autosport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"World Rally Championship leader Elfyn Evans says the increased tyre allocation for Rally Chile is necessary to reduce…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":887449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,30330,457159,806,805,803,804,95139,85,10277],"class_list":["post-887448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-chile","tag-evans-extra-tyres-critical-to-make-it-through-wrc-rally-chile","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-rally-chile","tag-sports","tag-wrc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=887448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/887449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=887448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=887448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=887448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}