Robert Virves finished second in Rally Chile driving a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2. He thus made up for his retirement in Paraguay and took a decisive step towards this year's WRC2 championship title. The title could be decided as early as the next rally in Italy.
Virves was among the fastest drivers in Chile from the very beginning, and it was clear that he had the highest ambitions. On Friday, he finished second in the WRC2 standings, trailing just by 8.5 seconds. Ahead of him was Nikolay Gryazin, who could no longer challenge Virves in the title fight.
However, Gryazin crashed on the very first special stage on Saturday and retired from the rally. Yohan Rossel then stepped in to fill the gap at the front in terms of pace, winning all of Saturday's special stages. Virves therefore opted for a more cautious approach and concentrated on securing second place.
Rossel is also no threat to Virves in the fight for this year's WRC2 World Championship title. Although he moved closer to Virves in the points standings with his victory in Chile, he has already completed all seven of his nominated rounds and cannot score any more points.
The only driver who can still challenge the Estonian title contender is Teemu Suninen, currently fourth in the standings. He has so far completed only four of his nominated rounds, meaning that he can still overtake Robert Virves in the final two events of the season.
On the other hand, the title fight is in Virves' own hands: he currently has a 41-point lead over Suninen, and a good result in the Italian rally, which starts on 1 October, will be enough to secure the title. He only needs to finish in the top five.
Virves and his co-driver Jakko Viilo have already secured the WRC2 Challenger title in Chile. The category is intended for drivers who have not previously won a title in the WRC2 or WRC3 categories. For the Toksport WRT driver, however, the overall title is naturally the priority.
In addition to Robert Virves, three other crews driving Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 cars also achieved good results in Chile. The Australian duo of Taylor Gill and Daniel Brkic finished fourth, while fifth place went to the best of the local drivers, Jorge Martínez, with Argentine co-driver Rubén García.
Just outside the points-scoring top ten, veteran driver Miguel Granados finished the rally, winning the WRC Masters Cup category. Granados will therefore also compete for the title in Sardinia, where he will face his Austrian rival Johannes Keferböck in a direct, head-to-head battle. He currently trails him by fifteen points.
