WRC2 Event Highlighs | WRC Rally Chile Biobío 2026

Across the Andes Mountains they went. The race for this year's WRC2 title. Still undecided, but it was that man from Estonia that they all had to match. Overnight rain forced a rethink among the top contenders in Concepción. Conditions would be messy. Alejandro Cachon came unstuck in the second of the day stage. Half a minute lost when he spanned. Causing a bit of damage too. Standing water had caught him out. And on stage 5, raw speed was his undoing. And a big crash finished his round. Johan Rossell, his last outing of the season. Spanned his lancer in the same stage. The moment forced him to reverse. He dropped 12 seconds to his teammate Nikolai Gryazin. Later, Johan would be a stage winner as well. Faouz Aldebar got as far as stage 5 on Friday. But that was the middle stage. And then everything came to a sudden stop after 5km. On Saturday, an immediate change in the hierarchy hit. The opening stage of the day. And a bad one for the class leader Nikolai Gryazin. A big roll in the 10th kilometre. The leader was gone. Smoke in the cockpit. Fire from the engine bay. Weekend finished early. So a chance for the title leader to make his move? Well, no. Robert Vervaeus was nursing an issue that meant he couldn't take advantage of Gryazin's misfortune. The Estonian dropped about 19 seconds in stage 7. Bad news. Down to pace notes and feeling, he reckoned. This last-minute call-up to top sports had worked out well for the Aussie battler Taylor Gill. Another fantastic day. Feared nothing. Had everything to gain. Nothing to lose. Even after a delamination of the tyre in the middle stage on Saturday, Taylor was in 4th. Come Sunday, 3rd place went to Gus Grinsmith. A 23rd WRC podium for him. Actually, a podium double for the Brit after his 2nd place in Paraguay. 2nd went to Robert Vervaeus. A comeback after that extraordinary off in Paraguay a fortnight ago. This all but wins the Estonian the challenger title. And will likely knock Rupert Corwin out of the reckoning for this year's WRC 2 title itself. Tough for Robert, but very, very nice for Johan Rossell. Lancia already team champion. Johan able to bring them this win. Such a dominant display did it. Very happy with his car. An 11th WRC victory. Everything was perfect this weekend. The balance with the car was just incredible. We pushed like we want. It's not a special win, but it's a proper win for the next step. Johan Rossell, his 3rd win of the season by almost a minute. Just behind the podium places Taylor Gill in the points once again. And Chile's former national champion, their best placed driver, Jorge Martinez.