Swede Oliver Solberg (Toyota Yaris) finished this Friday the first stage of the Chilean Rally in the lead, with a 10.1 second advantage over Briton Elfyn Evans (Toyota Yaris), leader of the World Rally Championship (WRC). In his debut in the Chilean race at the wheel of a car in the Rally1 category, the main category, Solberg won two of the six stages held on Friday, adapting to the constantly changing conditions of the surface, initially muddy and progressively drier and more abrasive. The rain that fell during the night made the first passage through the Turkey special slippery and reduced the disadvantage usually felt by those who open the road in dirt events, a role that fell to Evans. Solberg won the first stage with a 1.4 second advantage over the Welshman, but Evans responded in the Nuevo Rere special and provisionally took command of the rally, by just four tenths of a second. The Swede regained the lead on the third stage, Hualqui, reaching intermediate assistance with a 2.3 second advantage, before increasing the gap during the second passage through the stages. “It was an important afternoon to keep me out of trouble. I am happy”, said Oliver Solberg, after winning the last stage of the day. Solberg, who had already won the WRC2 category in Chile in 2023 and 2025, securing last season's title in this race, finished the journey with a 10.1 second advantage over Evans. The World Cup leader was satisfied with second position after having opened the road throughout the entire stage. “It seems good. The afternoon was more difficult, or as difficult as we expected. The conditions didn't give us as much as we would have liked. We hope tomorrow will be better.,” said Elfyn Evans. Frenchman Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai) is in third place, 18 seconds behind Solberg, despite having faced a technical problem during the morning. Fellow Frenchman Sébastien Ogier (Toyota), winner of the Chile Rally in 2025 and reigning world champion, is fourth, 19.7 seconds behind the leader and just 1.7 seconds behind Fourmaux. Finnish Sami Pajari (Toyota), winner of the three previous World Cup races, ended the day in fifth place, at 21.7 seconds, after having lost 17.8 seconds in the first special stage due to a lack of confidence in the face of constant variations in grip. Pajari recovered during the afternoon and won the second stint in Türkiye, in a round in which five different riders triumphed in the six stages contested. Belgian Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) completes the top six, at 27.4 seconds, after having faced confidence difficulties and a small leak in a shock absorber. The Japanese Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota), who had been the fastest in Thursday's shakedown, was the main dropout from the journey, leaving the road 6.2 kilometers after the start of the first special and becoming immobilized in a place with no public who could help put the car back on the route. Katsuta and navigator James Fulton were unharmed in the accident. In the WRC2 category, Bulgarian Nikolay Gryazin leads and occupies 10th place in the general classification, with an 8.5 second advantage over Estonian Robert Virves, first placed in the championship. The second stage, the longest of the rally, will take place on Saturday and will have two passes through the stages of Pelún, Lota and María las Cruces, for a total of 139.2 timed kilometers. Post navigation Armindo Araújo abandons the Water Rally and Rúben Rodrigues is leader Formula 1 drivers almost fall asleep on the new Madring circuit