Evans loses WRC lead as Ogier wins in Chile

Elfyn Evans had led Rally Chile on Saturday morning before Sebastien Ogier took charge

Sebastien Ogier rose above Elfyn Evans at the top of the World Rally Championship (WRC) standings after emerging victorious at the Rally Chile.

It was the eight-time world champion's fifth rally win of the season as he moved ahead of his Toyota team-mate Evans - who now sits second - with three races remaining in 2025.

Welshman Evans had been leading the rally midway through Saturday but now trails Frenchman Ogier - who was making his 200th career start in South America - by two points in the overall standings.

Ogier won seven of the 16 stages in the Biobío region of Chile to earn a maximum haul of 35 points, with Evans victorious on stages three and 14.

Evans finished 11 seconds behind Ogier in Chile - with the Frenchman's compatriot Adrien Formaux third a further 36.5 seconds back.

"It is like we wanted," Ogier said. "It has been a more difficult weekend than Paraguay. We had to fight a bit more, we had a little issue in the mornings as I was not awake but we can be pleased with the way we ended up.

"I'm happy with that and I'm looking forward to switching to tarmac."

For the second rally in a row Northern Ireland's Josh McErlean was forced to retire from Saturday running by mechanical problems with his Ford Puma Rally 1 car.

Following a high-speed spin on Friday morning the M-Sport driver had climbed up to 10th place overnight, before losing power and having to stop just a couple of miles into day two.

The drivers face three more rallies in the 14-round WRC calendar with the Central European Rally from 16-19 October before events in Japan and Saudi Arabia in November.

Rally Chile result

1. Sebastien Ogier (France), Toyota, 2 hours 55 minutes 42.1 seconds

2. Elfyn Evans (Great Britain), Toyota, +11 secs

3. Adrien Formaux (France), Hyundai, +46.5 secs

4. Thierry Neuville (Belgium), Hyundai, +59 secs

5. Sami Pajari (Finland), Toyota. +1min 3.4 secs

6. Kalle Rovanpera (Finland), Toyota, +1min 35.7 secs

Selected

26. Gus Greensmith (Great Britain), Skoda, +29mins 54.3 secs

37. Josh McErlean (Ireland), Ford, +1hour 3mins 9.5secs

FIA World Rally Championship drivers' standings

1. Sebastien Ogier (France), Toyota, 224 points

2. Elfyn Evans (Great Britain), Toyota, 222

3. Kalle Rovanpera (Finland), Toyota, 203

4. Ott Tanak (Estonia), Hyundai, 181

5. Thierry Neuville (Belgium), Hyundai, 166

6. Takamoto Katsuta (Japan), Toyota, 94

7. Adrien Formaux (France), Hyundai, 86

Selected

11. Josh McErlean (Ireland), Ford, 20

14. Gus Greensmith (Great Britain), Skoda, 14