Rally Chile – A starting ceremony as spicy as ever

Since the World Rally Championship visited Chile, it has become clear that Concepción is not the most beautiful of cities. Time of the starting ceremony of the event, she nevertheless manages to be particularly welcoming to the point of forgetting for a moment the gloomy atmosphere currently reigning in the WRC. From 2019, Chile was able to stand out by offering a memorable evening to the discipline. Once again installed in the Plaza de la Independence in the center of Designthe starting podium looked like a arena which was quickly invaded by the crowd. The stands were quickly archi attic and the public gathered on the axes by which the crews rolled.

Before the arrival of the competitors, Felipe Horta, the rally organizer, heated up the atmosphere with “Viva Chile” shouted at the top of his lungs. A true showman, he praised his country’s place in the WRC calendar, then he presented all the people who played a role in the logistics of this meeting. The governor of the Biobio region, the Minister of Sports, plus police or tourism officials. Despite the official speeches, the atmosphere remained cheerful, with spectators responding to every request. Once the podium was blessed and the Chilean anthem sung loudly by the entire public, the first cars began to follow one another on the ramp.

Before the racing cars, a very successful tribute was made to Michèle Mouton. The security manager decided to stop at the end of the year and the organizers had the excellent idea of ​​putting her in the spotlight. Although affected, the latter still wanted to recall the messages concerning the position on the edge of the special stages. The Chileans then opened the ball to continue to raise the atmosphere, then the M-Sport team presented itself in a close row. Adrien Fourmaux and Martins Sesks, who had never experienced Chile before, did not hide their joy at receiving such a warm welcome.

The leitmotif was the same with the arrival of Toyota then Hyundai. Drivers like Esapekka Lappi or directors like Jari-Matti Latvala rightly recalled the importance of seeing such a crowd and such a festive atmosphere. Jari-Matti indeed seemed to take great pleasure in taking selfies with the spectators at the edges of the stage and he proved to be excellent in launching promotional items… The evening continued with the entire set, Oliver Solberg and Fergus Greensmith enjoying getting the audience to react. At the end of the passage of Yohan Rossel, who imagined himself as a rock star, most of the remaining cars were locals who were not forgotten by the inhabitants of Conception. After returning their cars to the service park from where they will leave tomorrow, the drivers had a few hours to review the loop of 3 stages to be run twice for a total of 112.76 km timed.