Rally Chile – A starting ceremony as spicy as ever

Since the World Rally Championship has visited Chile, it has been a given that Concepción is not the most beautiful city. The weather of the start ceremony of the event, she nevertheless manages to be particularly welcoming to the point of making us forget for a moment the gloomy atmosphere that reigns in the WRC currently. Since 2019, Chile has been able to stand out offering a memorable evening to the discipline. Once again installed on the Plaza de la Independence in the center of Concepcion, the starting podium looked like a arena which was very quickly invaded by the crowd. The stands were very quickly filled attics and the public gathered on the roads along which the crews traveled rolled.

All means were good to follow the departure ceremony of the rally from Chile (Photo: Loïc Rocci)

Before the arrival of the competitors, Felipe Horta, the rally organiser, got the party going with shouts of "Viva Chile" at the top of his lungs. A true showman, he praised his country's place in the WRC calendar, then introduced all the people who had played a role in the logistics of this event. The governor of the Biobio region, the Minister of Sports, plus police and tourism officials. Despite the official speeches, the atmosphere remained cheerful, with spectators responding to every request. Once the podium had been blessed and the Chilean anthem had been sung at the top of his lungs by the entire audience, the first cars began to follow one another on the ramp.  

Before the racing cars, a very successful tribute was paid to Michèle Mouton. The head of safety decided to stop at the end of the year and the organizers had the excellent idea of ​​honoring her. Although touched, the latter still wanted to remind people of the messages concerning the position on the edge of the special stages. Chileans then opened the ball to continue to raise the atmosphere, then the team M-Sport came in close ranks. Adrien fourmaux and Martins Sesks, who had never before experienced Chile, did not hide their joy at receiving such a warm welcome.

The starting ceremony of the Chile Rally is a major moment of the event (Photo: Loïc Rocci)

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 seemed to take great pleasure in taking selfies with the spectators on the edges of the stage and he proved to be excellent in throwing advertising objects… The evening continued with the entire line-up, Oliver Solberg and Fergus Greensmith enjoying making the public react. After 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 bringing their cars back to the service park where they will start tomorrow, the drivers had a few hours to revise the loop of 3 special stages to be contested twice for a total of 112,76 km timed.