A fortnight after Rally Argentina, Copec Rally Chile comes to the 2019 World Rally Championship, unusually without first successfully running a recent FIA championship Candidate Rally.
It will be the first new long haul WRC destination since Jordan Rally in 2008.
It is nearly 40 years since Chile had previously planned to be involved with the WRC, in the days when some WRC events still featured Monte Carlo-style “Concentration” runs from various starting points.
On that occasion the Argentina-based WRC rally should have been run with six different starting points, but firstly no crews nominated Bolivia as their stating point, and then it was necessary to cancel the start in Chile because recent winter damage had blocked the roads across the Andes. Finally there were four starting points that year.
Major road motorsport has been active in Chile for over 70 years. In the age of city-to-city road races and rivalry between Argentine teams with Ford and Chevrolet cars, there was a Buenos Aires to Santiago de Chile race in 1947, while international rallying had passed through Chile during the 1970 World Cup (London to Mexico City) marathon event.
At the time this was a gigantic feat of organisation, much of the route in and out of Chile could only be defined according to roads which were found to be passable.
That event had crossed South America from Argentina to Santiago in Chile before heading northwards.
The next big event was the 29,000km 1978 Vuelta a la America del Sud which started and finished in Buenos Aires and covered the whole Continent from Caracas (Venezuela) in the north to Ushuaia in the far south. The route was run anti-clockwise, visiting Chile on the way going south, before passing through Tiera del Fuego.
As in each country, long distance competitive sections were run in central Chile.
The concept of joint participation with neighbouring countries led to the Argentine event being called the Codasur Rally (after the multi-national South American alliance) for the 1979, 1980 and 1981 events, but after the 1982 South Atlantic conflict Rally Argentina stayed in its own country and Chile pursued rally sport on its own account.
Chilean rallies can sometimes run at high altitudes, but not near Concepcion. Photo: Martin Holmes Rallying
In 2000 the Chilean motor sport federation received support from Mobil, who brought many important ideas for development of rally sport to the country, which through the efforts of event promoter, Felipe Horta, continues to today.
The national championship was developed with a series of RallyMobil motor shows and free activities in cities round the country. While the desert northern Atacama regions of the country were covered by the organisers of Dakar, championship rallies were held in the central regions, largely between Santiago and Concepcion.
In the two decades since the foundation of RallyMobil, rallying has become Chile’s most active form of motorsport and emphasis was moved from four-wheel drive Japanese cars on to developing two-wheel drive competition cars, with European production rally cars being imported for sporting use.
As part of this trend, 11 Ford Fiesta R2 cars were brought to Chile.
The championship is divided into class categories and from 2018 there has been a class for four-wheel drive R5 cars, but for many years there was no single outright champion.
The most successful Chilean championship rally driver has been Jorge Martinez who, between 2005 and 2016, won eight titles, either in N4 or R3 categories.
Avoiding the Andes when landing in Santiago is a challenge in Chile. Photo: Martin Holmes
Meanwhile, Chilean drivers began emerging abroad, notably into the annual Argentine WRC events, led by Subaru driver Jose Celsi. In 2005 Luis Rosselot competed in four rounds of the Production Car world championship in a Mitsubishi, and since 2017 the brothers Heller (Pedro and Alberto) have been competing in WRC events with Fiesta R5 cars.
In 2018 Emilio Fernandez started competing in Junior WRC events. Meanwhile, the former Chilean Formula 1 driver, Eliseo Salazar, also competed on rallies in Chile.
It was in 2016 when the first official presentation took place to announce Chile’s application for inclusion in the WRC. Support from RallyMobil and the Copec conglomerate showed that it was possible, that there was a commitment with the authorities of the Regional Government and that there was great support from Carabineros de Chile police, with collaboration of the Fire Department.
Crowds at the Chilean championship round at Los Angeles (south east of Concepcion). Photo: Holmes
On May 2, 2017 the WRC Promoter, Olivier Ciesla, assisted by Simon Larkin, were officially received in Chile, the purpose of which was to set up a WRC Candidate event. This worked well and provided a positive report for the FIA.
This event was to be based at Concepcion in the Biobío region where the WRC event itself was planned. In 2018 the organisers, meanwhile, visited other WRC events to learn about the practicalities of WRC life, most importantly concerning safety.
The incorporation of Chile in the official calendar of the World Rally Championship was duly announced for May 9-12, 2019, and the route is to run through more than 12 municipalities in the region.
The Rally Chile organisers have released in-car videos of the special stages in the extensive Copec forests, which show smooth gravel stages in good condition with narrow roads, often closely bordered by bushes.
There are not so many parts with more open stages – quite the opposite of Rally Argentina which drivers would face two weeks earlier.
Chile may be famous for its proximity to the Andes mountain range, but the stages on the rally are all very low level.
Rally Director, Sebastian Etcheverry, advises visitors that early Autumn is the start of their winter, so while temperatures of 15-20 degrees are expected, there can easily be rain.
Concepcion has around a million inhabitants, the country’s second biggest conurbation, and lies 500km south-west of Santiago. It is in the industrial sector of Chile and like most of Chile, it lies in a seismically active area.
In 2010 there was an earthquake of 8.8 magnitude on the Richter scale. The city was physically displaced by roughly three metres and over 500 people died.
Watch out for hopefully some safer drama when the WRC teams cross the Andes this year!
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At the time this was a gigantic feat of organisation, much of the route in and out of Chile could only be defined according to roads which were found to be passable.
That event had crossed South America from Argentina to Santiago in Chile before heading northwards.
The next big event was the 29,000km 1978 Vuelta a la America del Sud which started and finished in Buenos Aires and covered the whole Continent from Caracas (Venezuela) in the north to Ushuaia in the far south. The route was run anti-clockwise, visiting Chile on the way going south, before passing through Tiera del Fuego.
As in each country, long distance competitive sections were run in central Chile.
The concept of joint participation with neighbouring countries led to the Argentine event being called the Codasur Rally (after the multi-national South American alliance) for the 1979, 1980 and 1981 events, but after the 1982 South Atlantic conflict Rally Argentina stayed in its own country and Chile pursued rally sport on its own account.
Chile may be famous for its proximity to the Andes mountain range, but the stages on the rally are all very low level.
Rally Director, Sebastian Etcheverry, advises visitors that early Autumn is the start of their winter, so while temperatures of 15-20 degrees are expected, there can easily be rain.
Concepcion has around a million inhabitants, the country’s second biggest conurbation, and lies 500km south-west of Santiago. It is in the industrial sector of Chile and like most of Chile, it lies in a seismically active area.
In 2010 there was an earthquake of 8.8 magnitude on the Richter scale. The city was physically displaced by roughly three metres and over 500 people died.
Watch out for hopefully some safer drama when the WRC teams cross the Andes this year!
