Outline plans for the Rally Chile Bio Bío route were revealed in a press conference during Rally Estonia last week.
Attended by senior officials including Biobío regional governor Rodrigo Díaz Worner, the press conference confirmed plans to include 16 special stages spread across three days with a total competitive distance of 312.78km.
The unique gravel fixture plays host to the FIA World Rally Championship’s 11th round from 28 September – 1 October this year. It returns to the calendar for the first time since its debut in 2019 when Ott Tänak took victory in a Toyota Yaris World Rally Car.
Concepción, Chile’s second-largest city, will once again form the rally hub and bustling service park while Thursday’s start ceremony in Los Ángeles, the capital of province Biobío, is also expected to draw in huge crowds.
The action will get under way on Friday (28 September) with three stages each driven twice either side of service. Double runs of Pulperia (18.84km), Rere (11.75km) and Rio Claro (24.45km) bring the day’s total to 110.08km.
Saturday is even longer and follows a similar format with three double-use speed tests adding up to a gruelling 150.28km. Chivilingo (27.10km) and Rio Lia (20.90km) are up first while Maria Las Cruces (27.14km), the longest stage of the rally, rounds out both loops.
Sunday’s finale utilises two special stages, Las Pataguas (13.13km) and El Poñen (13.08km). Both are driven twice with the second pass of the latter forming the Wolf Power Stage where vital bonus points are up for grabs.
“Our region has 33 municipalities, it has 1.6 million people living there,” said Biobío regional governor Rodrigo Díaz Worner. “This is a great event that is for the people and the idea is that everybody is in touch with the event.
“There are only around 70 days remaining before we have the WRC in Chile and we are getting ready. We came here to Estonia so that we could learn, replicate and bring some of what we learn here to our own country and to our own version of a WRC rally.”
More information regarding Rally Chile Biobío will be revealed upon publication of the official itinerary.
Source: WRC
