Yohan Rossel was officially declared the winner of WRC2 in Rally Chile 2024 after the stewards rejected a protest from Olivier Solbergwhich can however reach the International Court of Appeal.
WRC2 title contender Solberg has filed a protest asking stewards to re-evaluate a fictitious time awarded to Rossel which helped the Citroën to win on Sunday.
Rossel rose from third to lead the WRC2 category when the stewards ruled that Solberg had hampered the Frenchman on SS11 and therefore subtracted 40 seconds from his stage time.
Solberg was leading the category during testing when he suffered a puncture which cost the Swede 1.5 hours (one and a half minutes) to change a tire. Solberg joins the stage ahead of Rossel, who feels embarrassed by the Skoda when passing a stage affected by thick fog.
The incident is likely to influence the outcome of the WR2 title, as Solberg could have clinched the championship with a victory in Chile. Finally, Solberg finished fourth in his class, 26.1 seconds behind Rossel, after winning all four stages on Sunday.
Solberg felt he had failed to stop his title rival and told the stewards: “I saw his video [el on board de Rossel] and I saw my own video and I didn’t interfere with it in any way and it was so foggy and rainy that there was no dust either, so I don’t really know why he complained.”
Oliver Solberg, Elliott Edmondson, Toksport WRT Skoda Fabia Evo Rally2
However, the stewards considered Solberg’s protest inadmissible “because according to the FIA International Sports Code, it is not permitted for stewards to review/replay their decisions through a protest.”
“The protest, as Protestant clarified and confirmed at the hearing, is intended to reopen a decision of the commissioners, present more evidence from Protestant and then ask the commissioners to make a new decision on the same issue. According to the Code of According to the FIA International Sports Council, stewards are not permitted to review/revisit their decisions through protest,” the stewards’ report states.
“Furthermore, the applicant has given notice of his intention to appeal Decision No. 5 of the Commissioners. As such, this decision is now subject to the review and determination of a higher court (i.e. the Court of International Appeal) and therefore “Consequently, the matter (i.e. the issues relating to Commissioners’ Decision No. 5) no longer falls within the judicial jurisdiction of this Committee.
“The stewards conclude that the complaint is inadmissible and that this is probably the wrong legal procedure for the competitor to undertake.”
Solberg leaves Chile 12 points ahead of Rossel in the WRC2 standings, but will now have to rely on his results in other rallies to keep his title hopes alive after completing his seven qualifying rounds.
Rossel and Sami Pajari (15 points from Solberg) are still in the fight for the title and both will finish their final tests in Central European Rally and Rally Japan, respectively.
“We will never give up. It’s very bitter right now, I’m a little excited because I wanted to win it and now it’s difficult. It’s been a very good year and that’s all I need. always dreamed of it,” said one person. Solberg after finishing the rally.
“It’s not over, but now it’s a bit difficult because the dream was to win this weekend and it looked very good and there were very good feelings.”
“The plan was to drive slowly on Friday and Saturday to be there on Sunday, because I knew there wouldn’t be any problems on Sunday. That was the plan and it almost worked.”
fight for WRC title after Rally Chile domination”>
