Kalle Rovanpera Storms to Toyota 1-2-3 at Challenging Rally Finland
In a dominant display, reigning World Rally Champion Kalle Rovanpera led a Toyota 1-2-3 at the grueling Rally Finland, making a strong start to his bid for a maiden WRC home win. Running a part-time program, the Finnish phenom tamed the challenging wet conditions to finish 8.3 seconds ahead of title contender and teammate Elfyn Evans.
Eight-time world champion Sebastien Ogier rounded out the Toyota podium in third, 9.5 seconds adrift, as championship leader Thierry Neuville was the sole remaining Hyundai in fourth, 26.2 seconds back.
“It’s really difficult, without the rain it is getting a bit easier in places, but it is big mess [on the road] for us also. I am not taking any risks in this condition,” said Rovanpera, who will be eyeing a maiden home victory on Saturday’s six stages, including the return of the famous Ouninpohja test.
M-Sport-Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux, Toyota debutant Sami Pajari, and M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster completed the top seven, with Pajari grabbing a maiden WRC stage win on his ninth test in the top flight.
It was a day of high drama, as Hyundai’s woes continued with Ott Tanak and Esapekka Lappi both retiring, while Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta also failed to finish after hitting a tree. Tanak suffered a high-speed crash in stage three, while Lappi was caught out by deep ruts in stage six, bouncing his i20 N into a tree and ripping off the right rear wheel.
Rovanpera, visibly more comfortable with the balance of his GR Yaris as the day progressed, impressed on the slippery wet gravel to extend his lead over Evans, who clawed back 1.3 seconds in stage eight. The young Finn then responded in the dry stage nine, pushing his advantage to 8.3 seconds heading into the final day.
🔗 Source