Arriving in Poland on short notice, Rovanperä immediately started setting fastest times in the morning and quickly rose to the top of the rally standings.
Rovanperä held onto his lead until the end of Saturday and won the day with a 9.4-second gap over Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen. As a result, the Toyota driver collected the highest provisional points of the day.
“This morning was a bit better, but of course, it wasn’t exactly what we wanted. It would have been nicer to build a bigger gap, but we fought as much as we could,” Rovanperä reflected on his victorious day.
Rovanperä is not competing for the World Championship title this year. He is in Poland solely to support his Toyota team. A good points haul naturally boosted their morale.
“That’s obviously the main thing for us here,” Rovanperä rejoiced.
“It would have been nice to have a bigger gap for tomorrow though, because it’s going to be a long day,” he added.
Rovanperä said he was thinking about both the team’s points and his own victory on “Super Sunday,” in the right balance.
“The day is about 60 kilometres long. I think I’ll have to push flat out,” Rovanperä planned.
Rovanperä is known to enjoy driving flat out, but the situation is somewhat different this time.
“In theory, it’s easy and in theory, it’s not,” he pondered.
“With normal preparation, it would certainly be easier. We’ll have to see tomorrow,” Rovanperä continued.
According to Rovanperä, the morning loop will be crucial on Sunday.
“It’s definitely much more important. The afternoon will follow along with it,” the Finn predicted.
Rally Poland still offers four special stages on Sunday. To secure provisional WRC points, crews must finish the rally on Sunday.
