On his first Super Formula test day on Wednesday, Rovanperä managed to drive only the morning session before his run came to an abrupt end.
Rovanperä suddenly began to suffer from symptoms of positional vertigo, forcing the Finn to abandon the test. Later, a doctor even issued him a driving ban.
Rovanperä had been scheduled to take part in further formula tests on Thursday and Friday at the Suzuka circuit, but now those vital test days will pass him by.
It is clear that the setback is a major one for Rovanperä. He is stepping into a completely different discipline compared to rallying, and every possible kilometre of testing would be more than welcome.
“That [training period] is quite an essential thing because there aren’t any other actual test sessions apart from this one,” Rovanperä’s manager Timo Jouhki told Helsingin Sanomat bluntly.
“This would have been a three-day test session for rookies and, in fact, for everyone, so of course it carries a lot of significance. How much, that is extremely difficult to assess,” Jouhki continued.
Jouhki stressed in his interview with HS that the symptoms do not affect Rovanperä’s normal everyday life in any way, and the silver lining is that the symptoms should pass fairly quickly.
“Something like that usually goes away quite quickly with rest,” he said.
In October, Rovanperä announced that he would be leaving the World Rally Championship. At the same time, he revealed that he will compete next year in Japan’s Super Formula series. This marks the biggest challenge of the Finn’s career to date, as Super Formula is the world’s second-fastest motorsport series after Formula 1.
