Rovanperä took victory in the rally with a comfortable margin ahead of his teammate Elfyn Evans. The Finnish star also managed to collect six points on Sunday, even though he admitted to having eased off slightly to secure his win. Evans narrowly edged past Rovanperä in both the Super Sunday classification and the Power Stage results that concluded the event.
Evans’s successful Sunday meant that Rovanperä gained only six points on the Welshman.
“There was a bit too much of a gap on the Power Stage. From what I saw on the video, there was quite a lot more dirt on the road at the beginning of the stage compared to those who went before me. I don’t know how much it affected things, but on a tarmac rally it always makes some difference,” Rovanperä summed up.
“Of course, when you leave out that last bit of ‘death risk’ on the gravel sections — when you keep a little margin in case of surprises — the time difference appears, as the margins are so small. It was still a good rally, but I would have liked to be faster than Elfyn today.”
Rovanperä now sits third in the championship standings, which means he will start from the same position on the road at the next round in Japan in early November.”
The championship fight is still completely open. The points came at a good time, of course. It would have been nice to get one more point today, though — that way we would have been the second car on the road in Japan,” Rovanperä said.
“It’s the same situation there — starting third is definitely not ideal. In autumn, there’s a lot of dirt and leaves on the road. But we’re third now, and that’s what we’ll go with.”
During the Central European Rally weekend, rumours spread that Rovanperä could begin his single-seater career as early as January in the Formula Regional Oceania Championship. From there, he could collect Super Licence points required for an F1 dream and gain valuable experience ahead of the start of Japan’s Super Formula season. The Oceania series hosts all four races during January.
Rovanperä kept his lips sealed when Rallit.fi asked him about the matter – though a faint smile appeared on his face.
“I don’t know what news you’ve been reading, so I can’t say anything. I can’t say anything at this stage,” Rovanperä replied with a grin.
The Formula Regional Oceania Championship is operated by Toyota, which makes an earlier-than-expected start to his formula career quite a realistic possibility.
