Rovanperä made his debut in the Formula Regional Oceania Trophy in New Zealand, with four race starts scheduled during the opening weekend at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park.
Rovanperä started Sunday’s feature race from ninth on the grid and had a strong opportunity to secure his best result of the weekend. However, the Finnish star’s race was over immediately after the opening corner.
Rovanperä was battling for position with Sebastian Manson. Based on the TV footage, it appeared that Manson turned his car towards the outside of the track and made contact with Rovanperä, sending his car spinning off the circuit at speed.
Watch the video of the incident below.
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Rovanperä commented on the incident on social media.
“For the weekend’s feature race I qualified 9th, but unfortunately my race ended already on the first lap after being crashed off the track,” Rovanperä said.
In addition to Rovanperä and Manson, Ryan Wood and Yevan David were also forced to retire as a result of the multi-car incident.
“All four drivers involved in the crash walked away unharmed and OK, which of course is the most important thing,” Rovanperä added.
Rovanperä nevertheless gained valuable experience at Hampton Downs. Most importantly, he showed clear progress over the course of the weekend.
Earlier in the weekend, Rovanperä was more than a second off the pace on a single lap, but in Sunday’s qualifying session the gap was down to just half a second to American Ugo Ugochukwu, who was the standout driver of the weekend.
“Still, I gained tons of valuable experience over the weekend and I’m happy to continue from here and keep improving,” Rovanperä summed up.
The Formula Regional Oceania continues next weekend at Taupo Motorsport Park.
