Rovanperä, 57, participated in Rally of Nations held in Mexico last weekend, where he raced on special stages familiar from Rally Mexico. Rovanperä last competed against the clock in this event two years ago.
In the gravel race, Rovanperä had at his disposal an interesting vehicle to say the least. The Finnish ace’s Toyota GR Yaris standard car came with its own quirks.
“We had technical troubles throughout the weekend, more or less. Right from the start, on the second stage, the car was missing rear-wheel drive, and then a rear shock absorber broke. We drove half the day with only front-wheel drive, but in the afternoon, we had a bit of four-wheel drive too,” Rovanperä quipped to RallyJournal.com.
Rovanperä finished ninth overall, 26 minutes behind the winner, Mads Östberg. The best Toyota GR Yaris driver was the Swede, Dennis Rådström, to whom Rovanperä lost by ten minutes
A logical explanation was found for the significant time difference.
“You couldn’t get anywhere in time with this vehicle. The car was only assembled the night before. It hadn’t been driven at all, meaning we were running it in over the weekend,” Rovanperä explained.
“The biggest difficulty in driving was that whenever you touched the brakes, the rear wheels would lock up. Then we were heading in some direction, rear-end first. You couldn’t brake at all in the corners, only on the straight. If you braked in a corner, then the rear end would immediately slip out. With such a standard car, there’s no balance adjustment, so you had to drive it like you were taking grandma to church,” Rovanperä continued.
Rovanperä is a seasoned visitor to Rally Mexico. He clinched victory in the event in 2002 when it was not yet part of the World Rally Championship.
Rovanperä has now started in the rally around León a total of six times.
“We had fun all weekend long again. There were lots of fans and a great atmosphere, as always. In that sense, the weekend was really nice,” Rovanperä summed up.
