Rovanperä managed to set the second-fastest time, earning four championship points. The Finnish star got a helping hand from his teammate and friend Takamoto Katsuta, who took a four-minute time penalty on the penultimate stage. This bumped Rovanperä up one starting position for the final stage.
Katsuta then suffered a puncture on the Power Stage but focused on drifting wide lines throughout, deliberately sweeping the road for the benefit of Rovanperä, who was running behind him.
The tactic was devised between the drivers themselves, not issued as a team order.
“We had absolutely no idea about it. They had agreed on it between themselves. The boys had nothing to lose, so they just did what they wanted,” team principal Juha Kankkunen chuckled to RallyJournal.com.
“We were left a bit speechless, Kaj (sporting director Kaj Lindström) and I, just looking at each other wondering what they were up to.”
Rovanperä personally asked his teammate for assistance. Both drivers currently reside in Monaco and spend time together off the rally stages as well. Katsuta is not in contention for the championship this season, making the “sacrifice” feasible and mutually beneficial.
Rovanperä narrowly missed out on the Power Stage win by just four seconds, as another Toyota teammate, Sébastien Ogier, stormed to the fastest time.
“I suggested it to Taka. He’s thoughtful enough that he had already figured out the situation before we even talked about it. Huge thanks to him for giving me that one extra starting place,” Rovanperä said.
“Taka had definitely left a lines out there. Only 18 cars ran the stage on the first pass, so there was still a lot of loose gravel being cleared at the end. It was great to hear that Taka really tried everything he could out there.”
Victory at the Acropolis Rally went to Hyundai’s Ott Tänak, who beat Ogier by over half a minute. Another Hyundai driver, Adrien Fourmaux, rounded out the podium in third place.
