In the Canary Islands asphalt rally, Rovanperä was in a class of his own, but the early-season events in Sweden and Kenya did not bring much joy to the two-time champion. Rovanperä has since gained more mileage on gravel, so it is expected that the Finn won’t be quite as lost as he was at the start of the season.
Still, performance on gravel remains a mystery even for Rovanperä himself. For his championship dream, it would be important to get going on gravel straight away in Portugal, as the event marks the beginning of a seven-round gravel rally stretch in the World Rally Championship.
“It felt good to win again in the Canaries after quite a while. Now we go back to gravel, where I’m still working to feel as comfortable as I do on asphalt,” Rovanperä admitted.
“On gravel there’s always less grip and you’re sliding a lot more, and with the different weight balance of the car and new tyres this year, I’m still looking for the happy place.”
Toyota carried out testing in Portugal a couple of weeks ago. However, the tests don’t truly reflect real performance, as the same road is driven repeatedly and there is no head-to-head competition against others.
“Together with the team we were working hard on it during our test and hopefully we can find a good, consistent pace to keep scoring the points on these next rallies,” Rovanperä said.
“The style of the stages in Portugal is really nice, I always enjoy driving them and hopefully we can be fast there again this year.”
Rally Portugal begins on Thursday morning with the shakedown stage. The actual competition will feature 24 special stages, covering approximately 345 kilometres.
Watch the video of Rovanperä’s test in Portugal below!
