Rovanperä set an impressive fastest time on Friday morning’s first stage and managed to halve his overnight gap to the leader from Thursday evening.
In the second special stage of Friday, the Finn returned to a more “ordinary” performance. He was over 11.1 seconds slower than Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux, who set the fastest time. Conditions were extremely challenging.
“Yes, the conditions were really tricky,” Rovanperä said to RallyJournal.com.
The fifth special stage, which was supposed to be the second stage of Friday morning, was cancelled due to a medical emergency involving a spectator. Rovanperä would, of course, have liked to continue driving with the same momentum but was instead forced to wait for the sixth stage to begin.
“It would have been really interesting to test. We were heading there with a cross tyre setup, while others were using full studded tyres. It would have been nice to see the time,” Rovanperä lamented the cancellation of the fifth stage.
Rovanperä did not speculate much about the afternoon yet.
“Let’s see what the weather does. Hopefully, I can have a better afternoon,” Rovanperä planned.
Sami Pajari, competing in Monte-Carlo in the top class for the first time in his career, also faced challenges. On Friday morning’s final stage, the Finn nearly went off at the same spot as multi-champion Sebastien Ogier.
“The slipperiness of that spot just caught me out. Those areas exposed to the sun were usually dry. The sun hit that spot too, but for some reason, it was extremely slippery. By eye, it looked like there was good grip, but there wasn’t. How can you know or guess that?” Pajari reflected.
Pajari started Friday morning well and was somewhat surprised by his strong beginning.
“The time turned out really good. I didn’t feel like the run was that fast. In my opinion, I drove that stage the same way as all the others. The stage was consistently slippery, which made it feel safe. There was no need to push harder than usual,” Pajari recounted about the morning.
Three more special stages are scheduled to be run on Friday in the Rally Monte-Carlo. The competition concludes on Sunday.
