Before the second day of competition, Rovanperä was down in 17th place after damaging his car on Friday and losing more than five minutes to the leaders.
The Toyota driver kept a steady pace through Saturday’s stages, climbing ten places overall to finish the day in seventh position – worth six championship points.
“I’m happy that’s over. Obviously, it was a long day to drive like that. But at least we are now here and tomorrow we can try to do something,” Rovanperä sighed after the evening’s super special stage.
Rovanperä needs every point he can get from Japan. His Toyota team-mates Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans occupy the top two spots and are both extending their lead in the title race ahead of the final round of the season.
“We’ve just been driving safely and taking the places that were possible to take. At least now we’re in the points. Tomorrow there are a lot more points available, so we’ll try to stay inside the top ten and have a good day,” he said.
On the final day – the so-called Super Sunday – Rovanperä will push for valuable bonus points. The fastest driver of the day will earn five points, with another five awarded to the winner of the Power Stage.
He won’t be the only one targeting a maximum score, as his team-mates Ogier and Evans are also fighting both for rally victory and for the championship itself.
Sunday could turn into a dramatic day, with forecasts predicting heavy rain.
“This year I think none of us has driven in full wet conditions on asphalt, so it’s going to be an interesting day,” Rovanperä smiled.
The rain-soaked roads could offer the Finn a perfect opportunity.
“Tomorrow should be fairly new for everybody to have full rain-tyre spec if we are going to get rain. So it would be at least something new.”
“We’ll try to get everything we can. It’s an important day for the championship as well. It’s also my last day in a rally car on tarmac, so I’ll try to enjoy and have some fun,” said Rovanperä, who will move to circuit racing after this season.
Ogier leads Rally Japan by 6.5 seconds from Evans ahead of Sunday’s six remaining stages.
