After the morning loop, Rovanperä is fourth overall, with four special stages completed.
The Finn is currently 14.2 seconds behind Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen, who is leading the rally. This is a commendable performance, considering that Rovanperä and his co-driver Jonne Halttunen’s preparation for the fast gravel race was far from ideal.
“It wasn’t very easy, but we managed to get through as best as we could,” Rovanperä summarised.
Rovanperä arrived in Poland on extremely short notice. He and Halttunen started the reconnaissance for the rally on Wednesday morning and managed to recce almost the entire rally in just about half a day. It was a massive and exhausting task.
“It affects a lot, especially in a fast rally like this, where the stages are so quick and at the same time quite technical. Those are exactly the places you always try to remember in such rallies. When you approach a spot at 200 kilometres per hour with five pace notes in quick succession, it’s quite impossible to remember just from the notes. You need to recall what’s coming,” Rovanperä explained the entirely different process.
“When you go there without remembering anything, it’s very difficult to get the perfect line and braking in every spot. You just have to try to find the right rhythm to avoid mistakes and see what’s coming,” Rovanperä continued.
Rovanperä’s current position is good considering the circumstances, but the Finn himself was not satisfied with his performance. Fatigue got the better of him last night.
“I tried to watch some videos last night, but they probably didn’t stick in my brain very well as I fell asleep on the computer. At least we have tried our best,” the Finn revealed.
Rally Poland features four more special stages on Friday. The competition concludes on Sunday.
