Toyota urgently called Rovanperä to the Rally Poland to replace Sebastien Ogier, who had crashed during the reconnaissance. Rovanperä handled his substitution with style – the Finn took the win, despite not being prepared for the rally at all.
On Sunday, Rovanperä sprayed champagne in Mikolajki, but soon the Finnish star was in a hurry again. Rovanperä had arrived in Poland late on Tuesday evening by private plane from Finland, and on Sunday evening his journey continued again by private plane heading south.
The plane carrying Rovanperä arrived late on Sunday evening at Forlì Airport in Italy.
“I’m heading straight to the plane from here and flying to Imola for tests. The tests start in the morning, so another long night ahead,” Rovanperä told RallyJournal.com after the victory celebrations in Mikolajki.
Rovanperä is also competing this season in the Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux series, whose next races are being held this coming weekend at the Imola circuit in Italy.
“The tests start at eight in the morning and there’s another race weekend ahead. That’s how it is. Luckily, I have a couple of days off during the week,” Rovanperä said.
The days off will surely be needed for Rovanperä, as he had short nights during the Rally Poland. Rovanperä revealed earlier that he once fell asleep on his laptop in the middle of the night while watching videos of the special stages.
Rovanperä made his debut in the Porsche Cup at the beginning of June in Zandvoort, the Netherlands, where he immediately made an impression. He took fourth and fifth place in the two races of the weekend.
“The first experience of the series was really positive. I liked it a lot. There was a lot of interesting stuff,” Rovanperä described.
If everything falls into place, Rovanperä has a chance to fight for a podium spot on the track as well.
“I don’t know about that, but Imola is a new track for the series’ drivers. Hopefully, we’ll be a bit stronger. At least on Saturday, we were in really good shape in Zandvoort,” Rovanperä said.
