Rovanperä was not the fastest driver on Friday, but the Finn moved into the lead when Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux suffered a puncture.
“I can be fairly satisfied with today’s result. The pace was a little lacking. Of course, we were the second car on the road and especially in the afternoon it felt like the stages were cleaning quite a lot,” Rovanperä summed up.
As an ambitious competitor, moving into the lead through another’s misfortune did not feel particularly rewarding for Rovanperä, but it was not entirely down to luck either.
“We couldn’t quite match the speed of the frontrunners, but then again, we didn’t suffer punctures like many others and we also stayed out of trouble otherwise. That paid off,” Rovanperä continued.
After a successful Friday, Rovanperä’s road position for Saturday is very good – or at least it should be.
“Hopefully we can make use of it and be quick tomorrow,” Rovanperä planned.
Rovanperä predicted that Saturday will be very different compared to Friday. The roads will, at least in principle, resemble a more traditional gravel rally than those faced on Friday.
“I think tomorrow the first cars will have to do quite a lot more cleaning, as there will be more loose gravel on the road. I hope at least that the road gets quicker, as now we are the last car on the road,” Rovanperä hoped.
A more traditional gravel surface should suit Rovanperä’s driving style much better than the hard gravel base experienced on Friday. The tyres do not move around as much on a softer surface.
“The stages will also be quite different tomorrow in general. We will try to get the car into a bit better balance. Today I didn’t really have that solid feeling, the car was sliding around quite a lot,” Rovanperä said.
