Toyota nailed the car’s setup perfectly for the Canary Islands’ tarmac roads, but Rovanperä’s superiority was, of course, not just down to that. The Finn won the fourth round of the season by more than 50 seconds over his teammate Sébastien Ogier.
Before the Canaries, Rovanperä had complained that Hankook’s new tyres didn’t suit his natural driving style. There has also been speculation about how much the removal of hybrid units from the Rally1 cars has affected his performances.
Hybrid systems were stripped from Rally1 cars for this season, making the cars lighter than last year.
“t has been a big change losing many kilos from the rear axle of the car,” Rovanperä admitted.
“When the car is designed to have the kilos there and suddenly they are not there, there are some balance issues we need to work on,” Rovanperä continued.
In the Canary Islands, Rovanperä was completely in a league of his own. But it was the season’s first full asphalt event, and the setup they found there won’t be of much use for quite a while.
That’s because the next seven rallies will all be run on gravel. Rovanperä warned that getting the car’s setup right for the upcoming events won’t be easy.
“I still feel, especially on gravel, that we haven’t got it exactly where I need it to be,” Rovanperä said.
Rovanperä was the king of the hybrid era, winning the world championship in both 2022 and 2023.
“I think before I was using the hybrid really well. I was happier with the balance and weight distribution of the car,” Rovanperä admitted.
“So yeah, going back to gravel, we still need to work on it and try to, of course, get to the same pace as here.”
