Rovanperä’s schedule has been tight. The Finnish driver competed in the opening round of the World Rally Championship in Monte Carlo last weekend, and straight afterwards, the Arctic Lapland Rally was on the agenda.
– There hasn’t been much time to rest. We flew to Finland on Monday, and on Tuesday morning, we went straight to recce here, Rovanperä told Rallit.fi.
Over the weekend and at the start of the week, Rovanperä didn’t get much sleep, but after arriving back in his home country, the situation improved in that regard.
– I’ve been able to get a decent amount of sleep here, but on Tuesday’s recce day, I was still running on very little sleep. I didn’t get much rest then, but over the past few days, I’ve managed to sleep quite well. It’s starting to get a bit easier, Rovanperä explained.
Rovanperä finished fourth in the opening round of the World Rally Championship in Monte Carlo. It wasn’t the best version of Kalle, but the Finn still managed to collect an impressive 18 championship points from Monte. He wasn’t particularly satisfied with his performance in Monte, and his opinion hadn’t changed.
– My feelings haven’t changed much, except for the fact that we managed to secure some decent points. It looks like I won’t have to worry too much about not being the first car on the road in Sweden. The points gap is quite optimal in that sense – there aren’t huge differences in either direction. That’s something to be satisfied with, Rovanperä assessed.
Rovanperä has already had a chance to familiarise himself with the Arctic Lapland Rally conditions and test his car.
– The initial feeling with the car is quite good. There will probably be quite a lot to adjust in terms of the tyres. It’s the same situation as on tarmac – the tyre’s carcass is quite different, as is the way the tyre behaves. We’re trying our best to adapt and adjust the car accordingly. The tyre is essentially part of the suspension, so it affects the entire car’s setup, Rovanperä explained.
It took Rovanperä some time to get used to the new Hankook tyres in Monte Carlo. Throughout the Monte weekend, the Finn repeatedly mentioned that his driving style was not yet optimally suited to the slicks. Now, it’s time to learn how the snow tyres behave, and the Arctic Lapland Rally provides the perfect setting for that.
– Of course, I need to get a good feeling for the driving, but that has usually been fine on snow. Here, I just need to focus on getting the car to work exactly how I want it to. If that becomes a struggle in Sweden, it’s obviously a bad situation. Then things get difficult, Rovanperä pondered.
Rovanperä preferred to compete in a proper test rally rather than fine-tune his driving on the same test stage day after day.
– I’d say this approach has worked quite well for us in recent years, Rovanperä stated.
