The Finnish star didn’t quite reach the top speed and, after Friday’s six special stages, is third in the rally, 10.1 seconds behind the leader. Rovanperä took some responsibility for his underperformance.
“I’m not really surprised. The road base is really hard, so you get a bit of a line and some grip here and there, but it’s changing all the time and I have to change my driving a bit to suit this,” Rovanperä told.
“I already knew last year I was struggling on the same road. It’s just how you need to drive these roads. It’s completely opposite how I drive on gravel, so it’s really not working. I think the setup and everything combined, it just makes the not so comfortable feeling.”
On the other hand, Rovanperä remains in the fight for victory. The gap to the leader is small, and there are still ten special stages left. Leading the competition is Rovanperä’s teammate, Elfyn Evans, with Ott Tänak also ahead of the Finn.
“At the end the gap It’s not too bad. Considering everything it could be much worse. It´s not too bad for the fight tomorrow,” Rovanperä said.
“I try to catch the two guys and for sure tomorrow it is a different kind of stages. It’s a bit different character. So I hope a bit better feeling and I hope I can do something.”
