The world champion Rovanperä is kicking off his competitive season this weekend in Rovaniemi, where he’s participating in the Arctic Lapland Rally as a test. The Finnish star is competing in selected WRC rounds this year, and the “Arctic” offers him a good preparation for the Swedish round happening in a couple of weeks.
“It’s been enjoyable to drive here. The shakedown had proper winter conditions,” Rovanperä chuckled after shakedown to RallyJournal.com.
“It’s quite nice to be back, especially for a rally like this.”
Rovanperä was already pushing his limits on the Vennivaara test stage. The Toyota driver clipped a snowbank in a fast corner, which resulted in a piece of the rear bumper coming off. Fortunately, a photographer positioned in the corner narrowly missed being hit by the dislodged part.
Rovanperä addressed the situation with humour.
“That’s part of snow rallying,” the champion jested.
The Arctic Rally officially starts on Friday, with five special stages scheduled for the day.
“The important thing is to get the car working. Last year we weren’t very strong in Sweden, and even in the winter tests we’ve done so far (in December), we haven’t quite got the car to work,” Rovanperä mentioned.
“We’ll try to enjoy it, of course. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been very cold all the time, so the road conditions are in pretty bad shape. They were surprisingly poor already during the recce – a lot of gravel and everything. Let’s see how enjoyable it ends up being. Of course, we’ll try to enjoy it while hopefully getting the machinery in shape,” he added.
