Rovanperä was still leading the rally on Saturday evening, but then fate intervened in a very unfortunate way from the Finn’s perspective. Rovanperä suffered a puncture on the penultimate stage of Saturday night.
To his dismay, the puncture struck on the longest stage of the day – and before the halfway point. Naturally, the clock did not forgive this, and Rovanperä dropped from the lead to sixth place, losing his chance of victory.
Rovanperä finished in the same position also on Sunday, but Adrien Fourmaux’s retirement eventually handed the Finn fifth place overall, and on top of that he managed to pick up valuable points from Super Sunday and the Power Stage. His total haul rose to 18 World Championship points. Far from perfect – but fortunately not a disaster either.
Even so, there was much to swallow in the disappointment.
“I was not really so comfortable when I could feel that I’m not really in the best form. Let’s say I wasn’t extracting the best I could from the car. It’s never the best feeling, obviously,” Rovanperä told Rallyjournal.com.
“We were still in the fight and had some good pace as well. But then came the puncture yesterday, and after that, today we just did what we could to get some Sunday points at the end,” Rovanperä continued.
Even on Sunday, Rovanperä was still on strong pace and picked up very valuable championship points. If on Saturday he had no luck whatsoever, on Sunday fortune smiled upon him again – at least as far as the weather was concerned.
“The weather helped us a bit in the end, and we got some good points, so can’t be too disappointed,” said Rovanperä.
Overall, however, Rovanperä’s Sunday was heavy going. The Finn revealed that he had fallen ill during the night between Saturday and Sunday.
“I got sick last night and already felt really bad this morning. I’m happy that it’s over now. I have no energy. This day was quite tough,” Rovanperä said.
From the perspective of the World Championship battle, Rovanperä has not lost anything yet. He is now second in the drivers’ standings, ahead of his team-mate Sébastien Ogier, who claimed victory in Paraguay. Rovanperä now has 191 points, while Elfyn Evans, who continues to lead the championship, has 198 points. The Finn’s gap to the top is therefore only seven points.
“We are still close. I think only Elfyn has the gap now, so it’s still the same situation,” reflected Rovanperä.
The exceptionally fierce World Rally Championship title fight will continue next in mid-September in Chile.
