Kalle Rovanperä strikes back – Hyundai’s French star still leads the rally

The Rallye National Hivernal du Dévoluy, a prestigious event, once again serves as a test rally for Rally1 drivers preparing for next month’s Monte Carlo Rally. This year, there is more to test than usual, as hybrid units will be retired next season, restrictors will be reduced, and the tyre supplier will change, with Hankook becoming the official tyre manufacturer for the WRC.

The tyre situation has particularly caught attention in France. Despite the season opener being only a month away, top-tier drivers have done very limited testing with the new tyres, which will need to deliver top times on Monte Carlo’s highly challenging stages. Toyota’s Sébastien Ogier mentioned last weekend in Monza that he has yet to drive even a single metre on the new tyres.

Perhaps for this reason, both Toyota’s Rovanperä and Adrien Fourmaux, who has moved to Hyundai, alternated between Pirelli and Hankook tyres during both Friday’s test stage and Saturday’s special stages at the Hivernal Rally. The change is bound to be significant.

Hyundai’s Fourmaux dominated the first two stages of the test rally, but Rovanperä claimed victory on the next two. As a result, by the end of Saturday, the French driver held a 16-second lead over Rovanperä.

The Hivernal Rally in Dévoluy is located right next to Gap, the central location for the Monte Carlo Rally. For this reason, the event is an extremely important test rally for both Rovanperä and Fourmaux. Both drivers are also providing valuable data for their teams’ other drivers, especially now, as the challenging conditions make the test experience highly valuable.

On Sunday, six more special stages will be contested at the Hivernal Rally. At least wintery conditions have been well represented in this test rally.

Standings after SS4/10: