A video of Rovanperä testing the car in Sardinia was released on social media this Tuesday, raising significant questions.
Watch the video of Rovanperä’s test below. The article continues after the video.
Rovanperä is definitely participating in the next World Rally Championship round in Portugal, happening in a couple of weeks. The Rally Sardegna, however, is scheduled for the transition from May to June.
Rovanperä has repeatedly mentioned his dislike for the Sardinian gravel rally. Therefore, it has been generally assumed that Rovanperä, who is racing part-time this season, would skip the Sardinian round.
The scheduling of the Rally Sardegna is also inconvenient for Rovanperä, as he plans to compete in the Fuji 24 Hours race in Japan the weekend before. If Rovanperä were to participate in the Rally Sardegna, he would have to fly directly from Japan to the Mediterranean island for the recce.
A likely explanation for Rovanperä’s test in Sardinia is that Toyota might be exceptionally conducting a pre-test for the Portugal rally there. WRC teams have a limited number of test days available, which leads them to sometimes resort to creative solutions.
For instance, last year Toyota conducted tests in Sardinia for both the Portugal and Sardinian gravel rallies at the same time, even though the rallies are not entirely similar in nature.
“We focused on making the car as good as possible. It’s not easy because we only have one test day here in Sardinia for both the upcoming Portugal rally and later for Sardinia. The gravel here is obviously not the same as in Portugal, which makes it challenging,” Rovanperä said last year.
Despite the small challenge, Rovanperä managed to win last year’s Rally de Portugal.
Meanwhile, Hyundai is currently testing its Rally1 cars in Portugal. Ott Tänak began Hyundai’s testing phase on Tuesday.
Watch the video of Ott Tänak’s test below.
