Rovanperä frequently set the fastest times throughout the day, leaving his challenger, Latvia’s Martins Sesks, unable to keep up as the evening approached. Rovanperä now leads the rally by 15.7 seconds over the Latvian.
Rovanperä demonstrated his usual prowess. When the Finn wants to set the fastest times, he does. However, the bad news for his competitors is that he could still drive even better.
“It didn’t come as easily as it sometimes has. It was a good day, but I had to drive carefully all day. Not a perfect day, but considering that, it went quite well,” Rovanperä summarised Friday.
Rovanperä performed masterfully, making no mistakes. However, there were a few minor incidents.
“There was one stage where something might have happened, I need to check the video to see if we had a wrong pace note. One braking point came up quite suddenly,” Rovanperä recounted.
Latvia is in the WRC for the first time this year. The atmosphere has been fantastic.
“There were so many people watching on the road sections, especially as we drove through a couple of towns. It’s really great to see so many people on the stages and road sections,” Rovanperä praised the new addition.
On Saturday, the rally moves closer to the central location of Liepaja. The Latvian roads are familiar to Rovanperä from his junior driving days, but this likely won’t give him much advantage.
“It shouldn’t be, at least. The roads tomorrow are a bit different. A bit simpler,” Rovanperä explained about the upcoming route.
Saturday’s schedule includes six special stages, each driven only once, except for the Vecpils stage, which will be run twice.
“It makes a big difference. I’ll have to study the pace notes quite a bit this evening, since there are so many different stages. I definitely won’t remember them as well,” Rovanperä predicted.
So far, Martins Sesks has been Rovanperä’s toughest challenger in the competition. Sesks knows his country’s roads like the back of his hand, so his strong performance hasn’t surprised Rovanperä.
“Of course, he gets a lot of advantage from knowing these stages. He’s from here, so he should know these stages very well. He has driven in the European Championship here every year, and now we’re driving the same stages. He’s driven well,” Rovanperä acknowledged.
