Rovanperä secured a podium finish, but the loss to Hyundai’s Ott Tänak on Sunday still stung. The Finn started the final day in second place but was edged out by the Estonian by just 3.5 seconds.
Despite that, Rovanperä considered the weekend a success overall. Securing the third-biggest points haul was a positive outcome, especially given the ongoing challenges with the car setup and the still-tricky new Hankook tyres.
“I’d say it was a bit of a defensive victory. Starting second on the road at this rally is always difficult,” Rovanperä said.
“Of course, we had a good road position today, so it would’ve been nice to keep second. But if you compare it to Elfyn (Evans), it wasn’t too bad.”
Evans, who opened the road on Friday, struggled to match the leaders’ pace. He finished sixth overall and scored no points on Sunday. Rovanperä remains second in the championship, with the gap to Evans now reduced to 30 points.
“We’ve taken a lot of points from Elfyn in the last two rallies. Those are always important points. When you’re fighting for the title, you need to collect points at every round. There just wasn’t any more pace in the car this weekend. This was the maximum result we could get,” Rovanperä stated.
“There just wasn’t enough speed in the car. Even today, we drove as fast as we could, but there was no more in it.”
According to Rovanperä, the main issue lies with the tyres. He simply hasn’t been able to get the Hankook rubber to work the way he needs it to.
“I think it comes down to a grip issue. You’re always just driving at the limit of what’s possible, but it’s difficult. It feels really slippery. When we looked at the footage from this morning, Ott especially was fast in the Hyundai. Their car just seems to go forward in a different way. That’s where we’ve got work to do,” Rovanperä noted.
Even though Rovanperä and Toyota made every effort in Portugal to improve the driving feel, there are limits to what can be done during a single rally.
“There’s not much you can do. You can try a few things from the parts you’ve nominated for the event, but that’s it. You have to nominate dampers and other parts before the rally, so there are only a couple of options to try.”
