The left-rear tyre on his Toyota failed on the final stage of Thursday morning’s loop. Rovanperä managed to reach the finish without changing it, but he still lost more than half a minute of valuable time.
The desert stages quickly revealed that puncture risks lurk everywhere in Saudi Arabia. Among the Rally1 front-runners, Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and M-Sport Ford’s Josh McErlean also suffered punctures during the morning.
Although the harsh conditions of the new WRC round were well known, Rovanperä was still left puzzled by his own situation.
“It was an unfortunate puncture. A bit shame when it comes from somewhere what you don’t really know,” he admitted after reaching the midday service.
“There was nothing too rough in the beginning of the stage. But it is what it is. Luckily, we didn’t lose more time than that,” the Toyota star added.
According to Rovanperä, the stages were as rough as expected – and all three will be driven again in the afternoon.
“Now it’s going to be really, really rough in the afternoon. So we will see how it is,” he said.
“The first stage should not be too bad. It was cancelled after 16 cars, so let’s hope that one will be, I think, the best one of the loop. But then the two other ones will be super rough,” he pointed out.
After four stages, Rovanperä lies only tenth overall and is already more than a minute behind rally leader Martins Sesks.
It is hardly an ideal position for his title hopes – which were already slim beforehand. Championship leader Elfyn Evans and second-placed Sébastien Ogier both struggled from their road positions on the morning loop, yet they still sit ahead of Rovanperä.
To claim the championship in what is also his last WRC rally for now, Rovanperä would need to outscore Evans by at least 24 points and Ogier by 22 points.
“We just keep going and see what we get on the afternoon. Obviously we would need a bit better starting place for tomorrow to stay in the fight. So let’s see,” he summed up.
Four more stages will follow after the service on Thursday. The rally concludes on Saturday.
