Rovanperä started Saturday’s leg of the Rally Finland with the fastest time on the Västilä special stage, despite having missed it last year. The Finnish star posted the quickest time, 2.2 seconds ahead of his teammate Elfyn Evans.
“It was surprisingly slippery, but the situation was probably the same for everyone. I tried to enjoy it and pushed a bit. We had a strange problem at the start when the car shut down by itself a couple of seconds before the start time. Luckily, we managed to restart it in time,” Rovanperä summarised.
In the overall standings, Rovanperä now leads Evans by 10.2 seconds. Evans had a minor moment at the beginning of the stage when his car almost slid into a ditch. Toyota’s Sébastien Ogier was the third fastest on the stage and maintains the same position overall. The gap between Evans and Ogier is 3.5 seconds.
“I’m not quite happy with my driving. Especially at the beginning, it was scrappy. The grip wasn´t as gooa as I thought, it looked okey at the beginning,” Evans said.
“We expected Elfyn to go fast here since he drove this stage last year. There was very little grip. It was difficult to find the limits,” Ogier noted.
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville remains in fourth place, complaining about his car’s settings. He was 8.1 seconds off the fastest time, putting him about 20 seconds away from the podium places. M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux continues in fifth place.
Ford driver Gregoire Munster’s poor season continued as he went off the road at the start of Saturday morning’s opening stage. Munster’s Puma Rally1 car veered off in a left-hand corner and crashed into a ditch. The car was severely damaged but was eventually pushed off the road by spectators.
Munster’s crash ruined the stage for Toyota debutant Sami Pajari, as the special stage was briefly halted, and the Finn had to drive through at a slow pace.
In the WRC2 class, Oliver Solberg maintained his lead, with Jari-Matti Latvala 25.6 seconds behind.
“It was a bit slippery at the start, and the rhythm wasn’t very good. There were a couple of small mistakes. There’s still room for improvement,” Latvala said.
There are still five more special stages to be run on Saturday in the Rally Finland. The competition concludes on Sunday.
Rally Finland Standings after SS11/20:
| POS. | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Kalle Rovanperä | Toyota | 1:06.45.0 |
| 2. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +10.2 |
| 3. | Sebastien Ogier | Toyota | +13.7 |
| 4. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | +33.6 |
| 5. | Adrien Fourmaux | Ford | +1:00.0 |
| 6. | Sami Pajari | Toyota | +x:xx.x |
| 7. | Oliver Solberg | Skoda | +3:55.3 |
| 8. | Jari-Matti Latvala | Toyota | +4:20.9 |
| 9. | Robert Virves | Skoda | +4:31.7 |
| 10. | Mikko Heikkilä | Toyota | +4:33.0 |
| 11. | Nikolai Grjazin | Citroen | +4:47.6 |
| 12. | Roope Korhonen | Toyota | +4:48.7 |
| 13. | Lauri Joona | Skoda | +4:48.8 |
Rally Finland Itinerary
Thursday 1.8. 09.01 Shakedown: Ruuhimäki (4.12 km) 18.05 SS1: Harju 1 (3.48 km) Friday 2.8. 07.13 SS2: Laukaa 1 (17.96 km) 08.20 SS3: Saarikas 1 (15.93 km) 09.35 SS4: Myhinpää 1 (15.51 km) 11.05 SS5: Ruuhimäki 1 (7.76 km) 14.10 SS6: Laukaa 2 (17.96 km) 15.17 SS7: Saarikas 2 (15.93 km) 16.32 SS8: Myhinpää 2 (15.51 km) 18.05 SS9: Ruuhimäki 2 (7.76 km) 19.05 SS10: Harju 2 (2.01 km) Saturday 3.8. 08.05 SS11: Västilä 1 (18.94 km) 09.05 SS12: Päijälä 1 (20.19 km) 10.05 SS13: Ouninpohja 1 (32.98 km) 14.35 SS14: Västilä 2 (18.94 km) 15.35 SS15: Päijälä 2 (20.19 km) 16.35 SS16: Ouninpohja 2 (32.98 km) Sunday 4.8. 07.55 SS17: Sahloinen-Moksi 1 (14.27 km) 09.05 SS18: Laajavuori 1 (4.35 km) 10.17 SS19: Sahloinen-Moksi 2 (24.27 km) 12.15 SS20: Laajavuori 2 (8.77 km)* Power Stage
