Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera (above) is an enormous step nearer to taking his first WRC Rally Finland victory after a surprising run of 5 particular stage wins on Saturday’s second leg left the house hero comfortably away from the sector.
The 2-time and reigning FIA World Rally champion, who was born and raised within the rally’s dwelling metropolis of Jyvaskyla, accomplished the penultimate leg of the WRC’s quickest all-gravel occasion with a 44.2s benefit over his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 teammate Sebastien Ogier. Factors chief Thierry Neuville, driving a Hyundai i20 N Rally1, ended the day an extra 39.2s again in third total.
After Friday’s moist, however nonetheless super-fast opening leg, Saturday provided extra of the identical, with Rovanpera, Elfyn Evans and Ogier starting the morning loop in a Toyota 1-2-3 on the prime of the leaderboard.
Nevertheless it all went improper for Evans when his GR Yaris’s front-right driveshaft broke within the second stage of the day, the blisteringly quick Paijala 1 check. That pressured him to limp via one other 25 miles of particular levels in highway mode — shedding nearly six minutes within the course of — earlier than repairs could possibly be made within the mid-leg service again at Jyvaskyla.
Elfyn Evans was maintaining Toyota teammate Kalle Rovanpera in his sights, till plunging down the order with a driveshaft difficulty for his GR Yaris Rally1. Jaanus Ree/Purple Bull Content material Pool
Rovanpera’s benefit over the now second-placed Ogier had ballooned to over 20s by the top of the morning leg. The afternoon was a repeat of the three particular levels and the 23-year-old Finn, who’s chosen to run solely a part-time WRC marketing campaign in 2024, continued his flawless drive. Regardless of changeable climate via the day, he received all however one of many six levels, together with each passes of 20.49-mile Ouninpohja’s legendary rollercoaster experience.
“Within the morning there was an excellent struggle and we saved pushing at this time,” mentioned Rovanpera, who crashed out whereas main his dwelling rally final yr. “We did some fairly sturdy occasions with out taking any enormous dangers, so that’s fairly optimistic.”
Eight-time WRC champ Ogier — one other certainly one of Toyota Gazoo Racing’s roster taking in solely a restricted 2024 program — was not within the temper for taking pointless dangers and admitted that, having not competed right here since 2021, he lacked the dedication wanted to problem Rovanpera.
“The dedication must be at 100%,” mentioned Ogier, whose solely Rally Finland win got here again in 2013 with VW, “and two years lacking right here makes it more difficult. In Finland, there will not be so many guys who can comply with the 100% of Kalle Rovanpera…”
After struggling for tempo on Friday, the second leg was extra optimistic for Neuville and his title aspirations. Whereas Evans, at present third within the WRC drivers’ standings, has thus far didn’t register a rating, Neuville’s in a single day third place provisionally earned him 13 treasured championship factors. His Hyundai teammate, Ott Tanak, who was second in factors coming into this spherical, didn’t restart following his heavy crash on Friday morning.
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville has moved into third total. With issues for his closest WRC title rivals, it’s trying like a helpful weekend for the Belgian. Jaanus Ree/Purple Bull Content material Pool
Adrien Fourmaux set the same tempo to Neuville on the day’s levels, however the Frenchman trailed the Belgian by 25.9s after struggling to regain time misplaced to him yesterday.
Fourmaux’s M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 teammate Gregoire Munster’s day was over in a flash after the Luxembourg driver rolled 2.5 miles into Saturday’s opening stage.
Behind Fourmaux, Sami Pajari and co-driver Enni Malkonen are on the right track to report a top-five end result on their GR Yaris Rally1 debut, with 29.5s separating the younger Finnish pair from fourth-placed Fourmaux.
In WRC2, the second tier of worldwide rallying, Oliver Solberg continues to set the tempo in his Toksport-run Skoda Fabia RS.
The 22-year-old Swede ended Friday’s opening leg with a 24.1s lead over former WRC ace and now-Toyota Gazoo Racing workforce principal Jari-Matti Latvala, who’s having fun with a one-off drive in a new-for-2024 GR Yaris Rally2.
Solberg eked out the hole over Saturday’s opening levels, then discovered himself having fun with 47.6s of clear air after Latvala misplaced time with a spin within the day’s closing check, Ouninpohja 2. A trouble-free run on the ultimate day will see him extending his WRC2 factors lead.
Oliver Solberg constructed a commanding WRC2 lead after a flawless day in his Skoda Fabia RS. McKlein/Motorsport Pictures
Sunday’s last leg consists of 4 extra super-fast particular levels, including as much as a brief, sharp 25.89 aggressive miles. Sahloinen-Moksi and Laajavuori are every run twice, with the latter because the rally-closing, bonus points-paying Wolf Energy Stage.
WRC Rally Finland, positions after Leg Two, SS16
1 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 2h03m53.8s
2 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +44.2s
3 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1m23.8s
4 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Ford Puma Rally1) +1m49.7s
5 Sami Pajari/Enni Malkonen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2m19.2s
6 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2 chief) +7m32.4s
7 Jari-Matti Latvala/Juho Hanninen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2) +8m20.0s
8 Lauri Joona/Janni Hussi (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +8m52.4s
9 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Citroen C3 – WRC2, non-points) +8m57.7s
10 Mikko Heikkila/Kristian Temonen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2) +9m04.8s
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