The world champion for the last two years, the Finn Kalle Rovanpera (Toyota GR Yaris)achieved the final victory this Sunday in Rally Poland, the seventh round of the World Championship and one of the events he did not plan to compete in a season in which he has a limited racing program.
Rovanpera won a rally he barely prepared for and did so with a lead of 28.3 seconds over his British teammate. Elfyn Evanssecond, and 42.7 to the Frenchman Adrien Fourmaux (Ford Puma)third.
The leader of the World Championship of drivers, the Belgian Thierry Neuville (Hyundai i20 N Rally1), handicapped throughout the rally by its starting position in the stages, managed to finish in fourth place, although 1:10.8 minutes behind the winner. He also won the ‘Power Stage’ to add five points out of ten in fourth place and the two from Saturday.
The Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai i20), which was the leader in the first stage, had to settle for sixth place in the final in 2.16.6, just behind the Latvian Martiņš Sesks, who debuted in the top category and finished in fifth place in 1:47.0.
Rovanperä was called urgently and at the last minute by the Toyota team to replace Frenchman Sébastien Ogier, eight-time champion who, together with his co-driver, Vincent Landais, suffered a traffic accident during reconnaissance before the race, which prevented them. from the exit.
The Finn and his co-pilot and countryman, Jonne Halttunen, had to take a plane on Tuesday to the Polish rally base, in Mikołajki. Although he had almost no time to prepare, the Jyvaskyla driver came out of the race with the same pace he finished last season. And he ended up winning the rally and adding his thirteenth World Cup victory.
He started the final stage with a lead of 9.4 seconds over Mikkelsen, but lost all options when a tire on his i20 went off the side on the first stage of the final day. He dropped to the sixth last position.
“It’s been an incredible week. I really have to say that we worked hard and now we’re very tired. I think the best thing is that we got here, and it’s not a bad idea to go. We helped the team a lot and we got a lot of points for the constructors’ championship, so we didn’t waste any time,” said Rovanperä.
Evans was the driver from Poland the best, as he overtook the Estonian Ott Tänak, who had to withdraw on Friday and rejoin the test, to reclaim second place in the drivers’ championship and cut Thierry Neuville’s lead to 15 points with six tests remaining. Tänak, at least, saved 11 points.
The World Championship will continue with the Latvian Rally, based in Liepāja from July 18 to 21.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
