Kalle Rovanperä claimed two consecutive victories at the Estonian Rally on Sunday afternoon with an excellent result to secure his fifth FIA World Rally Championship victory in six rounds.
Twelve months ago he became the youngest ever WRC winner with a win in Estonia. Today's virtuoso success has taken him one step closer to becoming the youngest champion in the 50-year history of the Worlds.
The 21-year-old Finn finished all four days on dirt 1min 00.9s ahead of Toyota GR teammate Yaris Elfyn Evans to increase his points lead to 83 after seven stages out of 13 on the 2022 FIA WRC Calendar.
Evans initially dominated, but Rovanperä took the lead in the last rain-soaked special on Friday. After fine-tuning his car on Saturday morning, he's managed seven consecutive best times to put the Welshman away and more than double his lead.
Rain again ensured slippery conditions in Sunday's final leg, but Rovanperä was unwilling to compromise. He won the final Wolf Power Stage by an astonishing 22.4 seconds to earn maximum bonus points. Such was his dominance that he won 14 of the rally's 24 stages.
“It was great again and thanks to Jonne [co-driver Halttunen] because it was a tough weekend, but we drove really well,” said Rovanperä euphorically.
“We enjoy every rally and although we have to put in a lot of effort because the pressure is always high, we are managing well.”, added the young Finn.
Evans practically suffered defeat on Saturday night and any hope he had of catching his teammate was dashed on Sunday's second special, when he flipped over and went down nearly 10 seconds.
Home hero Ott Tänak completed the podium 54.8 seconds behind in a Hyundai i20. He never seemed to threaten those ahead as he struggled with driving problems, but the four-time Estonian winner was more than good enough to finish as the best of the "others".
Teammate Thierry Neuville faced similar issues, and had to keep a cool head to finish nearly two minutes behind in fourth despite a "forced brushing" of the i20 in the bushes and a spinning top on Sunday.
Fifth place was rewarded by Takamoto Katsuta after recovering from a rollover in Thursday's warm-up which required a body repair from the Toyota team. The Japanese rider finished 20.1 seconds behind Neuville and 35.7 seconds ahead of Esapekka Lappi's GR Yaris.
Lappi's hopes of finishing in the top four were dashed when he had to change a wheel after a puncture caused by a heavy landing on Saturday. The Finn dropped to seventh, but won two stages on the final day and was ahead of Adrian Fourmaux's Ford Puma in the final.
The result brought Frenchman Fourmaux relief after a scorching first half of the season in which he recorded four retirements in six WRC rounds.
It was a disappointing last day for M-Sport Ford. Pierre-Louis Loubet retired after hitting a rock in the opening stage and breaking his Puma's left front suspension, while Gus Greensmith exited after the next stage with a transmission problem in his car.
The final three places were filled by drivers from the main category supporting WRC2. Andreas Mikkelsen withstood a determined push from Teemu Suninen for eighth place, with Emil Lindholm finishing 10th after Marco Bulacia crashed out on the penultimate stage.
The WRC continues in Northern Europe for another fast rally on dirt specials at the Secto Rally Finland next month. The eighth leg of the season takes place in Jyväskylä from August 4th to 7th.
コメント