The official TGR duo participated in the snow race to accumulate precious kilometers driving their cars ahead of the WRC Rally Sweden, scheduled for 15 to 18 February.
Evans took the win by a margin of 5'02″3 over 2022 Finnish champion Mikko Heikkila, after a problem affected leader Rovanpera, making his return to rallying since opting to participate in a part-time WRC program 'year.
Reigning WRC champion and co-driver Jonne Halttunen, who will begin their partial season in Sweden, led the event for 11 of the 12 stages before a technical problem stopped them on the final stage.
The Finnish pair led Evans and his co-driver Scott Martin by 24.6s at the end of Friday, after Rovanpera had won four of the five stages.
Kalle increased his lead to 54.5s after setting a series of faster times, but his rally ended in the final stage handing victory to Evans.
“The whole day was positive and today we finally tried the finishing touches on the car, which has always been fast,” said Rovanpera.
“The morning lap went very well and so did the afternoon. We had a good pace the whole time, but unfortunately we suffered technical problems with a few km to go and so unfortunately we weren't able to finish, but we had fun and we achieved the most important thing, which is to do kilometres.”
“We understood the car and the set-up better, so I think the tests were important and we hope to have a better feeling before Sweden.”
Rovanpera was one stage away from winning
Photo by: Toyota Racing
Evans won the final stage of the rally 42.6 seconds ahead of Heikkila, driving the new Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, snatching victory from the Finn.
“I think it was very useful to come and do the rally, obviously the mileage on snow and ice is a huge plus because it's a unique surface, so leading the way here was important,” Evans said.
“It's no secret that we expected to have to do some work to get the car where we wanted it, and we've certainly made some progress, but I'm still a little bit away from feeling fully comfortable in all honesty. Let's see what we will be able to find.”
Toyota WRC team principal Jari-Matti Latvala also took part in the rally, finishing 20th overall at the wheel of a Toyota Celica ST185.
The Japanese brand's WRC Challenge drivers, Hikaru Kogure and Yuki Yamamoto, took their GR Yaris Rally2s to ninth and tenth place overall.
Speaking of other races, former M-Sport WRC driver Pierre-Louis Loubet took victory in the Qatar International Rally after beating fellow Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 driver Mads Ostberg by 4.6s.
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