“I hope not to see them often because without them I would have won”. Like this Craig Breen, joking up to a certain point, he commented on his own Rally del Monte which saw him finish in third place. The Ford driver was the first of the humans behind the two extraterrestrials Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier, but the delay is very heavy: almost 100 seconds, 1’39 “8 to be exact. Worse was the virtual leader of the championship, or Kalle Rovanpera. The Toyota driver finished the Rally del Monte in fourth place, but won the Power Stage bringing his tally to 17 points against Breen’s 15, only eighth in the final test not valid for the general classification of the Rally, but aimed at assigning additional points to the top five.
Over the four days of competition, the Finn paid a total of 2 minutes, sixteen seconds and two tenths to the winner Loeb. A balance that on average is almost eight seconds lost in each special stage. An unedifying scenario for the full-time protagonists of the World Rally, literally humiliated by the transalpine legends who have done another sport like for almost twenty years now (the only driver to have interrupted the Loeb-Ogier row in the register gold for the past 18 years was Ott Tanak in 2019). Loeb may no longer appear at the start in this WRC 2022 after his appearance at Monte, Ogier instead he does not plan to go beyond the 4-5 Rally. A part-time commitment that therefore opens the doors to competition from a world title perspective.
Jari Matti Latvala, ex-driver now at the Toyota Gazoo Racing bridge, defends Rovanpera’s performance: “The two Sebastiens are exceptions in our sport – the words of the Finnish reported by today’s edition of the French newspaper L’Equipe – they are the best drivers in history and the result of this Rally del Monte testifies once again that what they have achieved in their career did not come by chance. In addition, it should not be forgotten that this appointment has always been their favorite. I am proud of Kalle Rovanpera’s performance. He started the Rally by taking two seconds per kilometer and finished it by winning the Power Stage ”.
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