Rally|Kalle Rovanperä is in an overwhelming lead. Ott Tänak’s bad luck continued in Latvia.
Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä is closing in on his third win in the World Rally Championship this season. Rovanperä ran away from the others right away on Saturday in the morning’s special tests and didn’t look back after that. With only four of Sunday’s high-speed skies remaining, Rovanperä’s lead is more than 40 seconds ahead of his teammate Sebastien Ogier.
“We have driven our own way, and no risks have been taken. Let’s keep going and try to stay on top. Then it will definitely go well”, Rovanperä summed up his plans for Sunday.
“I would say we are in a good area. In today’s sections, the grip was a little better, so the car also worked better in such conditions.”
Ogier still has to seriously fight for second place. The Latvian driving only the first race of his career with a thoroughbred Rally1 car Martin Sesks is only 4.7 seconds behind Ogier.
“Of course, I’m still learning this car. I’m a bit too cautious in some places, and I’m still trying to find the right rhythm, so it’s not easy to drive such a fast rally and still stay with the others. However, they are all world champions”, said Sesks, driving an M-Sport Ford racer.
Fourth in the rally is Hyundai’s Ott Tänak, who had a hard time on Saturday’s second-to-last clip. Former Toyota driver Elfyn Evans went to the side of the ditches and broke the advertising arch strung across the road. Tänak, on the other hand, came across an ad that was also Toyota’s.
The special stage should have been stopped after Evans’ crash, but it was only done after Tänak’s hit. The advertising fabric got stuck on Tänak’s car and the man had to stop on the side of the road. A Toyota driver also came to help with the removal work Takamoto Katsuta. After all, the Estonian got a calculated time after his misfortune.
“It’s amazing how the race management center takes care of us. They were probably having lunch and drinking wine. The glass of wine you wished for was good”, comments Tänak sarcastically.
Hyundai’s Esapekka Lapin the race was already ruined on Friday. On Saturday, the person from Pieksämäk had to plow the road, but he finally found the joy of driving. Lapland is ninth in the race.
“Now it’s nice and fun to drive again. Yesterday was absolute shit. Now the car works again, and I can trust it. The car turns well now, and I can go into the bend the way it’s supposed to go,” Lappi beamed.
In the WRC2 class, a Swede Oliver Solberg is driving to victory. Competing in Toyota’s Rally2 car Mikko Heikkilä is barely half a minute behind Solberg. Third in the class is also a Toyota driver Sami Pajari.
The story was completely completed after the 16th special exam at 21:15.
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