The first day of the Rally of Spain 2022 ended in the name of the family challenge between two drivers of the Toyota: the new world champion Kalle Rovanperä and the French Sébastien Ogier. The eight-time world champion was the winner after the first heats, with a provisional double from the team Gazoo Racing which allows Toyota itself to get even closer to the goal of the constructors’ title at the penultimate round of the world championship.
Yet, in the first two tests of the day, Rovanperä had started on the right foot, able to defend himself from the attacks of the Hyundai Thierry Neuville, 2nd classified for three consecutive heats. At the end of SS4, however, the Belgian driver managed not only to win the stage, but also to jump to the top of the general classification in front of an excellent Ogier, able to exploit the understeer problems accused by his Finnish teammate. At that point, with four races still to go, the transalpine obtained the best time twice, sharing this result with Rovanperä.
Between the two, Ogier had the better, leader of the standings just under five seconds ahead of his rival, and more than ten on the two Hyundai of Neuville and Tänakwith the Estonian not quite brilliant throughout the day, and never on the ‘top step of the podium’.
WRC | Rally Spain: ranking after SS8 – Top 10
POS. | PILOT | CAR | TIME / GAP |
1 | S. OGIER | Toyota | 1: 06: 07.9 |
2 | K. ROVANPERÄ | Toyota | +4.8 |
3 | T. NEUVILLE | Hyundai | +12.5 |
4 | O. TÄNAK | Hyundai | +20.0 |
5 | D. DEAF | Hyundai | +50.9 |
6 | E. EVANS | Toyota | +1: 01.2 |
7 | C. BREEN | Ford | +1: 03.7 |
8 | T. KATSUTA | Toyota | +1: 28.6 |
9 | A. FOURMAUX | Ford | +1: 31.3 |
10 | G. GREENSMITH | Ford | +1: 38.8 |
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