WRC | Rovanpera comes close to the podium on his debut in the Carrera Cup in Zandvoort

Two-time reigning WRC champion Kalle Rovanpera will combine a partial World Rally program with four races in the Porsche one-make series this year, and this weekend’s visit to the venue of the Dutch Grand Prix marked the start of his career on the track.

The Toyota WRC driver ranked fourth and fifth in a field of 23 cars in the two races at Zandvoort, contested driving a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup prepared by Red Ant Racing.

Rovanpera qualified 0.165s behind poleman Niels Langeveld and made an excellent start from third position, a position he held before the opening race was interrupted due to an accident on the starting straight.

Shortly after the restart, Rovanpera dropped to fifth place behind Robin Knutsson and Dutchman Paul Meijer, before the Finn launched a comeback that included the fastest lap of the race.

The 23-year-old quickly caught up and overtook Meijer for fourth place with an eye-catching move into the final corner. He then aimed for third place, finishing the race one tenth from the podium in his first race. The race was won by Dirk Schouten, who preceded Langeveld by 1″025.

“Great fight from start to finish, P4 to finish,” Rovanpera wrote on social media. “I’m not entirely satisfied with my first laps. At the beginning I couldn’t get the car to work and I wasn’t defensive enough, but it was all new, for me it was the first time with other cars around.”

“After that, I got into a good rhythm and also made some overtaking for the rest of the race, finishing less than two tenths of P3. I fought hard and also set the fastest lap of the race. I can be really satisfied.” .

Rovanpera started the second race from sixth position and managed to pass Saturday poleman Langeveld for fifth position in a race interrupted by the Safety Car. Rovanpera then put pressure on Sacha Norden, but he had to settle for fifth place, finishing with a fastest lap four tenths slower than in Race 1.

“Race 2 went too, starting P6 and finishing P5. It wasn’t an easy race,” wrote Rovanpera. “I struggled a lot with the car set-up, we tried something different than yesterday and the pace wasn’t there. I’m not happy with the result, but overall we can be satisfied with the clean weekend.”

Rovanpera will participate in the next round of the series in Imola, from 5 to 7 July.