A few hours before the start of the Catalan Rally comes excellent news for the Toyota Racing team and for the World Championship: Kalle Rovanpera will be there and will be able to race regularly at the wheel of the official Toyota Yaris WRC Plus number 69.
2 weeks ago, at the Rally of Finland, Rovanpera had been the author of an accident that had led him to collide with a pile of gravel, placed at that point to try to protect the drivers from the possible impact against a light pole.
The pile did its duty, but the violence of the impact caused Rovanpera back pains that forced him not to resume the race the following day, on Sunday. According to a spokesperson for the Toyota Gazoo Racing team, Rovanpera and his co-driver Jonne Halttunen will be regularly at the start of the penultimate round of the 2021 World Rally.
“Kalle hit a mound of gravel. At that moment his arms were crossed and they were pushed back. At that point he started suffering from some back pain.” explained Jari-Matti Latvala, Toyota team principal.
“We would have liked to have it restarted on Sunday, at the Rally of Finland, in case something had happened to the cars of Ogier and Evans, so that he could secure us points for the Constructors’ World Championship.”
Toyota currently has a 61-point lead in the Constructors’ Championship over Hyundai Motorsport. In Catalonia he could have the first match point to take home the title dedicated to the Houses after 2 years that it ended up in the hands of the Alzenau team.
For Toyota it will be enough to win the event and place one of the other two Yaris WRC Plus in the Top 6. A scenario that is more than possible, given the trend of the season. The last time the Caalogna Rally was held it was won by Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul. On that occasion, however, Ott Tanak – Toyota driver at the time – managed to hit his first and today only WRC Drivers World title.