Starting the season with the awareness of not being ready to fight for the top and, at the end of the Rallye Monte-Carlo, being first among the drivers who take part in the entire World Championship does not happen often. This is the case of Kalle Rovanpera, a Toyota driver who finished in fourth place but found himself in third thanks to the victory in the Power Stage.
Excluding the two Sébastien, Loeb and Ogier, who precede him in the general classification, Rovanpera found himself leader in pectore of the WRC 2022, almost a year after the first and last time in which the young Finn had found himself first in the World Championship.
As mentioned, Rovanpera found himself taking part in the Rallye Monte-Carlo aware of having little hope of doing well. He was the one to explain it to Motorsport.com.
“I was impressed with the car, but I was really happy with the Monte-Carlo weekend. I started with a pretty bad pace, and with bad sensations behind the wheel. But then we did a great job with the team to improve the set up. “.
“The car then turned out to be better, more suited to my preferences, so we were able to improve our pace a lot. I started the race with a set-up very similar to that of my teammates: But I think the problem was that I never felt comfortable in the tests. I expected to be in trouble in Monte-Carlo. “
“In testing with the new car we had so much work to do that we couldn’t spend so much time setting up. We had to try many things, but also confirm others.”
“In the tests I didn’t find the right set-up path. It was easier to work on the set-up during the race.”
Rovanpera, in the absence of Loeb and Ogier, will however be forced to open all the tests of the first day of competition at the Rally of Sweden, the next round of the World Rally. It will be the only snow rally scheduled for the 2022 WRC calendar in which Rally1 will find themselves racing in unprecedented conditions.
“The feeling is good, but I have to say it’s quite difficult. We have a lot to do to get the snow set up. This car is really complicated on that ground,” Rovanpera told Motorsport.com.
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1, testing in Finland
Photo by: Toyota Racing
Kalle says that the weight of the Rally1s, which carry almost 80 kilos more than the WRC Plus for adopting the hybrid, makes driving very difficult not only on snow, but also on compact and slippery surfaces.
“This is the first time with this car on fast gravel and snow. The weight of these cars feels, and a lot. Now, if there is snow and it is slippery enough, it is really hard to drive. There is really a lot of work. to do in the cockpit to drive “.
“You have to be really precise and accurate in driving. It doesn’t seem that easy, but we hope we can do well,” concluded the Toyota driver.
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