Sweden has no fears for the road opener Rovanperä
The young Finn finished fourth at the season opener Rallye Monte-Carlo. Combined with maximum bonus points from a Wolf Power Stage win, it placed him in third place in the series behind Sébastien’s Loeb and Ogier.
Since none of the French compete in the FIA World Rally Championships’ only pure winter match in Umeå, it falls to Rovanperä to open the road and possibly plow a rope through snow and ice.
– It can be tricky to be first [in Sweden]”,” He said, “but we will do our best. Of course, the most important thing is to have the points in your luggage and to come from Monte-Carlo, it was nice. ”
Rovanperä had a great start in the French Alps and ended up in 11th place overall, after WRC2 leader Eric Camilli, after the opening night.
With the support of engineer Taavi Ellermaa, Rovanperä made major changes to his GR Yaris Rally1 to improve the layout. He was still a low ninth after the second day, but everything clicked into place in the penultimate leg when he loaded to four with two stage wins.
“We were in big, big fights,” he admitted. “But finally we could make the car much better for me and then I could start to adapt to it much better.
“What did we do? We did everything! The car was completely different than when we started and we made many, many changes. It was really nice to see and many thanks to my engineer for driving me with the car and trying to find all the new ones. cases.
Video: Rallye Monte-Carlo best of action
“Finally, in Monte it was a good weekend and we are in this great position to lead the championship. Let’s see what we can do with the next rally. We just need to work really hard in the test and be more ready at the beginning of the rally. ”
Rovanperä is hoping for better luck than when he last opened the road on the first day of a WRC event. He topped the championship after round two last season, crashed at the start of the following Croatia Rally and withdrew from the race.