The Jyväskylä World Cup Rally starts on Thursday. Kalle Rovanperä is the favorite to win after a strong early season. Urheilu reports three things to follow.
1) Fair competition
Kalle Rovanperä has been raised as early favorites for the home race starting on Thursday on the gravel roads of Central Finland. Rovanperä has won five races out of seven and leads the World Series by an overwhelming margin.
Sports expert Mikko Hirvonen still expect an even race where no one is able to break huge gaps. The winner of last year’s Jyskälä is rightfully included in the fight for victory Elfyn Evans, but Hirvonen also highlights the third Toyota driver Esapekka Lapin.
– Esapekka has already won this rally once (in 2017). He got to drive the rally last year. The roads are more familiar. There isn’t that much of a break. I believe that Esapekka will be able to fight for victory, says Hirvonen.
Toyota has celebrated a victory in Central Finland every time since returning to the World Series.
Hirvonen also believes Hyundai Ott Tänak too and by Thierry Neuville possibilities this year, if Hyundai has found the right adjustments for Central Finland.
– It will be interesting to see if they have tightened Toyota’s lead. I hope they have been able to. It would make for an even more interesting fight.
– It has seemed that Hyundai has had a lot of difficulties in finding proper adjustments for the car. I don’t think the test location will solve the situation. Yes, there have been bigger problems with the design and adjustments of the car, Hirvonen sees.
There is also an interesting name in the main category in Finnish terms Jari Huttunen. He gets to drive for the first time in the main class when he commands the M-Sport Ford rally1 car. Huttuse, who has been chasing the race in the main class for a long time, now has a big screen place.
– Jarilla might not have enough to fight for victory, but hopefully he could be the fastest Ford. If you can do it, it would be a really hard feat, Hirvonen states.
2) Threat of rain
Unstable weather has been predicted for the Jyväskylä World Rally Championship. During the weekend, it may rain from time to time. Thunderstorms are not an excluded possibility either. Unstable weather is indeed an unpredictable element in Kalle Rovanperä’s pursuit of victory.
So what does Rovanperä’s situation look like when he goes to the first proper driving day as the top car on Friday?
– Now that there have been thunderstorms and it might rain really hard for a few minutes somewhere, it can do tricks and mix up the snow, says Hirvonen.
Already in Estonia we saw how the rain mixed the results. However, Kalle Rovanperä, who won the race, was praised for his driving in the rain.
– It will certainly not be a problem for Kalle, Hirvonen underlines.
Hirvonen believes that a little rain could help Rovanperä.
– If the roads here are a bit wet, it’s good to go in the front position, Hirvonen says.
– If it was completely dry, it could be difficult as the first car. But when you go so hard all the time, the loss is not as terrible as, for example, in Portugal or Sardinia. The starting point matters in Jyväskylä, but not so much.
3) On the route, you have to be careful, how does the maintenance work?
As soon as Friday, we will also see an exceptional situation, when there are two daycares in the program. The situation is very rare nowadays in the World Rally Championship. We usually go to one daycare. Now in Central Finland, however, they will be scheduled for maintenance on Friday after two special tests.
According to Mikko Hirvonen, it offers a better chance to correct the car’s adjustments if they have gone wrong before the start of the race.
– I don’t think it will bring anything special or be of great importance. Of course, the teams will have more opportunities to inspect the cars. At least able to react faster if something happens, Hirvonen states.
Overall, Hirvonen finds the route of the Jyväskylä World Rally Championship interesting. Hirvinen’s first impression of the route has been that there would be more smaller roads on the route than before.
– There are probably more things like that to drive more precisely. You have to be really careful with grasses and bushes. You have to be careful when looking at where the stones are hidden, Hirvonen states.
shows all Jyväskylä World Championship special tests live in Areena and the application. The broadcast of the test special exam starts on Thursday at 8:50 a.m. You can find everything about the World Rally Championship in Jyväskylä at EPN.fi/mmralli.