At the end of his historic day, Kalle Rovanperä gave a humorous interview – EPN’s expert praises the champion driver’s performance

On Saturday, Kalle Rovanperä increased the gap to second-riding Thierry Neuville to more than half a minute at the top of the Estonian World Rally Championship. Rovanperä made great use of the good starting position they got yesterday.

Kalle Rovanperä won every special stage on Saturday in the Estonian World Rally Championship. The Finn has never before been the fastest one-day in all special stages in the WRC class. Rovanperä’s deafening day was Urheilu’s expert Henri Haapamäki according to one of the best driving days of Rovanperä’s entire career.

– Yes, this goes right up there, the day was such a wild show. It doesn’t take much for experts to say who the king has been. You can see it over your shoulder, so to speak, says Haapamäki.

Rovanperä led the rally after Friday, three seconds ahead Thierry Neuville. After Saturday, the difference is 34.9 seconds. Neuville suffered a small flat tire in the 12th special stage, but the slowly deflated tire probably did not gain more than a few seconds.

Good-natured Rovanperä made the rally fans laugh after the public special test that ended the day. He said at the end of the sandy EK that he almost had to change his engine filter in the middle of the special test.

– I oiled the filter before the special test, but it was so sandy that I had to change it almost halfway through.

See the entire interview by clicking on the main image of this story.

The young world champion was in a good mood on Saturday anyway. After a convincing bottom time in special test 12, he said that he tried to push at the very limit.

– The time looks pretty good. To be honest, I f*lvetly tried the whole special exam. This is enjoyable. The jumps are violent, but they are entertaining for the fans, Rovanperä said after Otepää 2, known for its hard jumps.

Rovanperä’s biggest winning margin of the day was the 4.3 second difference in that special stage Esapekka to Lapland. In the public special test that ended the day, the smallest difference to the next, nine tenths, emerged. Even then, Lapland was second. Rovanperä, who smiled in interviews throughout the day, has said that the Estonian rally is one of his favorites.

– Kalle has been rallying in the Baltic countries, for example in Latvia, long before he got a driver’s license. This can certainly be seen in Kalle’s driving in Estonia, Haapamäki reminds and says that the roads in the neighboring countries are very similar.

He points out that Rovanperä has also been lucky. In some places in Estonia, the really soft roads have deep ruts, where the cars bounce and “beat” a bit.

– Something can always happen that doesn’t depend so much on the driver. Flat tires, technical problems or other things, Haapamäki emphasizes.

Without any surprising setbacks, Rovanperä is on its way to a convincing victory. Haapamäki believes that Rovanperä’s hardest attempt was left for Saturday and on Sunday he will secure the victory of the rally.

– On the “Power Stage” the legendary roll-up of the sleeves, and there he aims for five additional points, Haapamäki blurts out, referring to the special test that concludes the rally.

Rovanperä has traditionally been really strong in final special tests. He has won three of them this season as well.