“A muted performance” – the expert was impressed by Kalle Rovanperä’s finish and raised the expectations of the blue-white battle for the Swedish rally

Kalle Rovanperä’s World Rally Championship season started brilliantly in Monte Carlo. Instead, Esapekka Lappi remained in the stands, Urheilu’s expert Henri Haapamäki estimates.

Defending World Champion Kalle Rovanperä opened his season strongly in the World Rally Championship. Rovanperä drove to the second place in the Monte Carlo rally and got to a startlingly fast pace in the Power Stage special test that ended the race.

An experienced French team mate Sebastien Ogier was stronger, but Rovanperä was the fastest driver in the full World Series. Sports expert Henri Haapamäki was impressed by Rovanperä’s pull on the Power Stage.

– Power’s bet, the fastest time and five points were once again a pretty deafening performance. Otherwise, a significantly better start to the season than last year. The pace was right, of course the conditions were easier now. There was little crystal clear ice, Haapamäki estimated.

According to Haapamäki, no one could have hoped for much better from Rovanpera.

– 99% start to the season. Of course, if he had still beaten Ogier in his home rally, that would have been a plus. But let’s give Ogier’s roosters this one rally, then in the future the track will be open for Kalle, when Ogier is not involved, Haapamäki said.

The Toyota engineers also received commendable marks, because Rovanperä’s car worked almost flawlessly throughout the weekend.

– Only after the Power Stage did Kalle comment that he was not satisfied with his car’s brakes, Haapamäki pointed out.

“Esapekka remained on the racks”

Transferred to the Hyundai rally team for this season Esapekka Lappi cruised to the finish line in eighth place. Lappi was at a loss with the adjustments to his car at the beginning of the rally, and Saturday’s flat tire took away the last hopes of a good final position.

– It would seem that we have a lot of work to do as a team as well as individually. The hybrid unit broke on Friday and again on Sunday. It’s not nice to drive when 120 horsepower is missing, Lappi was in pain.

‘s expert Haapamäki expected Lapland to go harder.

– I have to say that Esapekka was stuck in the stands and couldn’t get out of himself what I thought myself. On the other hand, I expected that he would definitely stay at the beginning, when the car is still new to him and he hasn’t driven it very much.

In Haapamäki’s opinion, the strongest flashes of light were exhausting from the Lapland rally.

– Esapekka and the whole team will now definitely find out what can be done. But what’s best, the next drive to Sweden is one of the highlights of the season for Esapeka. I believe that he is moving there on a completely different footing, Haapamäki stated.

Blue and white struggle in Sweden?

Monte Carlo was a challenging start for the Finns, but hopes of success will rise when they fight for World Championship points on the snow in Sweden in February.

– We see a blue-white struggle. I would think that Rovanperä and Lappi will wave the baton in Sweden, Haapamäki predicts.

An Estonian who moved to the wheel of Ford Ott Tänak too the show was silent at the season opener, but M-Sport is also struggling with technical problems. In particular, the power steering failure has been a problem for a long time and also made it difficult for Tänak to go in Monte.

– Tänak was not at his best, of course a good bet from him for Power. I believe that Tänak knows how to give feedback about his car, so M-Sport will be wiser in the future. However, they are not very far away. Tänak might be capable of striking in Sweden, Haapamäki guessed.

The Swedish World Rally Championship will be held from 9th to 12th. February.