broadcasts the events of the Jyväskylä World Rally Championship comprehensively: Listen live from Ralliradio from start to finish and watch the highlight clips fresh from ‘s highly popular rally coverage.
JYVÄSKYLÄ.
At the Jyväskylä World Rally Championship, one thing is talking above all others at the moment. Is now the reigning world champion Kalle Rovanperän turn to be the king of his home rally too?
In advance speculation, a lot has been condensed to Friday’s opening day. As the top name in the World Series, Kalle Rovanperä has to be the first to go on the route. It means that Rovanperä has to clear loose gravel from the road. Those behind him benefit from the situation.
However, it has been very rainy in Central Finland. If it rains, the conditions will level off. The rain binds the loose gravel, so the starting point becomes less important.
Last year, Rovanperä was in the same situation. That’s when the Toyota driver lost 21 seconds to the lead, and was no longer able to get past the victory Ott Tänak too.
How much can Rovanperä lose on Friday to still fight for victory?
The team manager of Toyota returned to this race as a driver Jari-Matti Latvala considers the legendary Myhinpää special test to be decisive. The demanding mountainous special stage is Friday’s longest section, totaling 15.51 kilometers.
The Myhinpää road has still been repaired after heavy rains.
– Water rain can help Kalle in the first sections in Laukaa and Lankamaa. However, Myhinpäää has been repaired with large loose gravel after the rain. Myhinpää has long and fast corners. They require credit and traction. If the car slips, so to speak, on the bearing, it can get stuck there, says Latvala.
As a perspective, Latvala also offers a time estimate of what could be too much in terms of victory dreams, because the gaps in the Jyväskylä World Rally Championship traditionally do not grow large.
– If I didn’t stay in Myhinpää for ten seconds. If there is a loss of ten seconds both times in Myhinpää, that is quite a lot, Latvala describes.
Rovanperä himself says that he “can’t lose terribly” on Friday.
– On Saturday and Sunday it is impossible to catch big differences. All of Saturday’s clips are almost known, Rovanperä says and points out how only one special exam out of four is new on Saturday compared to last year.
Lappi laughed at the topic
Esapekka Lappi laughs when asked the same question. How much does Kalle have to lose for you to fight him for the win?
– Very much. I don’t know if it’s possible, says Lappi.
– If Kalle wants to win, the difference must be more than half a minute. That is quite a lot. When Kalle starts pitching on Saturday morning, everything starts to rattle.
Lappi is on the same lines as Latvala, also because of the hardness of Myhinpää as the first car on the route.
– Myhinpää is crap for Kalle. There is a lot of loose gravel. However, the other bits aren’t disasters when it’s humid. The situation is not as catastrophic for Kalle as one might assume.
Tänak explained the reason for his problems
Along with Lapland, the three-time Jyskälä winner Tänak has been named Rovanperä’s toughest challenger.
However, the Estonian has suffered from reliability problems in his new team at M-Sport. The engine was changed from Ford to Tänak’s home race in Estonia after the special test. It meant a five-minute time penalty and the victory crumbling. Last week, Tänaki’s engine also broke down in the Finnish World Rally Championship tests.
According to his own words, the Estonian lost half a day of valuable test time. Tänak stated to Urheilu on Thursday that the cause of the engine problem that occurred in the tests is not yet known.
More water to the mill came with a special test on Thursday. Tänak came to the finish line and was left wondering about his car. Tänak was surprised, cursing, what exactly happened and stated that the problems at the finish line were electrical issues.
A couple of hours later at the service park, Tänak stated that the fault was something related to the gears, and did not consider it a big problem. The Estonian had a positive attitude towards his chances of success, being aware of the back distance to, for example, Toyota, which is running a home race.
– The Finnish World Cup Rally requires a lot of performance from man and machine. This is a decent rally. Fast and demanding. Toyota is always a favorite here. It won’t be an easy fight. We are trying to fight, Tänak summed up.
Sports expert Henri Haapamäki saw the pain in Tänak’s gestures at the finish line of the special test.
– Tänak clearly seemed to be struggling. He clearly thought about what he was saying. Tänak blinked at his screen and stated that the car lives its own life. No one says that if there is nothing wrong with the car. Yes, there is some confusion there, says Haapamäki.
Otherwise, in Haapamäki’s opinion, Tänak showed in the special test that he can fight against Rovanperä for the win.
– The problems are really unfortunate. It’s not just a sad thing for Tänak, but for the whole team, Haapamäki sums up the spirit of the game.
broadcasts the events of the Jyväskylä World Rally Championship comprehensively: Listen live from Ralliradio from start to finish and watch the highlight clips fresh from ‘s highly popular rally coverage.