According to Toyota’s technical director, the fast roads of the Jyväskylä World Rally Championship require adjustments different from the usual gravel rally. The favorite to win, Kalle Rovanperä, is silent about his car’s settings. Esapekka Lappi says that there were also disagreements about the regulations in the stable.
Jussi Jäkälä,
SpongeBob Forsberg
– There is always a slightly different atmosphere when there are many fans and acquaintances on the bench.
The Rally World Series continues on Thursday Kalle Rovanperän at home in Jyväskylä.
In Toyota’s weekend tests in Korpilahti, various adjustments were diligently tried on the cars for the upcoming race. World Championship leader Rovanperä’s car was adjusted more than he had driven before Esapekka Lapin spending game.
Rovanperä was tight-lipped about the car’s regulations.
– Let’s just try different things. Let’s see where we end up at the end of the day.
A year ago, Rovanperä had only one World Rally Championship victory in Estonia. Now there are numerous victories, and he leads the World Championship by far. However, the attitude of the top driver to the race in Jyväskylä is the same as before.
– I start every rally with the same feeling. I try to do the maximum performance and drive for victory.
– We have to start with the same tactics as before. You can’t raise the “attack” terribly, you’ve always tried to go pretty much to the maximum and as hard as you can.
The victory of the home rally interests Rovanperä from Jyväskylä. The familiar environment brings an extra flow to work, but he doesn’t say that he feels any great pressure. Kalle Rovanperä’s father and former World Championship level driver Harri Rovanperä on the other hand, described his own mood before the Finnish rally as tense.
– In my time, I was always excited about going to the competition, and especially here. But now that you’re watching from this side, it’s much more exciting.
At the World Rally Championship in Jyväskylä, the Finnish drivers have to experience the pressure of the home crowd and a bigger media frenzy than usual. According to Harri, the boy can handle the situation.
– The competition week with all this hula ballo gives it an additional challenge. If it could be reduced and you could fully focus on the competition, that is the number one thing, of course.
Father thinks that only a win is good for Kalle in Jyväskylä. The tactics are also clear.
– I guess the boy has only one thought: to get ahead and run away.
Finland’s gravel roads require adjustments
The previous competition was run a couple of weeks ago on gravel roads in Estonia, so the car settings would probably be right for the forest roads of Central Finland.
However, this is not the way of thinking, at least in the camp of Toyota, which leads the World Series. The technical director of the stable by Tom Fowler according to the Finnish rally is clearly faster than the Estonian race, because there are no slow and technical sections in Jyväskylä. For the race, Toyota even applies familiar tunings from asphalt races.
According to Toyota’s Esapekka Lap, Fowler is on the right track.
– He must have revealed a little too much, Lappi laughed.
– Many people think that the races in Estonia and Finland are the same, as both are driven hard and have a high average speed. But those regulations just don’t fit. Yes, you need a different car here, it won’t get you anywhere, Lappi said.
According to Lappi, the Toyota team had a disagreement on the subject.
– Fortunately, the driver gets to decide the regulations. Now we are going in the right direction.
Lappi is the latest Finnish winner of the Jyväskylä World Rally Championship. He managed to get on the highest podium in 2017. Lapland wants to chase the same feeling that crossing the finish line brought then.
– That memory always gives me chills. It was a very euphoric event.
Lapland does not yet have a contract for next season. With good performances, the future could be secured.
– On the podium in Finland and in the top five in Belgium. It is certainly the result that the team wants from us.
Lappi admits that the additional pressure brought by the rally crowd in the home race is palpable. You have to know how to turn it into a positive asset.
– It’s cooler to pull in front of masses of people over there. I get a boost from it.