“Kalle Rovanperä is the ruler of Estonia.”
Sports expert Henri Haapamäki unequivocally sums up Estonia’s World Rally Championship weekend. Rovanperä took his third consecutive Estonian Rally victory before the competition is removed from the World Series program for next year.
Rovanperä won the last 13 special stages of the rally and left no room for explanations. Haapamäki admires Rovanperä’s ability to maintain top speed from the special test, the hour and day after day. In the World Series, drivers’ days can stretch up to 20 hours, under great pressure.
– It tells about the endurance of the head that you can drive such a performance continuously. There was not a single bad bit in between, Haapamäki is amazed.
This is a big difference between Rovanperä and other drivers. When Rovanperä gets the charm on, he controls the situation almost perfectly. The world champion’s mistakes and slips are minimal, and he taps top times off the assembly line.
– For others, the charm lasts for a while until it gets a little too much, this doesn’t happen to Kalle even in a long run, Haapamäki describes.
Rovanperä gave humorous interviews throughout the weekend and was visibly in a good mood. Before the Power Stage, Haapamäki had time to think about whether driving is getting too much on the side of playing.
– To put it in Finnish, he made fun of others, but the package stayed together and the driving did not go overboard, says Haapamäki.
An experienced rally man praises Rovanperä’s ability to adjust the car for rallies. After the beginning of the Vaisuhko season, Rovanperä has been strong right from the start of the rallies, which indicates the success of the preparation. In addition, Haapamäki praises Toyota’s car as better than other teams.
The driving skills of the master driver, however, garner the greatest praise. Haapamäki emphasizes that not all other drivers make mistakes during special tests. Rovanperä is just consistently faster.
– It’s about exceptional talent, for example in terms of eye-hand coordination. Kalle can, for example, drive a little harder than everyone else in every place or drive a few specific more challenging places significantly better than others, Haapamäki illustrates.
In the 2000s, only French sport legends have been able to achieve such dominance in the World Rally Championship Sebastien Loeb and first name Ogier.
There are enough challengers in Jyväskylä
The World Series continues in less than two weeks with the even faster-paced Finnish competition in Estonia. Although Rovanperä is in top form, Haapamäki believes that the Finnish driver will have to stretch himself to the limit in his home country.
Rovanperä has not yet been able to win in Jyväskylä, which can bring its own spice to the performance of the 22-year-old driver.
– Surely Kalle’s armpits are sweating a bit when the Hyundai drivers were able to perform so well already in Estonia. The lack of victory in Jyväskylä can be a small troll on the shoulder, Haapamäki refers to the pressure of the home game.
– Humorous statements can be quite rare when you start racing properly on Friday morning, he loads.
Second runner-up in Estonia Thierry Neuville and thirdly gassed Esapekka Lappi are also challenging Rovanperä in Jyväskylä. Especially Lappi, who won once in Jyväskylä, is one of the top favorites. The Hyunsai duo looked like they’ve found gravel rally tuning for their cars.
Rovanperä’s toughest challenger is Haapamäki, who suffered a five-minute time penalty in his home rally Ott Tänak too. Tänak won last year in Jyväskylä. The Estonian dominated the race in the lead practically from Friday.
Even today, this season has been a big disappointment, which has also been heard in the driver’s frustrated statements throughout the race weekends.
– Everything is starting to be lost, so I believe that he will try “downright rich or downright poor”, Haapamäki paints.
Is the World Cup battle over?
After the slower rallies at the beginning of the season, Rovanperä has found his best pace. The worst finish in the previous four races is Sardinia’s third place. In addition, the continued strong performance in the Power Stage special tests from last season has brought Rovanpera four or five additional points to two in all rallies of the season.
Rovanperä leads the World Series with 55 points ahead of his teammate Elfyn Evans. Neuville is third, 58 points away. Next up are Jyväskylä and the Greek Akropolis rally, which are well suited for Rovanpera.
– Yes, the World Cup battle is starting to be pretty clear ram’s meat, Haapamäki booms.
At the same time, he reminds us that unexpected misfortunes can happen at any time. The difference in points narrows quickly if, for example, a crash or an engine failure occurs in consecutive races.
– Without setbacks, Kalle’s basic performance will be enough for the world championship during the rest of the season, concludes Haapamäki.
The Rally World Series continues in Jyväskylä on August 3–6. Ralliradio follows the events of the Jyväskylä World Rally Championship live from start to finish. In the app and Urheilu’s website, you can see all the highlights of the race fresh.