Due to tire tests, Kalle Rovanperä was able to take on more Croatian asphalt than usual. Rovanperä does not have to worry about last year’s exit either, as there is no such place on this year’s route.
Kalle Rovanperä has been able to prepare more than its rivals for the World Rally Championship in Croatia. Last week, he was able to run a test on Croatian asphalt for two test days instead of the normal one.
TIlanne was due to the fact that, according to a recent rule, Pirelli, the tire supplier for the World Series, has the opportunity to organize nine tire test days during the season. They are intended to gather more information on how the tires work under the new Rally1 cars.
If tests are held, each team will be able to run them in turn in the order drawn by the International Automobile Federation (FIA). However, according to Sport’s data, not all test days may be used unless the tire supplier deems it necessary.
Now they wanted a harder mix for asphalt tires than the test, and the lottery luck favored the Toyota team and Rovanperä, who got to drive Pirelli’s test day in Croatia.
– Yes, of course this helps a bit in terms of competition when you get more miles under. Now we are also driving a different path than on our actual test day. The tire manufacturer brings in the tires what’s being tested, and they just don’t tell us more about them. Our job is just to give feedback on how the tire feels and how it works, Rovanperä described the tire test day in the morning.
According to the rules, the competing stables would also have had the opportunity to come to the site to see the tires used in the tests and to make their own observations, for example regarding their wear. However, representatives of M-Sport or Hyundai will not be present. Tire tests will be conducted in a transparent manner, but an interview with Pirelli’s Matteo Romano however, not allowed.
The functionality of the hybrid unit still makes Rovanperä think
However, the black box, a hybrid unit that provides an extra electric kick for Rally1 cars, has attracted much more attention in the early part of the season than black rubber bullets. The related reliability problems, especially in the Swedish race, have already led to a change in the rules.
The interruption due to the hybrid unit will in future give the driver a two-minute time penalty per special test instead of the previous ten minutes. However, the change in the rule only removes the uncertainty floating in the air nominally. Rovanperäk also endured the Swedish race on the closing day without any additional power from the hybrid unit and is sarcastic about the problems caused by the product from the component supplier outside the stables.
– That’s where the pound rides. You just have to hope it works when you need it. After all, they haven’t been terribly reliable in those rallies. Fortunately, we have saved quite a bit of the first couple of races and hopefully will continue to do so. Yes, there are obviously attempts to develop it all the time, but there have been a lot of problems with it. Without it, the loss would be considerably more than in Sweden.
In the weekend before the Croatian tests, Harri Rovanperä also returned to the wheel of a rally car in an invitational race in Mexico. The younger Rovanperä was visibly excited about his father’s rally adventure.
– He seemed to drive surprisingly good break times, even though the car was not very competitive compared to the others. I followed the progress of the race with interest, albeit a little behind the time due to the time difference. I’ve been trying to entice him to run some village races a little more. Maybe then we could go driving them at the same time.
There is no exit last year on the route
Next weekend, however, Kalle Rovanperä is not facing a village race, but a challenging Croatian World Rally Championship. Rovanperää leads the World Series by 14 points to the second Thierry Neuvilleen in relation to.
The young driver, as the top man in the World Championships, is not an ordinary thing in a rally – how special does it feel to be a driver in himself?
– It didn’t feel any miracle last year, and it still doesn’t. After all, it is more wonderful if we are in the same situation for the rest of the season, Rovanperä laughs.
A year ago Kalle Rovanperän the race in the Croatian World Rally Championship ended with a fierce run after just a few kilometers in the special stage.
– Now we are trying to get at least the first piece to the finish, so then we are already better than last year, Rovanperä grins.
The correct minimum target is, of course, much higher. Next weekend, the Finnish driver will try to defend his World Championship points lead on the asphalt around Zagreb as efficiently as possible. In the Swedish race, despite his role as an aura car, he eventually became the winner of the race, but in Croatia the situation is even more challenging.
– Yes, the situation is difficult when it comes to the competition, which was new for everyone last year and we had little experience in the race. There’s a pretty big difference between whether you’ve run through the snippets once or not at all. It’s pretty kind of awkward conditions here. The grip varies, but you can’t really see why it varies. There are wet spots on the asphalt in the mornings, but even when dry it is a little special. It feels like the surface changes at almost every other bend. That is the biggest difficulty here.
According to Rovanperä, it is difficult to say what you could learn from last year’s run-out.
– There was only one really slippery bend and it went into the yard. That’s when the teammate (Ogier) hung pretty badly on the same bend. Now the same section is not on the route, so you can’t even drive that point again. Others have experience of race pieces and bad places since last year, but we lack them. You just have to try to catch up somehow.
– It is necessary to drive so sensibly not to repeat last year’s mistake. For each race, you should collect points. I guess it’s hard to be on a good pace here because I don’t have the same experience from last year as others. The goal is to collect as many points as possible. Then next there are the familiar races again, in which hopefully we will have to be close to the top again. They then become such awkward weekends.
Schedule and broadcast information for the World Rally Championship in Croatia
Shakedown (3.65 km) at 10.01
Previews from 9pm to 9pm TV2
EK 1 (19.20 km) at 09.33
EK 2 (20.77 km) at 10.26
EK 3 (11.11 km) at 11.19
EK 4 (9.11 km) at 12.32
Day service at 2:22 p.m.
EK 5 (19.20 km) at 16.05
EK 6 (20.77 km) at 16.58
EK 7 (11.11 km) at 17.51
EK 8 (9.11 km) at 19.04
Highlights of the day from 11:20 to 11:50 p.m. TV2
EK 9 (23.76 km) at 08.43
EK 10 (10.10 km) at 09.41
EK 11 (15.85 km) at 11.09
EC 12 (8.78 m) 12:30 – 13:30 TV2
Day service at 2:28 p.m.
EK 13 (23.76 km) at 16.16
EK 14 (10.10 km) at 17.14
EK 15 (15.85 km) at 18.42
Highlights of the day and EK 16 (8.78 km) from 8 pm to 9 pm TV2
EK 17 (13.15 km) at 08.18
EK 18 (14.09 km) from 09.30 to 10.30 Arena (TV2 at 10.00–11.00)
EK 19 (13.15 km) at 11.26
Highlights of the rally and EK 20 Power Stage (14.09 km) from 14.00 to 15.30 TV2