He led the hill rally by far Kalle Rovanperä had to stop the rally at the last special test. Rovanperä stopped just a little before the finish line due to a technical fault.
– Unfortunately, we had to stop at the last special test due to technical problems. It’s a shame that we didn’t make it to the end, but we gained a lot of valuable kilometers while preparing for Sweden and that’s the main thing, Rovanperä recently said on social media.
Thus, another Toyota driver won the rally Elfyn Evanswho had already lost to Rovanpera by 54.5 seconds before the final stage.
– It doesn’t feel like a winner, that’s for sure, Evans told at the finish line of the Tunturiralli.
– Well, but actually the main thing was just to test here, nothing else mattered. There are many things we were good at, but at the same time it is clear that we still have work to do for Sweden.
Evans did not yet know what hit Rovanperä’s car, but stated that there is no reason to worry about Toyota’s reliability.
– We already took steps forward during the weekend and the feeling in the car was generally better, but it would be nice to get the decisive things right, Evans said.
– I still haven’t found the feeling I really wanted.
Rovanperä beat Evans until the suspension so clearly that Evans didn’t think he could catch the Finn even in the World Rally Championship in Sweden.
Rovanperä got what he wanted
– Kalle had parked after the bridge to the right after the road. Probably some technical fault in the car. Everything is OK, Jari-Matti Latvala comment after the decision stage According to the Rallit.fi website.
By the time of ‘s interview, Latvala already knew what happened to Rovanperä.
– There was an oil leak. He had to pull over a kilometer before the finish line. He then managed to turn on the hybrid and got out of there. It had an oil leak, and at the last service they had tried to replace a part, but there was no such part to put in the car at that moment.
Latvala emphasized that Rovanperä had to stop so that the engine oils would not come out. Latvala stated that there is no reason to worry for World Cup rallies.
– No need to worry. Sometimes these test cars have quite a lot of kilometers on them. There are always new parts for World Cup rallies. Age or kilometers make it more likely that there will be damage than new parts. Luckily it happened here.
– As such, it doesn’t matter, they’ve had their test drive, and Kalle at least was very satisfied with his car.
Rovanperä and Evans from Wales were the only WRC drivers in the Tunturi rally. For the Toyota duo, the race was an important preparation for the World Rally Championship in Sweden.
Last year’s World Rally Championship in Sweden was difficult for Toyota. Rovanperä was fourth as the best Toyota driver.
On the opening day, Friday, Rovanperä set the bottom time for four out of five special tests. He led Evans by 24.6 seconds heading into Saturday. The best driver in the SM1 series was Teemu Asunmaawhose difference to the top was 2.40.9.
Rovanperä drove the bottom times on Saturday in EK 6, 7, 9, 10 and 11. For example, in EK 9, the 32.7 kilometer stage of Sarriojärvi, Rovanperä beat Evans by 14.7 seconds.
Only on EK 8, which measured a measly 1.15 kilometers, Evans managed to get ahead, half a second behind Rovanpera.
On the last special test, EK 12, Rovanperä was then left on the side of the route.
Latvala got to the finish line
Toyota’s team manager Latvala competed at the Arctic Circle himself, in a historic class Toyota Celica.
– For the third time, he said the truth in that regard, that now he has reached the finish line in Tunturiralli. But today the gearbox had to be changed, Latvala described his own race to .
– Two teeth were missing from the fourth gear. I tried to drive in such a way that in third gear it rotates and jumps directly to fifth gear. It’s part of the nature of the sport, with old cars you always have to be prepared to have everything with you, Latvala laughed.
Latvala had also received a time penalty when it had taken 14 minutes over the time limit to change the parts. Latvala believed that the top 10 ranking was due to that. He was 19th in the final results.
Rovanperä will drive only a partial season in the World Series this year. The Finn drove his first race of the season in Rovaniemi and will open the World Championship season in two weeks in Sweden.
Win the SM1 class with Toyota’s new rally2 car Mikko Heikkilä. The difference to Teemu Asunmaa was 7.3 seconds. For Heikkilä, Tunturiralli’s first WC win was a great moment.
– It’s a miracle that there was a victory. There were at least 40 bench touches, but apparently Teemu had them too. The first reindeer antlers are delicious. Isn’t this sent to Pohjanhovi’s lobby bar!
Heikkilä received the legendary reindeer antlers as a reward for his victory in the Tunturiralli SM1 class.
Final results of the hill rally:
1. Elfyn Evans, Toyota 1.36.00.5
2. Mikko Heikkilä, Toyota +5.02,3
3. Teemu Asunmaa, Skoda +5.09,6
4. Roope Korhonen, Toyota +5.38,0
5. Georg Linnamäki, Toyota +5.59,3
6. Benjamin Korhola, Hyundai +6.39,8
7. Niclas Grönholm, Skoda +7.33,5
8. Anssi Rytkönen, Skoda +7.55,5
9. Hikaru Kogure, Toyota +8.53.5
10. Yuki Yamamoto, Toyota 8.55,2