Kalle Rovanperä’s trip to the roof was surprisingly smooth, Urheilu expert Henri Haapamäki says. However, the car could not be put into racing condition, even though Toyota boss Tom Fowler had called for special assistance.
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.
The World Rally Championship in Jyväskylä took a dramatic turn on Friday, when Kalle Rovanperän the car ended up on its roof at the Myhinpää special test. Rovanperä had to stop, and was unable to continue the rally over the weekend either. The damage to the car frame caused by the crash was too great to repair.
Rovanperä stopped the race from the top spot. The reigning world champion had managed to set five bottom times in a row.
On Saturday, only a picture of the crash was available from the car’s interior camera. However, the spectator video now shows the situation from the outside.
Sports expert Henri Haapamäki considers the collapse of Rovanperä to be a tragic accident at work.
– I wouldn’t accuse you of overdoing it. Slippage surprises the motorist. Pikkinen’s tail starts to slide too much in a right-turning bend. It’s like spinning. Of course, Kalle tries to keep the gas down. The car is just too inside. There happens to be a stone, a stump or a rock, from which the car rises into the air and throws a forward turn, says Haapamäki.
However, Haapamäki draws attention to the fact that Rovanperä’s rolling is surprisingly soft.
– It’s a wonder they didn’t make a car out of it. I guess there the frame or the safety bar was damaged so that it was not possible, Haapamäki thought.
Toyota Technical Director Tow Fowler explained in an interview with WRC’s streaming service All Live that they had been confident about repairing the car to race condition. Fowler stated that the team had found additional damage during maintenance. According to Fowler, the team had first found two different damages in the safety bar.
– We are investigating them with the FIA. Those damages would have been relatively easy to repair. We would have had our roll bar specialist to help. Another specialist would have come to help, because of course it would have been easy in a home race. We would have had two people to help. We made a repair plan, but in the process we found a third damage, Fowler said.
After a half-hour repair operation, they had concluded that the third damage would have been difficult to repair.
– We wouldn’t have had time to fix what we were given in time. Together with the FIA, we made a decision that it was better for us to stop trying to fix it. Of course it was a big shame for the whole team, but safety is our main priority.
Kalle Rovanperä published on Saturday morning on his Instagram account his comments about the end of the race.
– The mechanics tried their best. This time it was not possible to drive for victory. Thanks for all the encouragement. It was a great feeling, Rovanperä said.
During Ralliradio’s question hour, safety bars and Kalle Rovanperä’s situation also came up. They use tough steel.
– If you can see even a small dent in the safety arc, it’s clear, expert Ville Pynnönen opened up the spirit of the game.
Rovanperä was confused about going to the roof on Saturday evening at the service park.
– I can’t really find any reason for it. Up until the brake, I felt that everything was fine. In the right line and at a good speed to the bend. When there was no line as the first car, something crap was left on the line of the rear wheels. Small cars drove into the inner corner. We went to full slad and couldn’t fix it. We fell into a ditch and took off, Rovanperä clarified and summarized why he was particularly upset.
– After a long time, it’s sad when something happened that you couldn’t really do anything about.
Rovanperä described that the day had passed with easy driving.
– When it didn’t even come to a too hard corner, Rovanperä was upset.
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.