“The overtones are running out,” says Henri Haapamäki, an expert in Sports. Haapamäki incites Kalle Rovanperä’s self-confidence and ability to quickly embrace the challenges of hybrid cars.
Micke Suopuro,
Matti Lehtisaari
22.5. 16:59 • Updated May 22nd. 17:15
A young rally situation Kalle Rovanperä continued his tremendous pace by winning the World Rally Championship in Portugal. The 21-year-old Finn rose to the top on Saturday and dominated the events of the closing day.
Stable friend Elfyn Evans bent second by 15.2 seconds. Rovanperä celebrated his third consecutive victory in the World Rally Championship.
– Really great performance. The words of praise are already beginning to end, no longer knowing what to say. Kalle’s self-confidence is at an incomprehensible level, Sport’s expert Henri Haapamäki anneal.
Before the rally, it was feared that Rovanperä’s Friday starting point would be the first to take hopes of victory. The role of the aura man is notoriously quite diabolical, especially in Portugal. But Rovanperä pointed to the skeptics with a glove and forged the bottom times incredibly by the end of Friday.
The victory began to loom in earnest on Saturday night, when the horror time of Rovanperä’s 15th special stage was too long for Evans. Rovanperä defeated Evans in 13.9 seconds with the longest special stage of the rally, 37.24 kilometers long.
– Evans had a horrible place to drive when Rovanperä came hard from behind. And Evans knew all the time driving that if there was the slightest mistake, the other one would weigh harder. Evans began to humble himself, Haapamäki commented on perhaps the most significant turn of the victory fight.
Watch the video below for the events of the 15th special stage
Rovanperä can squeeze everything out of hybrid cars
The World Rally Championship entered this season into the era of hybrid cars. According to Haapamäki, Rovanperä’s great strength is that he has gotten to you with new cars really quickly.
– Kalle has been able to test all the performance of Rally1 cars. He is able to go close to the limit where cars are the fastest. It’s easy to cross the border and fall out, but Kalle manages himself really well, Haapamäki praises.
Rovanperä leads the drivers’ World Championship series by 46 points with Hyundai Thierry Neuvilleen. With this go, Rovanperä may well be the next Finnish rally world champion.
– The jacket must be fastened back quickly. Past wins no longer matter when the watches are restarted. If we think about the great masters Sebastien Loebia or Sebastien Ogieria, so the secret of championships is self-motivation. Even if there are victories, one should not let oneself go too easily, because the train will easily start to turn in the other direction, Haapamäki pointed out.