Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä maintained a great position in the World Rally Championship competition, even though he finished fourth in the Chilean competition. Rovanperä’s departure teammate to Elfyn Evans has 31 points when there are only two races left. Evans finished third in Chile.
Rovanperä’s championship celebration will have to wait, but Toyota already secured its third consecutive brand championship in Chile.
– The burden is now off the shoulders in the sense that the Toyota driver becomes world champion and there is no more pressure from the brand championship side. Drivers are allowed to drive freely, the head of the Toyota garage Jari-Matti Latvala promised.
Despite the difficult rally, Rovanperä was again in his element on the Power Stage that ended the race and grabbed a full five additional points.
– Kalle has the ability to stretch, which many drivers do not have. When there comes a point where you need to stretch and pick up the pace, Kalle can do it. It’s a phenomenal ability. He was able to take advantage of it this time as well, Latvala praised.
Latvala saw that Toyota as a team has moved forward compared to last year.
– Our car has been competitive in all conditions. We have had fewer technical problems than other teams and perhaps our drivers have made even fewer mistakes than the drivers of other teams.
Latvala revealed the background behind Toyota’s tire farce
The tire choices of the Toyota drivers went completely wrong in Chile during Saturday morning’s special tests. Latvala reminded that the rules required that Saturday’s tires had to be chosen already on Friday evening.
– In principle, we knew that it would be hard on the tires and we should have a hard tire. But when we saw Ott Tänak too having driven good times on Friday with soft tires, the engineers came to the conclusion that soft tires should be used, Latvala explained the background of the tire decisions.
Now it’s easy to say that the decision went wrong. Latvalakin admitted the mistake.
– They (engineers) made wrong calculations. Our tire choices have usually been successful this year, but now it went wrong. We did not have enough data for these conditions and this type of road. Sometimes there are mistakes, Latvala said.
“Rovanperä buns well baked”
Rovanperä couldn’t fight for a win in Chile, but still got a good points pot in South America.
– Kalle drove very sensibly and above all wisely. Really important points when thinking about the championship fight. Winning the Power Stage for the sixth time this season shows that the skills are there and the nerves are strong, Urheilu’s expert Henri Haapamäki evaluate.
Rovanperä maintained a clear point difference to Evans in the World Cup battle.
– The buns are very good in the oven. It would have to be an outright miracle for Evans to still come out on top. It almost means that Kalle should stop the rallies at the end of the season, Haapamäki thought.
Haapamäki expects that Rovanperä’s championship will be secured immediately in the next World Rally Championship.
– I’m pretty sure that the championship will already be secured in the Central European rally. It’s enough to be ahead of Evans. It’s about an asphalt rally, but Kalle is definitely going hard.
A crushing disappointment for Suni
Hyundai driver Teemu Suninen was handsomely holding on to second place, but stopped the exit at the penultimate special stage.
– A really sad mistake happened to Suninen. You could say he had the race of his life. With a quick too greedy line from the inside, the bike hit the stump and from that the Support Arm broke. The mistake came in a really unfortunate place, Haapamäki said.
Haapamäki stressed that the most important thing for Suninen was that he was able to show his speed in any case. Still, driving out in a tight spot raises questions.
– Team managers are certainly worried about falling into mistakes when the solution stages start to come. Neuville was clearly able to put pressure on Teemu. But such accidents at work happen from time to time. In this run out, too, it wasn’t about excessive speed or handling, but a small error of judgment.
An important success for Tänak
M-Sport Ford’s Ott Tänak dominated the World Rally Championship in Chile and got a sweet victory after a long difficult period. Haapamäki estimates that Tänak’s victory was decided by his starting position and successful tire tactics.
– Today’s starting point was also very good. Another thing was Saturday morning’s tire tactics. Tänak was the only one who started with hard tires and was able to drive a shocking gap from the others. A really hard bet from Tänak, Haapamäki praised.
Haapamäki believed that for Tänak the victory could have a very big meaning.
– A small stable and a small budget, but the small risk-taking and assessment hit the spot. I consider this a really important result when there has been talk about Ford’s absence from the entire series. This gives them a boost for the future.