“Try the boys to do well” – Kalle Rovanperä sent a blunt message to Jari-Matti Latvala about the climax of the World Cup season | Sports in a nutshell

The performances of Takamoto Katsuta and Elfyn Evans on Sunday narrowed Hyundai’s lead in the manufacturers’ championship by two points.

Urheilu followed the Central European World Rally Championship in this article.

Toyota’s Sunday in the Central European World Rally Championship was gloomy.

Trouper Sebastien Ogier was tied for Saturday’s full 18 points from the last stage of the rally until the previous special stage, until he spun off the road, hit a power pole and retired.

The world champion, known for his reliable performance, has fallen into a driving error in three consecutive rallies now.

– Now it’s already the third black Sunday this autumn. In previous seasons, we have not experienced such things, but now, unfortunately, there have been many such cases in a short period of time, that drivers are suspended on Sunday, which eats up points, team manager Jari-Matti Latvala regretted.

Full points on Sunday Takamoto Katsuta and by Elfyn Evans however, the performances were enough to narrow Hyundai’s lead in the Manufacturers’ World Series by two points. The difference is now 15 surfaces.

Toyota should succeed perfectly in its home rally in Japan, if it wants to dream of the World Championship title.

Latvala says that he asked the reigning world champion Kalle Rovanperää to drive in Japan. Rovanperä will only drive some of the races this season.

– Unfortunately, Kalle replied that the boys should try to make it. It was agreed with him for this year. We had to use that card in the summer. Fortunately, next year Kalle will drive for a full year, which is really important.

Latvala refers to the “used card” that Rovanperä drove an extra rally in the summer in Poland, when Sebastien Ogier needed a follower.

Rovanperä is sixth in the World Cup with 114 points.