Kalle Rovanperä, who was driving at the top of the World Rally Championship in Portugal, had to stop the outing.
12:31•Updated 13:23
Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä drove out dramatically in the 11th special stage of the World Rally Championship in Portugal. Rovanperä had to stop from the top position when the car rolled onto its roof on the exit.
Rovanperä started on Saturday from the top position and drove a hard bottom time in the first special test of the day. Rovanperä took a 6.7-second lead over his teammate to Sebastien Ogierbut the day that started brilliantly ended with a crash at the very next special test.
The exit took place in a fast right-hand corner. Rovanperä and his map reader Jonne Halttunen are fine.
– A really unfortunate mistake, because the first special test of the morning already had a wild low time. I could clearly see that the car had been made to fit much better in Kalle’s hand during Friday’s evening maintenance, Urheilu’s expert Henri Haapamäki comment.
“There was too much speed”
Haapamäki believed that Rovanperä made a classic mistake in the situation.
– It would seem like a note mistake, because there was absolutely too much speed for the right-hand corner. We came into the corner way too hard. Kalle had either misheard the note or simply put an overly optimistic request for speed in that place, Haapamäki estimated.
Toyota team manager Jari-Matti Latvala thought that Rovanperä might have misjudged the hold.
– There was a long straight and an easy bend to the right. Kalle knows the road quite well. I think the level of retention surprised him. It has sand on top and a harder bottom underneath, Latvala commented on the events for MTV Urheilu.
The elimination was Rovanpera’s second this season. Rovanperä’s first outing of the year took place in the Swedish World Rally Championship held in February.
Ogier rose to the top of the competition after Rovanperä’s exit.
Also Solberg out at the same time
At the same 11th special test, another wild crash happened. WRC2 driver Oliver Solberg lost control of his car and veered off the road. Solberg got a hundred meters further than Kalle Rovanperä. Before his exit, Solberg was at the top of WRC2.
Watch a video of Oliver Solberg’s run out here