WRC Rally New Zealand – Day 3: Rovanpera clears out front after Greensmith crash

Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera became the new rally leader with 29 seconds in hand, over his teammate: Sebastian Ogier, as M-Sport Ford’s Gus Greensmith suffered a horrible crash.

Penalties

Prior to the first stage of the day, both Hyundai’s of Ott Tanak and Thierry Neuville were handed five-second penalties for excceding the maximum allowance of their hybrid’s energy boosts in the opening stage, SSS Pukekawa Auckland Domain.

Tanak and Neuville had used 241.03 kJ and 242.04 kJ of energy respectively compared to the allowed amount of 240 kJ. The decision by the stewards, in turn, handed the rally lead to Toyota’s Elfyn Evans ahead of Saturday’s opening stage.

Tanak was later given another 10-second time penalty, ahead of the afternoon stages, for similar offences in regards to the boost systems. This was soon followed by Rovanpera who was slapped with the same penalty, for the same reason.

Rovanpera’s teammate, Sebastian Ogier, was another driver to be slapped with a penalty (10-seconds) in the afternoon’s stage 12 after the Frenchman checked into the stage a minute late.

How the morning unfolded…

Toyota’s rally-win hopeful, Evans saw his first chance to win a rally this season slip away as his rear tyres slipped from underneath him at stage nine. The Welshman found himself in a long slide and the corner didn’t open back up for him and the Toyota driver slammed into the grass-bank, on the exit of a fast right-hander.

The Toyota driver had started the day off well after he jumped ahead of Hyundai’s championship contender, Ott Tanak, by 2.9 seconds after the first stage on Saturday.

An issue quickly arose around his cooling system which came from his front-end crash with the bank. This issue was temporarily fixed with puddle water, after the stage.

Greensmith, and his co-driver, were fortunate to be okay – and unhurt – in their horrific crash on Stage 10.

The British driver hooked his rear-right tyre into a ditch as his powerslid his way around a fast left-hander, which lay by the gravel roadside, and this sent his Ford Puma into a metal-crunching, and rally-ending, crash.

Rovanpera picked up his first stage-win of the day, on Stage Nine. This promoted the Finnish driver up into the rally lead, 4.6 seconds ahead of his championship rival – Tanak.

How the afternoon unfolded…

Before the third day of the weekend had been completed, Rally New Zealand had one more Toyota to victimise: Takamoto Katsuta.

The Japanese driver approached a quick left-hander – in Stage 12 – too quickly, and in the damp conditions, found himself on an escape trajectory off the gravel path. The Japanese driver slipped off the gravel and rolled through the nearby foliage before he came to a stop at the bottom of the ditch, on four wheels.

Katsuta couldn’t escape the ditch from where he was and the Toyota driver was forced to retire from the rally.

Rovanpera had remained on his blistering form after he secured two consecutive stage wins, in both SS11 and SS12. The only driver to stand in the rally, and championship, leader’s way was M-Sport Ford’s Craig Breen who secured the final stage win of Saturday afternoon.

Despite not being able to secure three stage-wins in a row, to complete the afternoon, the championship leader still managed to establish a very healthy 46.4-second gap over his title-rival, who was sat in third place.

That’s all for the article: WRC Rally New Zealand – Day 3: Rovanpera clears out front after Greensmith crash! What do you think, will Rovanpera secure his championship this weekend? Let us know in the comments!

Read more WRC here:

• WRC Rally New Zealand – Day 1: Tanak top 0.2s ahead of Evans
• WRC2 Rally New Zealand: Paddon sets the pace in opening stage
• WRC Rally New Zealand: Tanak on top for opening stage
• EKO Acropolis Rally Greece: Preview
• Tanak secures Rally Belgium win over Evans

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.