Central European Rally: Rovanpera poised to take title after first full day
28th October 2023Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera climbed up into the rally lead in the World Rally Championship’s Central European Rally, despite heavy rain and muddy conditions.
Rovanpera opened up the road as a result of his championship lead and the Finnish driver flew through the stages. At the mid-point tyre fitting zone, Rovanpera was 29.2 seconds ahead of the field and after the second loop, the reigning world champion bolstered the gap up to 36.4 seconds.
After the first day of running, the reigning world champion is in a favourable position to secure his second consecutive world title.
Rovanpera’s championship rival and teammate, Elfyn Evans sat in third place in a weekend where the Welsh driver needed to outscore his Finnish colleague to keep his championship hopes alive. Only Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville separated the two drivers, in second.
In the wake of his Rally Chile win, M-Sport Ford’s outgoing Ott Tanak was sat as the best of the rest in fourth place, ahead of Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta and Sebastien Ogier who occupied fifth and sixth respectively. The eight-time world champions’ hopes of securing the inaugural win were soon diminished as Ogier limped through the first stage after he suffered tyre damage as a result of a broken wheel.
Hyundai’s Teemu Suninen and Ford’s Gregoire Munster rounded out the WRC Rally1 class inside the top 10, down in seventh and eighth over two minutes off the pace. This left WRC2 contenders, Emil Lindholm and Erik Cais to complete the top 10 in their Rally2 Hyundai and Skoda machinery.
Pierre-Louis Loubet found himself down and out of the points, in 20th of the overall standings, after the French driver lost five minutes on the eighth stage.
On the other hand, a DNF is not what Esapekka Lappi would’ve hoped for after his dismal time in Chile. With Tanak set to rejoin the ranks of Hyundai, Lappi would’ve hoped he could showcase his talent to retain his seat for next season.
However, on stage five, the Finnish driver veered across the asphalt at a fast left-hander and hit a nearby tree. This sent the car into a spin before it stopped in the middle of a field, Lappi retired out of the rally.
@mikemouse92 #wrc #wrc23 #wrccrash #lappi #lappicrash #crash #rally #ferm #finland #hyundai ♬ původní zvuk – mikemouse92
That’s all for the article; Central European Rally: Rovanpera poised to take title after first full day!
Read more WRC here:
- Central European Rally: Neuville leads inaugural opening day ahead of Tanak
- Tanak maintains 100% record in WRC Rally Chile as Toyota take title
- Ott Tanak steps closer to consecutive WRC Rally Chile victory
- Ott Tanak leads WRC Rally Chile in the sport’s first day back since 2019
- WRC Rally Chile: Rovanpera and Toyota have a chance of title glory
- Rovanpera wins Rally Greece ahead of title rival Evans
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.
