Rovanpera maintains Rally Latvia lead after 200th stage win
21st July 2024Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera continues to lead the World Rally Championship’s Rally Latvia, by 42.5 seconds, after he secured his 200th stage win on Saturday morning.
On stage 10 of the Latvian rally, the two-time world champion secured a double century of wins on Saturday morning of which he stated if he had known, he would’ve gone quicker.
Toyota’s Elfyn Evans ran wide on the exit of a fast right-hander – on stage 14 – of which he veered off the track but when he returned to the course, his Rally1 Yaris narrowly avoided the WRC’s inflatable archway.
However, Hyundai’s Ott Tanak picked up the deflated archway with the roof of his Rally1 i20 N.
The red flag was brought out whilst the Estonian cleared away the debris, alongside Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston, who arrived to help.
So how did the third day pan out?
After 104km of Latvian terrain, Rovanpera continued to lead the overall standings with one hour, 55 minutes and 55.6 seconds elapsed. As per the new regulations this season, Rovanpera’s lead means he obtained a healthy 18-point haul going into Super Sunday.
Eight-time world champion, Sebastien Ogier was 42.5 seconds behind – in second place – after he had overtaken M-Sport Ford’s home hero Martins Sesks for the better podium position. The latter still found himself in third.
Although he had collected the archway, Tanak finished the day best of the rest in fourth place. At the same time, he was the first driver to be over a minute behind the pace of Rovanpera.
Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux rounded out the top five ahead of Toyota’s championship contender Elfyn Evans who was in sixth. Evan’s teammate, Takamoto Katsuta completed the Toyota line-up in seventh, 12 seconds behind Evans.
Championship leader, and Hyundai driver, Thierry Neuville led the bottom three ahead of his teammate Esapekka Lappi in eighth and ninth respectively. Ford’s Gregoire Munster completed the WRC order down in 10th.
Read more WRC here:
- Rovanpera takes overnight lead at Rally Latvia
- Ott Tanak looking for redemption in Latvia after Rally Poland
- Sebastien Ogier to return in WRC Rally Latvia after accident
- Spectator safety issues lead to two cancelled stages in Rally Poland
- Tanak gives update after hitting a deer in Rally Poland
- Rovanpera to replace Ogier following car crash for Rally Poland
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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.
