Rovanpera heads Toyota 1-2-3 on home soil in WRC Rally Finland
3rd August 2024Kalle Rovanpera has taken the lead of Rally Finland as the Finnish crew leads a Toyota 1-2-3 in the standings, on home soil.
Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool
Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen are the fastest crew on Finland’s gravel amongst the trees as he leads eight seconds ahead of, teammates, Elfyn Evans and Sebastien Ogier – in second and third respectively.
However, Finland’s first full day of action wasn’t without issues.
Hyundai’s championship contender, Ott Tanak crashed into a tree on SS3. The crew were okay but Martin Jarveoja was hospitalised overnight for observations.
Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta and Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi also had problems with the Finnish forests.
On stage five, Katsuta suffered a snap of oversteer and damaged his rear-right suspension on a tree. The Japanese/Irish crew soon lost the tyre on the road section, which was just hanging on, and they were left stranded waiting for transportation.
Lappi, on the other hand, damaged his Hyundai in some ruts on stage six and his car jumped out and clipped a tree.
As a result of Hyundai’s retirements of Tanak and Lappi, championship leader Thierry Neuville carried the team’s weight on his shoulders. By the end of the day, the Belgian crew found themselves in fourth 25.5s off the pace of Rovanpera.
M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux and Gregoire Munster completed the WRC Rally1 crews in fifth and seventh, with Toyota’s Sami Pajari sandwiched in the middle in sixth.
Read more WRC here:
- Tänak and Järveoja out of Rally Finland after SS3 crash
- Toyota set bring their ‘strongest’ WRC line-up to Rally Finland
- Ford confirm issue that cost Martins Sesks Latvia WRC podium
- Rovanpera leads 1-2 finish for Toyota in Rally Latvia
- Rovanpera maintains Rally Latvia lead after 200th stage win
- Rovanpera takes overnight lead at Rally Latvia
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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.
