Just a couple hours ago the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT announced championship leader Kalle Rovanperä will restart Secto Rally Finland.
Rovanperä Returns
Kalle Rovanperä crashed out of the lead on the eighth stage of Secto Rally Finland. Rovanperä led the event by 5.7 seconds over Elfyn Evans heading into the stage. The day was shaping up to be one reminiscent of Rally Estonia day three and four. With Rovanperä looking like he was going to take every stage win besides SS2. Which was won by Takamoto Katsuta. If Rovanperä did win all the stages on the day he likely would’ve had his first Rally Finland win in the bag. Unfortunately for Rovanperä, Secto Rally Finland is anything but easy and predictable.
What Rovanperä’s Return Means
Kalle Rovanperä will be the second car on the road tomorrow. He will also start nearly 30 minutes behind Elfyn Evans who leads the rally. From a realistic standpoint, Rovanperä could climb into maybe a top 20 position at most. With a top 10 position unlikely Rovanperä will likely attempt to preserve tires for the Powerstage. We are also talking about Kalle Rovanperä who was going as slow as he could in Rally Estonia and still beat everyone by a handful of seconds on each stage. Nevertheless, Rovanperä’s roll is proof the reigning champion is indeed human like the rest of the drivers.
Not The Only Returning Driver
The M-Sport Ford WRT also confirmed Pierre-Louis Loubet will restart Secto Rally Finland on day three. The Frenchman retired on SS3 after going wide and hitting a tree. Just 1km past where teammate Ott Tänak was forced to retire after his engine decided it didn’t want to work anymore. Tänak will not be returning. Loubet will get the honours of road sweeping tomorrow, but he better drive quickly as he will have an angry Fin starting behind him in Kalle Rovanperä.
2 Drivers Out
Ott Tänak wasn’t the only driver confirmed to not be restarting on day three of Secto Rally Finland. As Esapekka Lappi will also not be restarting the event. Esapekka Lappi sat in fourth, 0.3 seconds behind Thierry Neuville before crashing out on SS5. Lappi was the last Finnish driver to win Secto Rally Finland back in 2017. It has since been won by Ott Tänak three times and Elfyn Evans once. Evans currently looks destined to win the event. But as previously mentioned Secto Rally Finland is anything but easy and predictable.