He might lead a rally he wasn’t supposed to start, but Kalle Rpvanperä has told DirtFish Sunday’s final day of Rally Poland will be the toughest yet for him and co-driver Jonne Halttunen.
The Finns jetted into Mikołajki at the last possible moment, replacing Toyota team-mates Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais after the French pair were involved in a road accident. Ahead of the start, Rovanperä dismissed talk of a possible win despite his preferable place on the road through Friday – but then moved into a 9.4-second lead on Saturday night.
A rushed recce had left him with inconsistent notes he couldn’t put full faith in, certainly on the first pass. In the afternoon it was a different story.
The double world champion said: “Definitely the first pass, yeah, like I expected: it’s quite tricky in the morning. [This] morning I was pushing quite hard and trying my best. Then on the afternoon you can start to enjoy the driving. You can correct the notes and you know what’s coming. So yeah, afternoon was really enjoyable.”
And Sunday, will he be able to defend that lead for four stages and 36 miles against a charging former Poland winner in Hyundai rival Andreas Mikkelsen?
“I don’t know,” he said. “It’s not a big advantage. I also have a feeling that maybe tomorrow’s stages are the worst prepared for us.
“We made the notes for the longer stage (Gmina Mragowo) on Thursday after the shakedown in quite a big hurry. I think the notes are s***. Tomorrow is quite technical roads and, like I said, we made the notes in a big rush – they are not so precise, so we need to work with those what we have. We will have a lot of work tonight.
“We keep pushing of course and we try to get some points for the team. And, of course, the plan is to try to keep the lead.”
