Rovanperä and Toyota complete dominant Canarias victory

Two-time world champion returns to form as he leads Toyota 1-2-3-4 on event's WRC debut

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Kalle Rovanperä delivered a crushing victory on Rally Islas Canarias, scoring maximum points and outpacing eight-time world champion Sébastien Ogier by 53.5 seconds.

The two-time World Rally champion wasted no time in taking control of the event, winning every stage until Saturday night’s superspecial in the Gran Canaria arena. He followed up by topping the Sunday classification by 8.3s and winning the powerstage by 4s, wrapping up a perfect 35-point haul.

His victory marks a sharp turnaround from the start of the season, where he was off the pace in Monte Carlo and Sweden, then suffered retirement on Safari Rally Kenya. Victory in Gran Canaria is both his first win and podium since last September’s Rally Chile.

“It has not been the best start of the season but we are definitely – in this kind of condition – back now,” the Toyota driver declared at the finish line.

Ogier simply had no answer to the pace demonstrated by the “crazy little Finn”, as he dubbed him at the finish line of SS16. He scored two consolation stage wins – one a three-way tie with Adrien Fourmaux and Yohan Rossel’s Rally2-spec Citroën C3 Rally2 on the Gran Canaria kart track superspecial, then another on the second pass of Agüimes – Santa Lucia as Rovanperä saved his tires for the powerstage.

“The only one which was very impressive this weekend is Kalle and Jonne,” said the eight-time world champion. “They’ve done an amazing rally.”

Elfyn Evans completed the podium places; he briefly battled Ogier for second in the Sunday classification, remarking that the “feeling [with the car] was much better today”.

But Evans was ultimately left frustrated at not being able to capitalize on the strong performance of the GR Yaris Rally1 demonstrated by his team-mates.

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Evans was not entirely happy despite a seventh consecutive podium

“When you aren’t in a position to fight for the win, in equal machinery, it never feels great,” he admitted.

Takamoto Katsuta ensured Toyota clinched a 1-2-3-4 finish, having inherited fourth place on Saturday afternoon when Sami Pajari ran wide and crashed on, destroying the front-right corner of his Yaris. The WRC2 champion did not restart on the final day.

Fourmaux won the three-way fight among the Hyundai i20s, all finishing well adrift of the lead Toyota quartet.

“We are the winner of the Hyundai Cup, so that’s great,” Fourmaux quipped.

“Sometimes in really difficult rallies you can learn a lot and make a step for the future. But I’m really confident with the team. We keep the positive and we go ahead.”

All three Hyundai drivers had spent the rally running components that weren’t suited to the smooth asphalt of Gran Canaria and were sealed pre-event – leaving them unable to make the type of changes needed to close the gap to Toyota as the rally wore on.

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Fourmaux was top Hyundai on a weekend when the team were chasing shadows

Thierry Neuville was closing in rapidly on Fourmaux during the final morning but suffered a front-left puncture on the second pass of Agüimes – Santa Lucia, dropping him back to seventh place.

While Fourmaux had tried to remain upbeat at the finish line, Ott Tänak – finishing sixth overall – was more frank in his assessment of the weekend.

“It’s difficult to find words,” said Tänak. “It’s the worst we’ve ever been as a team. We did not do our homework and we were not prepared. Toyota has set the bar very high, they’ve done a great job.”

Neuville’s puncture was especially unfortunate as he’d been the only Hyundai to get in the mix with the Toyotas on the final day, running fourth in the Sunday classification prior to his front-left deflation.

“Even if we are all trying we still did something wrong, so we need to find out what and put the finger where it’s painful and come back stronger,” was Neuville’s assessment at the finish line. “Nevertheless it was good to see the whole team kept fighting hard despite all the struggles.”

Grégoire Munster finished outside the points in 11th, having gone off the road on Saturday afternoon. His was the only Ford Puma to finish the rally; Josh McErlean ran wide and crashed on Sunday’s opening stage, retiring on the spot.

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Munster will be glad to see the back of the event

Echoing the Hyundai drivers’ complaints, Munster said: “We got something wrong in the beginning, which is sealed and we cannot do anything about it.”

Asked if he was looking forward to the upcoming switch to gravel rallies, he replied: “Anywhere but here.”

Rossel wrapped up his second WRC2 win of the season, building on his Monte Carlo victory by fending off Spanish superchampion Alejandro Cachón by 29.5s. It was the first podium of Cachón’s WRC2 career.

“Alejandro and his co-driver pushed me a lot,” said Rossel. “I don’t know the road and when I came here I didn’t know if I can compete for the win. The car [could] for sure, but me, I didn’t know.”

Škoda driver Nikolay Gryazin completed the WRC2 podium, 18.2s adrift of Cachón.

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