Kalle Rovanperä feels that his tire strategy cost him third place on Saturday of Rally Sweden to Thierry Neuville.
The reigning World Rally champion started the day in fifth position, but moved up to fourth on SS10 after Elfyn Evans made a mistake.
That fourth position quickly became third on SS13 after Esapekka Lappi got stuck on the side of the road after hitting a snowbank.
However, Rovanperä was under threat from behind after a spin of his own and a stage later Hyundai’s Neuville moved ahead.
Rovanperä’s pace wasn’t perhaps as fast as expected and he admitted to DirtFish that other drivers had been more clever with their tire strategy.
“I think the others basically rotated the tires more clever than us,” he said.
“We used the tires too much in the front axle, destroying them.
“So on the last two ones we had only basically two fresh tires, others had four, so we couldn’t do much anymore at that point.
“I think it could have worked well, just basically the rotation was the issue,” he added.
“Otherwise we were on the right plan, let’s say, but one stage messed up.”
But all is not lost for Rovanperä in the battle for the final podium position, with Neuville only 3.8 seconds up the road.
Rovanperä admitted he needs to push on Sunday’s opening stage if he’s to reverse the deficit.
“Of course in the morning we really need to push hard,” he explained.
“It’s still a long day and anything can happen. So we have been quite good on the first pass, so hopefully we do a good job on the first stage.
“Then on the afternoon it will be tricky. We need to really improve from the days before where we haven’t been so strong on the second pass.”
Neuville, too, admitted that the battle is still very much on, and he’s prepared for an incredibly intense fight to the end.
“It will be a tough fight,” Neuville told DirtFish.
“Everybody who knows Kalle, and myself, we won’t give up.
“So we’ve got to fight hard.
“I don’t know who will end up on the podium tomorrow, but it will be a intense battle and we have to give it everything.”
