Toyota’s technical director Tom Fowler has shed more light on the reason for Kalle Rovanperä’s third-stage exit from the Rally Japan lead battle.
The two-time world champion dropped more than two minutes after hitting the Armco on the Shinshiro stage, an impact which damaged the left-rear corner on his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1. Rovanperä and co-driver Jonne Halttunen effected repairs which enabled them to make it through the next stage and get back to service, albeit losing another three minutes.
Even the Finn admitted he was surprised at the damage from the third-stage impact, but Fowler offered an explanation.
“When we look back on the data there was quite a high G kerb hit in the first stage, SS2, this morning,” he told DirtFish.
“That was on the rear-left wheel, which we suspect has probably cracked something. And then when he’s hit the Armco, it hasn’t been as strong – there’s been two separate hits on the same wheel.”
Once Fowler and his team understood the damage to the Yaris, they put their usual plan into action to help the crew as much as they could remotely.
Fowler added: “When we saw the pictures of the damage we made a demo version of the repair and sent it back to them. We make a replica of the repair using only the parts they have in the car and send them a video of how we did it.”
The accident further impacted Rovanperä’s afternoon, where he could only manage seventh, fifth and seventh fastest respectively on the second pass of three stages – tackling much of that mileage at speed for the first time.
“It was just driving and trying to get back up to speed and to take the feeling,” said Rovanperä.
Asked if he’d targeted a points-paying position, he added: “I haven’t really checked. We’ll just drive tomorrow, same thing all day, and see where we end up. In these stages when you drive without the big push, you’re going to leave some time in there. Obviously we try to get some points and try to make the top-10.”
Rovanperä sits 17th on Friday night, just under two minutes off the 10th-placed Alejandro Cachón (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2).
