Kalle Rovanperä said both driver and mechanical error led to his retirement from Saturday at Acropolis Rally Greece.
The two-time world champion had been running in eighth place halfway through the second full day of competition, but stopped on SS11 and retired his Toyota for the day.
Initially Rovanperä went too deep into a right-hander and got his GR Yaris Rally1 stuck, before it was eventually freed with the help of spectators.
But once he continued he was not driving at rally pace, and soon he stopped the car and had no choice but to retire.
Explaining what happened back in service, the Finn still wasn’t fully sure what exactly had broken on the car – but also confessed to an error on his part.
Rovanperä told DirtFish: “We went off on this one quite rough braking, just a little bit wide on the narrow road, got stuck, and then when we continued from there, something on the differential was broken, driveshaft or something.
“So I don’t know – probably I braked a bit too late to this one braking but I think the driveshaft goes on the same braking because I couldn’t get the car stopped and then, yeah, we didn’t hit anything when we went wide so I think it went on the braking.
“And then we couldn’t fix the car. It was so narrow – we tried to go slowly through and then it broke something else and we couldn’t get it back.”
Asked directly if it wasn’t a mistake, and instead something braking on the car, Rovanperä said: “I think it was a bit both. When I see the video I’m braking too late but for some reason I couldn’t get the car stopped as I expect.
“So yeah, I cannot claim completely that I brake too late but then I think the driveshaft goes the same time because there is no reason for it to break otherwise. So yeah, straight after we continue we have the issue.
“I was not doing any crazy push,” he added, “just this one place braking a bit too late and after that I cannot confirm which led to what.”
Should Rovanperä be worried by this fresh setback in the championship?
While Sunday presents Rovanperä an opportunity to claim up to 10 bonus points, the retirement is a fresh setback in what’s been a trickier season than expected for the 24-year-old.
Asked if he was worried about his championship hopes, Rovanperä suggested he wasn’t.
“Yeah, of course, it’s not optimal, but I don’t worry much,” he said.
And then asked what he can do to improve for the next gravel event, he smiled: “Drive faster.”
