Kalle Rovanperä rose even stronger to fight for the third world championship of his career with his victory in the Central European World Rally Championship.
Kalle Rovanperä was silent about further plans. Vesa Pöppönen / AOP
Kalle Rovanperä won the rally by a wide margin before his teammate Elfyn Evans.
Also on Sunday, the Finnish star managed to score six points, although he admitted that he had somewhat secured his first place. Evans managed to narrowly pass Rovanperä in the results of both Super Sunday and the Power Stage that ended the race.
Evans’ successful Sunday meant that Rovanperä reached the Welshman by only six points.
– It was a little too much to separate Power. From what you saw in the video, there was a lot more dirt on the road, especially in the beginning, than the previous ones. I don’t know how much it affected, but it always means something in an asphalt rally, Rovanperä summed up.
– Of course, when you leave out the last risk of death in the gravel places, to leave a little “slump” if there are any surprises. That’s when the difference comes when the margins are so small. Still a good race, but I would have liked to be faster than Elfyn today.
Kalle Rovanperä celebrated the victory of the Central European World Rally Championship. ZumaWire / MVPHOTOS
Rovanperä is therefore in third place in the World Cup points, which means the same starting place for the competition in Japan at the beginning of November.
– The game is still completely open. The points really came to a good seam. Of course, because of that, it would have been nice to get one more point today, then we would have been the second car on the road in Japan, Rovanperä said.
– It’s the same situation there, that it’s really not the best situation to start as the third car. There is a lot of dirt and leaves on the road in autumn. Now we are in third place and that’s how we go.
During the Central European World Rally Championship, rumors spread that Rovanperä would start his formula career already in January in the Oceania Formula Regional series. From there, Rovanperä could apply for super license points for his F1 dream and get a feel before the start of the Japanese Super Formula series. In the Oceania series, all four races are run during January.
Rovanperä kept his mouth tightly shut when Iltalehti inquired about it. There was still a small smile on his lips.
– I don’t know what news you have read, so I can’t say anything. I can’t say anything at this point, Rovanperä was spinning.
The Oceania Formula Regional series is run by Toyota, so starting a formula career earlier than expected may well come true in that sense as well.