Kalle Rovanperä took the 16th starting grid for the first round of the Oceania Formula series.
Kalle Rovanperä was the 16th fastest in qualifying.
Hampton Downs Speedway is located in the middle The Lord of the Rings landscape on the North Island of New Zealand.
Of course, there was exoticism for the locals as well, when Oceania’s regional formula series started with the first time trial.
Kalle Rovanperä was clearly the most famous driver who went to get a lap time. Of course, the Finnish ace could not have any great hopes of success at this stage of the learning process.
– If he stays in the top ten, that’s also quite reasonable, manager Timo Jouhki evaluate Iltalehte before the start of the time trial.
Rovanperä was at his best in 12th place, but in the end he was not able to improve his lap time, and because of that he eventually dropped to 16th on the starting grid.
Difference to the one who secured pole position To Ugo Ugochukwuku however, it was only 1.040 seconds, which means that Rovanperä narrowed the gap to the top from the previous training runs.
American Ugochukwu is familiar to Finns because he drove Tuukka from Tapo against last year’s F3 series.
Rovanperä doesn’t have much time to think about the result, because the first formula race of his career starts the night before Saturday at 1:00 a.m.