Kalle Rovanperä had a bad back at the start of the Japan rally – The other driver was inexplicably struggling

The World Rally Championship in Japan started with a stadium special stage, fueled by the bright lights of the Toyota Stadium. The setting was beautiful.

The drivers took to the track in pairs, but the results were measured by time – just like in normal special tests.

Esapekka Lappi, who recently signed an extension contract with Hyundai, beat his partner Sebastien Ogier and clocked a handsome time. He was second overall.

– It must have been a good bet when you beat Sebi, Lappi smiled in an interview with WRC.

Kalle Rovanperä lost no less than four seconds to his partner Thierry Neuville, who set the fastest time, and was sixth in the whole group.

– We were bad, like the rest of our cars. I don’t know why, but this piece was really crap to drive, Rovanperä wondered.

Ex-formula driver Heikki Kovalainen started the rally wonderfully by beating his competition partner of Gregoire Munster. Tight turns on asphalt were familiar to Kovalainen.

– As precise as a professor! That was the difference between the formula man, MTV Katsomo’s commentator Jari Ketomaa praised.

Kovalainen said that he was a little tense in the cockpit.

– I’m shaking a little. It’s funny when the track is so small, but it makes you shake, he said.

Tackling

A Canadian shocker driving in the WRC3 class Jason Bailey messed up in a confusing way. He didn’t know how many times he had to go around the track.

Bailey lost to the other drivers by no less than 15 seconds in two minutes. He put his blunder cart Peterson Shayne to the spike.

– The guy next to me didn’t tell me that I had to go around the track twice. After the lap I slowed down and thought we didn’t hit anything, we’re good! Then I saw the other driver just keep going, Bailey laughed.

The Japanese rally continues on Friday with seven special stages.