The reigning world champion thinks the WRC should loosen up a bit.
Kalle Rovanperä wants the rally to provide entertainment for the fans. EPA / AOP
Kalle Rovanperän in my opinion, the World Rally Championship should loosen the rules in terms of donut rolling. Toyota’s Finnish star thinks the sport should serve the fans better.
Rubber burning became a big topic of conversation last weekend at the World Rally Championship in Portugal. For Oliver Solberg a one-minute time penalty was issued for his spinning circle in Saturday’s public special test. The rubber burned between the finish line and the AT station.
The rule book allows each rally to decide for itself how they react to show-like driving performances. In Portugal, the jury was in a tough mood. In its opinion, Solberg was driving dangerously.
Solberg disagreed, but the jury was not swayed. The one-minute time penalty cost the rally star dearly. Solberg lost the battle for victory in the WRC2 class To Gus Greensmith with 1.2 seconds.
Support was found
Oliver Solberg, who received a time penalty, was upset. The victory was just over a second away. PDO
Solberg’s fate spoke to rally people. 2003 world champion Petter Solberg defended her son.
– Of course, the rules are the rules, but he just wanted to offer something extra to the fans in a closed, safe area, Solberg tweeted.
Rovanperä, who won the rally, also gave his support to the Swede.
– It was not a nice punishment. In my opinion, Fia should change the rules so that such a thing is possible in the future in accordance with the rules. Especially when that particular EK was created just for the fans. A couple of donuts won’t hurt anyone, Rovanperä told DirtFish.
The Portuguese jury was tough on Solberg, but Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville got his head like a dog from a shed. Belgian map reader Martijn Wydaeghe forgot to return the time card after the 17th EK. If the rule book had been followed strictly, Neuville should have been disqualified. Now he got away with fines of 10,000 euros.