The Finnish rally star headed to drifting’s home country of Japan and got a huge points pot on Saturday.
Kalle Rovanperä also amazes in his second sport. JANI KORPELA
Leader of the World Rally Championship Kalle Rovanperä took some distance from the world championship chase and traveled to Japan, where yet another drifting competition in the Formula Drift series awaited.
Rovanperä drives the race in a Toyota GR Corolla decorated in Red Bull colors. In Saturday’s qualifiers, the going was intoxicating, as the Finn scored 93 points on the board in his first run and 95 in the next.
He took first place for a while, but Japanese Strain Yanaguida got one more point in the end. Despite that, Rovanperä starts Sunday’s paired races from a good place.
Rovanperä, who demands a lot from himself, slowed down a bit at the beginning of his performance.
– I got 95 points when I bumped a little too much in the first corner, but the second place that came with it is not a bad thing. Sure, I’m a little disappointed, but tomorrow it’s battle time. So let’s try to enjoy, Rovanperä wrote on his social media channel and shared a video of his driving.
Rovanperä has been able to accommodate drifting competitions in its calendar this year. The last time he competed in his second sport was in September between the Greek and Chilean World Cup rallies in Poland. At that time, the technical faults that occurred in the Toyota Supra watered down a good race weekend.
In May, Rovanperä won the Formula Drift series in Fukushima. A good week after that, Rovanperä competed as usual in the World Rally Championship in Sardinia, finishing third.
The rally season continues with the Central European race on October 25. With that victory, Kalle Rovanperä would secure the second world championship of his career.