It wouldn’t have been worth driving over the deck this year.
Kalle Rovanperä had a flat tire on the roads of Catalonia. EPA/AOP
Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä secured a podium finish in the Catalunya World Rally Championship.
The most important task of Rovanperä and the rest of the Toyota team was to secure the brand championship, which finally came clearly when Sebastien Ogier celebrated the victory and Rovanperä accompanied in third place.
Rovanperä, who had already secured the World Drivers’ Championship title, had to be humbled in the battle for second place by Hyundai Thierry Neuville when the tire burst in the second half of Sunday morning.
– Many of us talked during the note about whether it (the manhole cover) would withstand going over or not. I checked the video in the evening that at least last year it was driven over. Apparently it was a bit worse this year, Rovanperä said.
– Of course, it would be nicer to be second or even first, but considering our tactics, this was a very good result.
Rovanperä, who went from victory to victory this year, decided to drive the Catalan race for his team.
– From the beginning, it was a bit in the back of my mind that there was a desire to run an intact, clean race, in order to celebrate the team championship with a good result. Considering that tactic, the pace was quite good this weekend, Rovanperä thought.
The second consecutive brand championship was also good for the Finnish comet.
– The championship means a lot, of course. This was the team’s goal at the beginning of the season and it was also our drivers’ big goal. You often have to drive for team points. This season we were also quite superior as a team, Rovanperä said.
– The results show that we have a great team full of talented people. The new cars came for this season and we had by far the fewest problems. Great work from the whole team.
The World Rally Championship season ends in November in Japan at the home of Toyota.
– The season is almost over. The Japanese rally is of course a big race for the team. I hope it goes well there too, so that we can have a proper party in the stable’s home country as well, Rovanperä planned.