Toyota’s Finnish star Kalle Rovanperä experienced hard at the Paraguay World Championship on Saturday.
Kalle Rovanperä’s race was ruined by a tire break. Vesa Pöppönen / AOP
Kalle Rovanperä got on his co -driver Jonne Halttunen With a tire change in the middle of Saturday’s second last special stage. Timing at the top was more than two and a half minutes in one piece. At the same time, the Finnish duo fell sixth from the top of the race.
– Of course we didn’t want this. There have been many tire breaks this weekend. There was no clear place we had hit. It must have hit something on the edge of the road, but there was no impact that would normally be a tire break, Rovanperä lamented.
– It was a bad thing, but now it has happened, and we can do nothing about it. The tire went so at the beginning that we lost a lot of time.
Hankook’s tires have not endured Paraguay’s fast -paced but drastic roads. In addition to Rovanperä Sebastien’s Ogier as well as Hyundai Ott Tänak. However, the enemies of Rovanperä survived with about half a minute. Ogier has even risen to the race, while Tänak holds fourth place.
– This was disappointing in the championship. These (tire breaks) have happened too much and almost everyone has had them. It is not very normal for so many tire breaks. It’s not nice for the battle, but let’s see what we can do tomorrow at our departure. It will definitely be difficult, Rovanperä summed up.
For Rovanperä, the situation was difficult as the tire breakdown happened at the beginning of the nearly 24-kilometer clip.
– There was still quite a lot left. It is quite stuck where the tire break comes. Now that we look back, we should have stopped to change the tire right away. The air left the tire so fast, and I didn’t really know at what point we were. That’s why we lost more time, Rovanperä said.
– And I don’t know if it would have affected our situation, whatever we would have decided. It would hardly have had a big difference.
The Paraguay World Championship will run four more special stages on Sunday. Rovanperä’s difference to the top is two minutes and 23 seconds.