Rovanperä claims long-awaited Rally Finland win – DirtFish

Kalle Rovanperä received Rally Finland, his dwelling spherical of the World Rally Championship, for the very first time in a Toyota 1-2-3-4-5 end.

Rovanperä beat good good friend Takamoto Katsuta by 39.2 seconds, with Sébastien Ogier finishing the rostrum in third – simply 3.0s forward of Elfyn Evans who retook the championship lead from Ott Tänak.

Evans’ benefit stands at three factors, with Rovanperä now as much as second – 10 factors forward of Ogier and Tänak who’re tied on 163 factors.

Tänak received the opening Harju road stage on Thursday, however ever for the reason that rally hit the forests on Friday, Rovanperä led. With improved feeling aboard his GR Yaris Rally1, the Finn pushed on as exhausting as he may – and when Hyundai duo Thierry Neuville and Adrien Fourmaux each punctured, he was untroubled on the head of area.

Avoiding any of the heartache of latest years, Rovanperä ended his dwelling rally jinx with an especially completed efficiency – incomes a most 35 factors with a powerstage and Super Sunday win besides.

“Quite amazing feeling. Obviously we have been close for a few times here, and I felt we just really need to do it this year,” Rovanperä mentioned.

“Big thanks to everyone at the workshop doing a great job with the car, we really worked hard for this one. I was driving on the limit all weekend long. Thanks to Jonne [Halttunen, co-driver] and the Finnish fans, they were amazing and we really needed the points this weekend.”