The opening event of the Finnish Rally Championship, the Arctic Lapland Rally has been completed. As expected, Kalle Rovanperä who made his rally debut in the Toyota Yaris WRC won the unofficial overall event with 3:27.6 minutes over Teemu Asunmaa who won the official event in the SM1 class.
“Both of us worked together (Kalle & Jonne) inside the car. I learned a little more stuff all the time. We had a bit of ploughing here today in the snow, but the times were pretty good, so we can be quite happy” Rovanperä told Finnish publication Yle Urheilu.
The youngest factory driver of all time will be able to hit the roads in the World Rally Championship next week as the series’ kicks off at the Rallye Monte Carlo. Then, in February, it is Sweden’s rally, traditionally known as the snow rally. However, at the moment Karlstad only receives rain.
“I don’t know if this gave Monte anything, but at least it gave Sweden a good feeling, the kind of routine and rhythm that came inside that car is good for Monte“
The goals of the first season in the WRC are still quite modest for the Finnish driver who took the WRC2 Pro class title last season.
“It seems to be a team plan to train as a third car. They’re all pretty tough races. Everything is so different there and the level is so hard that it takes time to be able to run whole weekend evenly. That’s what we’re going to do in the beginning of the season.” Rovanperä continued
F1 star Valtteri Bottas who also raced in the “WRC” class in an older Citroën DS3 WRC finished ninth overall.
