Kalle Rovanpera clinched his third win of a partial World Rally Championship campaign with a dominant performance in Latvia as the Baltic nation made its WRC debut.
Two-time world champions Rovanpera and co-driver Jonne Halttunen were rarely challenged through the 20 predominantly gravel stages to record a comfortable win by 39.2s.
Rovanpera took the win from Toyota team-mates Sebastien Ogier and Vincent Landais on their return to the series after withdrawing from Poland.
The final place on the podium was claimed by Hyundai’s Ott Tanak, who snatched the position [+1m04.5s] on the final stage from local heroes Martins Sesks and Renars Francis, after the latter duo produced a highly impressive competitive debut driving a hybrid-powered Rally1 car on home soil.
Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Road position was always going to be a critical factor, and Rovanpera not only made the most of starting sixth on the road but delivered consistently devastating speed and made smart tyre decisions to seal the win.
The Finn benefitted from his soft rubber to claim the lead by winning Thursday night’s Bikernieki super special. Once ahead, Rovanpera was never headed, ending Friday with a 15.7s lead over the impressive Sesks on Friday night after winning four of the seven tests. M-Sport’s Sesks created plenty of headlines of his own after the 24-year-old rookie claimed a maiden WRC stage win in stage three, which he replicated in stage four.
Rovanpera, who started his rally career on Latvia’s gravel roads, was fastest in six of Saturday’s eight tests, including his 200th WRC stage in only 50 starts, to extend his lead to a commanding 42.5s over Ogier, who edged Sesks into second by 4.7s.
With Super Sunday points on offer, Rovanpera continued to push, finishing third in the Sunday classification and adding five points to his 18-point tally from Saturday to complete a dominant win.
Ogier edged Rovanpera across the Sunday leg and used his experience to score extra points for the Toyota team and hold off Sesks in the fight for podium places. Sesks tried to hang onto the podium but a mechanical issue with his Puma on Sunday denied the Latvian what would have been a deserved podium. A minute and 45 seconds dropped pushed him to seventh overall.
Martins Sesks, Renars Francis, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
Photo by: Tomasz Kaliński
Hyundai’s Ott Tanak endured an eventful rally but reached the finish ahead of his title rivals Elfyn Evans and championship leader Thierry Neuville. Tanak was tipped to star but struggled for confidence behind the wheel of his i20 N, ending Friday in sixth overall.
Tanak issued a charge on Saturday to claim fourth, where he remained despite being halted by when he collected a deflated promotional arch in stage 14, before suffering a broken driveshaft and a run-in with a hay bale on stage 16.
The Estonian did however close the gap in the championship race to Neuville by adding the maximum 12 points on offer on Sunday for topping the Sunday standings and winning the Power Stage to his 10 from Saturday.
M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux managed to bring his Ford Puma home in fourth [+1m31.5s] overall following a solid and consistent run across the four days of competition.
Toyota’s title contender Evans finished fifth overall [six points] and picked up four more points after taking fourth in the Super Sunday standings. He scored one point from the Power Stage, where he finished behind his rivals Neuville and Tanak. Evans’ team-mate Takamoto Katsuta was sixth [+2m07.0s], but ran as high as fourth before overshooting a stage 12 chicane that left the Japanese without power steering on Saturday morning.
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Frustrated to lose 1m23.3s to opening the roads and non-repeated stages on Friday, Neuville’s podiums hopes were dashed. The championship leader was able to finish Saturday in eighth to pick up three points. The Belgian then salvaged three Super Sunday points and three from the Power Stage to hold a slender eight-point lead in the championship over Tanak, who has moved to second in the standings.
The top 10 was completed by M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster and Oliver Solberg, who recorded his second WRC2 win of the season.
Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi retired from 10th spot after the crawling to the finish with a suspected engine issue. Lappi had struggled for confidence and speed on Friday.