The Good, The Bad and Rovanpera’s return to form
Top Performer — Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen While Kalle Rovanpera refused to call his Rally Portugal performance the best of his career to date, it should rank among the finest. On Portugal’s mix of rough and fast gravel stages, Rovanpera and co-driver Jonne Halttunen rekindled the magic that saw them dominate the 2022 season. Portugal […]
Rovanpera’s Portugal WRC pace like I was in a lower category
Rovanpera claimed a ninth career WRC victory in Portugal and his first of the season after dominating the rough gravel rally to defeat Hyundai’s Sordo by 54.7s. The triumph was the reigning world champion’s first win since sealing the 2022 title at Rally New Zealand last October. After converting a difficult road position into 10.8s […]
Neuville fined €10k for Rally Portugal WRC time card breach
The duo finished fifth, 8m22.5s adrift of rally winner Kalle Rovanpera, after a turbo problem on Sunday cost them a shot at a podium finish having started the day sitting third overall. To compound the disappointing end to their rally, FIA stewards issued the fine to be jointly paid by the duo after they failed […]
WRC drivers question “harsh” Solberg doughnut penalty
Solberg was leading the second tier WRC2 class by 35.4s when he performed doughnuts at the end of the Lousada super special on Saturday night, held on a bespoke Rallycross circuit in front of thousands of spectators. Read Also: The Swede’s exhibition driving breached regulations that were introduced after Sebastien Ogier performed doughnuts prior to […]
Rovanpera relieved to end WRC victory drought after “hard time”
The reigning world champion delivered one of his finest drives to beat Hyundai’s Dani Sordo by 54.7s and seal maximum points by winning the Power Stage. Read Also: The victory was made even more impressive given he was second in the road order ahead of Friday’s dusty gravel stages. Rovanpera had endured a quiet start to […]
Rovanpera kickstarts title defence with dominant win
The Toyota driver rekindled the devastating form that saw the Finn become the youngest ever world champion to defeat Hyundai’s Dani Sordo by 54.7s after three days of competition across Portugal’s tough gravel stages. Rovanpera won 10 of the 19 stages, emerging with a 10.8s lead at the end of Friday despite facing the disadvantage […]
Калле Рованпера победил на Ралли Португалия и возглавил чемпионат
Действующий чемпион мира по ралли Калле Рованпера открыл счёт победам в сезоне-2023, в доминирующем стиле выиграв Ралли Португалия. Первые четыре этапа в нынешнем году сложились весьма непросто для молодого финского пилота Toyota. Лишь один раз, в Монте-Карло, он финишировал на подиуме, а в трёх остальных случаях занял чётвёртое место. Но тем примечательнее получилось его выступление […]
Rovanpera maintains lead, Neuville loses podium
The Toyota driver will head into the event’s final stage with a 47.8s lead over Hyundai’s Dani Sordo. Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi inherited third (+1m17.8s) from team-mate Neuville, who dropped to fifth (+6m35.0s) after nursing a severely underpowered i20 N through the morning loop. M-Sport’s Ott Tanak climbed to a lonely fourth (+2m03.4s) virtue of Neuville’s […]
Solberg loses WRC2 lead after penalty for performing “doughnuts»
The Toksport Skoda driver had dominated the second tier WRC class in Portugal having built up a 35.4s lead over team-mate Gus Greensmith at the end of Saturday. However, Solberg attracted the attention of the FIA stewards for a piece of exhibition driving, where the son of 2003 WRC champion Petter Solberg, elected to perform […]