Young Kalle Rovanperä is human. When it seemed that the Toyota Gazoo Racing driver was completely invincible, the Finn made his first big mistake of the season in the form of an accident. A spectacular mishap in SS2 of the Ypres Rally that leaves him without options at the first change and draws a great opportunity for his rivals when it comes to cutting the enormous advantage that Kalle has in the general. for now, Elfyn Evans remains Ypres Rally Belgium leader after the first four stages of the ninth round of the WRC.
Kalle Rovanperä started the Ypres Rally with mathematical options to become champion. It is true that they were remote, but there they were. And the suomi pilot seemed determined from the first moment to walk towards this option. He did it with a scratch in SS1 in which he left his stamp after beating Elfyn Evans by 2.5 seconds in just 2.5 kilometers. A first section in which Thierry Neuville started with the left foot after skipping a junction and Craig Breen also had a small error in the form of a semi-spin.
Nevertheless, the script planned by Rovanperä was blown up in SS2 after his accident. The Finn pushed the Toyota GR Yaris WRC too far into the gutter of a left-hand corner and lost direction. Kalle’s ‘Rally1’ went straight and rolled several times, being destroyed. Driver and co-driver came out unharmed from the impact, but said goodbye to their chances of becoming champions, giving the lead to Elfyn Evans, even with Thierry Neuville’s scratch. Everything was ‘distributed’ after SS3, since Ott Tänak also released his scratch locker.
Section in which Takamoto Katsuta gave Toyota the second disappointment of the day after suffering some kind of mechanical problem in the combustion engine that forced the Japanese to shoot in 100% electric mode and that ended with Katsuta out of the game before SS4. Nor were Adrien Fourmaux and Oliver Solberg free of problems in the last stage of the morningwhich caused both to go over a minute of loss with the leaders of the test in a rally that both had marked in red.
After the morning loop, Elfyn Evans has a 2.3sec lead over Ott Tänak at the head of the overall. Thierry Neuville completes the provisional podium as he pulls away from Esapekka Lappi as the Finn cannot keep up with the top three drivers. For its part, Craig Breen is fifth in the best Ford Puma. Already within the absolute ‘top 10’, Stéphane Lefebvre has become the first leader of a WRC2 category in which Andreas Mikkelsen and Yohan Rossel are currently bidding for second place.
Qualifying after ss4 of the 57th Ypres Rally Belgium
The Ypres Rally continues this Friday (3:16 p.m.) with the dispute of the second half the first stage of the test. Pilots and co-pilots will dispute 48.51 kilometers against the clock in this competitive start.
Photos: FIA WRC / Toyota Gazoo Racing