Evans grabs WRC Rally Finland lead as Rovanpera crashes out

Elfyn Evans (above) was thrust into the lead of WRC Rally Finland when Toyota Gazoo Racing teammate Kalle Rovanpera’s untouchable streak came to an abrupt halt during Friday’s opening leg.

Home hero Rovanpera, who brought a commanding 55-point lead into the ninth round of the FIA World Rally Championship was running first car on the road, yet reeled off five consecutive fastest times through the super-fast gravel stages in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1. Heading into the day’s seventh test, 9.64-mile Myhinpaa 2, the 22-year-old Finn was leading second-placed Evans by 5.7s and looking comfortable.

But a rare mistake 6.9 miles after the start brought a disastrous end to the reigning WRC champ’s day when he lost control of his GR Yaris, hit a rock in the roadside ditch, and rolled end over end. Rovanpera and co-driver Jonne Halttunen emerged from the wreckage unscathed, despite the force of the impact being strong enough to tear a rear wheel from the car.

Kalle Rovanpera was bossing the Finnish stages — until a costly error ended his hopes of a home win. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

“It didn’t really feel like we should have crashed,” said Rovanpera on his return — minus his stranded car — to the service park in Jyvaskyla. “Being the first car and not seeing a line to follow, especially for the rear wheels, maybe there was some mud that the rears got into? It was a full slide, full lock, and I couldn’t straighten the car. Then we hit something hard in the ditch — maybe bedrock.”   

Evans, currently second in the WRC points, inherited the top spot from his stranded teammate and negotiated the remaining two stages almost error-free to head Thierry Neuville’s Hyundai i20 N Rally by just 6.9s overnight.

“A bit of a half-spin in the final stage didn’t help, but overall it’s been an OK day,” said Evans, who was frustrated to give away 2.8s to Neuville thanks to that moment in the Harju 2 finale. “We’re pretty happy overall and obviously we’ve still got a lot of driving to do tomorrow.”

Mistakes were punished brutally on the central Finland gravel roads, and Rovanpera wasn’t the only victory contender to come unstuck. Fellow Finn Esapekka Lappi crashed his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 into a tree in SS4 while running fourth overall, while M-Sport Ford saw its chances of a decent result end before they’d barely began.

M-Sport Ford team leader and three-time Rally Finland winner Ott Tanak, who led the event after Thursday’s evening’s short super special stage in downtown Jyvaskyla, retired his Puma Rally1 in Friday’s second stage with terminal engine failure and his M-Sport teammate Pierre-Louis Loubet crashed in the same test.

Neuville’s day wasn’t without drama, either. The Belgian reported a lack of rear traction during the morning’s loop of stages and struggled for visibility under scattered rain showers on multiple occasions. By the end of the day, he headed Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta, who won the morning’s opening stage, by 9.5s.