World rally champion Kalle Rovanpera has explained the cause of a spectacular roll from the lead that ended his Rally Portugal victory bid.
The Toyota driver started the Saturday morning loop setting a blistering pace that resulted in a stage 10 win to open up a 6.7s lead over team-mate and fellow 2024 part-time driver Sebastien Ogier. However, Rovanpera’s rally quickly came undone on stage 11 when the Finn lost the rear of his GR Yaris and hit a tree, which then pitched the car into a roll. The car eventually came to rest on its side before Rovanpera and co-driver Jonne Halttunen clambered out of the vehicle unharmed.
” In the moments after the crash, WRC2 leader Oliver Solberg made a mistake and rolled his Toksport Skoda shortly after passing Rovanpera’s stricken GR Yaris. The Swede admitted that he was distracted by Rovanpera's incident and it triggered his crash. “During SS11, we came across Kalle and Jonne off the road and I became distracted, missing the next note. We ran off line and clipped the bank on the outside of the next corner, where we rolled the car,” said Solberg.
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