WRC Rally Portugal
Rovanpera relieved to end WRC victory drought after “hard time”
Kalle Rovanpera says he is relieved to end his World Rally Championship victory drought in Portugal after admitting he had been “having a hard time personally” since last year.
Tom Howard
Edited: May 15, 2023, 1:31 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
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 his title defence heading into Portugal having scored only one podium from the previous four rounds, while his last victory arrived in October last year when he clinched the world championship at Rally New Zealand.
The Finn has however remained in the thick of the title fight finishing fourth in the previous rounds in Sweden, Mexico and Croatia, where road position and misfortune have hampered his charge.
Asked if it was a relief to be back on the top step of the podium, he said: "Yeah it has been a bit too long coming but I knew when we get a clean weekend and a good drive we would be back in the game. It was nice to have it here and be back.
"Everything was like it should be with the car so we were a back on the game and pushing on. You always miss the feeling when you are not there and it is nice to be back."
Kalle Rovanperä, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images
When interviewed at the end of the final stage, Rovanpera was quick to praise co-driver Jonne Halttunen, his Toyota team and a close friend for helping him through a difficult few months.
"It has been too long coming, but finally we are back," he said.
"I have to say a big thank you to Jonne and the team. They have been pushing all the time and going forward. I also have to give a good thank you to my very good friend Arttu. I have been having a hard time since the end of last year personally, and he has been pushing me to come back."
Despite having the rally under control, Rovanpera was still hungry to score maximum points from the Power Stage, which he achieved by beating M-Sport’s Ott Tanak by 0.7s. As a result he will now head to Sardinia with a 17-point lead in the championship standings.
"I wanted to score as many points as possible because I knew we were going to have to open the road in Sardinia if we finished like this [with a win]," he added. "I pushed for the Power Stage, it wasn’t perfect but it was enough."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article WRC Portugal: Rovanpera kickstarts title defence with dominant win
Next article WRC drivers question “harsh” Solberg doughnut penalty
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Tom Howard
WRC’s new champion Elfyn Evans celebrates title with Wales show run
WRC
WRC
WRC’s new champion Elfyn Evans celebrates title with Wales show run
M-Sport’s 2027 WRC Fiesta Kit car breaks cover
WRC
WRC
M-Sport’s 2027 WRC Fiesta Kit car breaks cover
Latest news
Williams has better cooling vests than anyone – Alex Albon
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 19 min
Williams has better cooling vests than anyone – Alex Albon
Daniel Juncadella says he “f***ed” up as Genesis goes from first to last in Barcelona WEC
WEC
WEC WEC
Barcelona
1 h
Daniel Juncadella says he “f***ed” up as Genesis goes from first to last in Barcelona WEC
McLaren retains Leonardo Fornaroli in F1 as Italian adds WEC programme for 2027
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 1 h
McLaren retains Leonardo Fornaroli in F1 as Italian adds WEC programme for 2027
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe