The reigning two-time world champion won Thursday night’s super special and stage two on Friday morning to open up a 5.7s lead over Toyota team-mate heading into stage four where drama struck.
In an incident unseen by television cameras, Rovanpera ran wide as snow began to fall on the stage. The 23-year-old clouted a snowbank which resulted in his GR Yaris suffering damage to its radiator.
“We went wide on a quite simple place, a right-hand corner. I wasn’t really expecting to have any moment there at that speed, so it caught me by surprise a bit,” Rovanpera told Autosport.
“We went wide and hit the snowbank and I think some guys in front had opened up a bit of a hole in the bank and it kicked us quite hard, and we basically just spun 360 degrees and broke the radiator.
“It [the conditions] was quite tricky but not as extreme as I was expecting. The grip change was big, but it was still driveable and was quite ok after that.”
Source: Autosport