The reigning world champion made light work of sweeping the fast gravel stages to end Friday with a 3.0s lead over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville heading into Saturday’s nine stages.
Rovanpera’s surge to the rally lead included two stages wins in the afternoon despite facing the disadvantage of facing the rutted roads first. The 22-year-old’s stage winning performances provided another reminder of Rovanpera’s unique set of skills to Latvala.
“He has been very impressive with what he has been doing because opening the roads was not easy in the morning, and in the afternoon there were quite big ruts. I didn’t think he would be leading and making fastest stage times,” Latvala told Autosport.
“It was a big surprise for us how he managed to win the stages being the first car on the road. I don’t know if the little bit of rain we had helped. Many drivers were suffering with understeer in the ruts, so maybe Kalle was just coping the best with the feeling.
“I think he had huge confidence at this time last year and now clearly since Portugal the confidence has been growing again and now the confidence is really high and of course it helps.”
Source: Autosport