The reigning world champion seemed to be in control of the rally, winning five consecutive stages to open up a 5.7s lead over Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans, despite starting first on the road.
However, the 22-year-old made a rare error resulting in his GR Yaris rolling onto its roof during the second pass of the fast and undulating Myhinpaa (stage eight) gravel test.
Rovanpera and co-driver Jonne Halttunen emerged from a heavily-damaged GR Yaris without injury.
The world championship leader admitted he was shocked by the accident having driven cleanly and within his comfort zone up until the incident.
“It was quite a, let’s say, stupid crash. We just went into one right-hander and the speed was fine and after the braking it felt the corner was going to be good,” said Rovanpera.
“I didn’t expect anything to happen and I don’t know maybe the small [lower class] cars line [in the road] was really narrow and I went on some s**t and it was a big slide that I couldn’t correct."
When asked if there was anything he could have done to save the car, he added: “It was actually the first time in a long time that I had something to do which is always a big shame. Normally you go through somewhere fast and you know you made a mistake but it went and that was it. I tried to correct it and couldn’t do it.”
Source: Autosport