The team principal of Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, Jari-Matti Latvala, speaks very highly of Kalle Rovanpera and his performance at Rally Croatia.
Rovanpera was leading Rally Croatia from Friday morning till the end of the event and was the fastest driver in eight from twenty stages.
The Finn driver remained in top of the overall classification despite his puncture on Saturday while he lost the lead of Rally Croatia at the end of the penultimate stage due to the rain and the tyres choice.
However, he was faster than Ott Tanak in Powerstage, therefore he stole the lead and the win from the Hyundai driver.
Finally, it must be mentioned that Rovanpera had no experience in Croatia in comparison with his rivals as he had a crash in SS1 last year and was not able to continue his race due to the fact that his Yaris was heavily damaged.
"For me, this is Kalle’s best performance ever", Latvala said.
"I mean, he has been driving well but this is by far and away his best drive.
"He’s a miracle and I don’t know how he managed to do what he did today. Suddenly he has proved he is really strong for the drivers’ championship 2022.
"At lunchtime in our minds we had already lost it and feeling a little bit depressed because Kalle had been the fastest driver over the weekend.
"But then he comes back and does this superb drive.
"There are no words to describe what he did.
"Last year Kalle did just five kilometres before he crashed, so to go to Croatia and do what he did this time was just incredible.
"Fantastic.
"For me, it was his best performance in a Toyota Yaris.
"He made no mistakes in what were really, really demanding conditions.
"Honestly, we didn’t expect this sort of pace from Kalle.
"I thought maybe he could make the top four – it’s difficult to come to a rally where everybody has more experience than you.
"He was really clever.
"He knew he had the advantage, especially on Friday morning, and he used it.
"But as much as he could show his speed, he knew also where to be more sensible.
"Fantastic performance.
"We are very, very happy with him".
Source: wrc.com
Photo Credits: Toyota
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