Kalle Rovanpera says that Toyota could have never imagined a 1-2-3-4 result in WRC before the start of Safari Rally and his victory in Kenya is a very special to him.
The Japanese team achieved a top four finish in Kenya yesterday with Kalle Rovanpera winning the Safari Rally and Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta completing the podium places.
Sebastien Ogier finished in fourth place overall after the puncture he had on Friday which led him to drop time.
However, the most noteworthy thing is Rovanpera's victory in Kenya as he started first on the road on Friday and managed to steal the lead from Elfyn Evans at the end of the afternoon loop of the second day.
The Finn driver suffered from a puncture on super special stage on Thursday while it was difficult for him to breathe and to see on Friday morning due to the dust that were inside his Yaris.
Moreover, he reported at the end of Stage 7 that his Yaris had no power, but despite this problem he topped the overall classification at the end of Friday.
Finally, he said at the end of Stage 11 that he had started to feel sick in the midday service on Saturday, but he felt better on Sunday and secured his fourth win of the season extending further his gap over the second Thierry Neuville on drivers' championship.
"This is a result that I don’t think we could have even imagined before the event", Rovanpera said.
"To have a top four that is all Toyota is something amazing and such a great result for the team.
"It was the hardest rally I’ve ever done, so to have all four cars at the finish with no big issues, it’s clearly the strongest and fastest car.
"For myself to get the win here like this in such a special rally is really nice.
"Thank you to the team, everybody did a great job.
"They are developing the car all the time which is important and that’s helping us to put some good results together".
Photo Credits: Toyota
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