Kalle Rovanpera says that he needs to be a sharp on set-up choice from the start of a rally and believes that his wrong approach costed him pace and time compared to his opponents.
The reigning WRC Champion has secured only one podium so far this year as his best result was the second place in Monte Carlo, but afterwards he has finished three times in fourth position overall. At Croatia Rally, a puncture and a wheel change in Stage 2 made him to drop more than two minutes resulting in being outside the top ten at the end of Friday morning. Generally, he was struggling with the behavior of his Yaris on cuts and was able to set the fastest time in six from twenty stages. Despite the loss of time in Stage 13 after a spin, he managed to overtake his teammate Sebastien Ogier on Sunday and complete Croatia Rally just one place far from the podium positions. After the fourth round of this year's championship, Rovanpera is third overall on drivers' standings, just one point behind Ogier and Elfyn Evans.
"A difficult weekend - and I need to prepare better on the set-up side", Rovanpera said.
"We cannot start rallies like this.
"We didn’t nail the set-up this time and it cost quite a lot of confidence and pace on Friday morning, so we just need to be really sharp and sure that we start with the right car and then we can push from the start".
Source: Motorsport.com
Photo Credits: Toyota
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