Kalle Rovanpera feels excited that he will go to Kenya again and reveals the three key points to avoid the biggest challenge of this year's Safari Rally while he is ready to bounce back after the disastrous Rally Sweden.
The two-time WRC Champion decided to have a partial programme with Toyota this year and started his campaign from Rally Sweden a month ago. He was leading the second round of the championship until Stage 4 where he had to retire after his hitting a snowbank. From this incident, he damaged the rear and the radiator of his Yaris while he suffered from a rear puncture before his contact with this snowbank. He pulled over his car into an access road while his mechanics managed to repair his Yaris and he was able to restart under the SuperRally regulations on Saturday. He finished outside the top ten in Sweden, but he was second on the Sunday classification and was the fastest driver in Powerstage which means that he scored eleven points for his team. Safari Rally will be his second consecutive outing of the season with the third Yaris and will have the chance to try the new suspension system which means that Sebastien Ogier has to wait until Croatia Rally to get a feeling with these upgrades.
"It’s really exciting to go back to Kenya", Rovanpera said.
"It’s been quite a good rally for me and also for our team: we have got some really amazing results there.
"The atmosphere is also great so I’m really looking forward to it.
"It’s going to be interesting to go there at this time of the year, during the rainy season.
"We expect that it could be much muddier, and already in the previous years we have seen a bit of rain and it is always really tricky and slippery in those conditions.
"The biggest challenge will be to have reliable pace for the whole week, be consistent and stay out of trouble.
"Rally Sweden didn’t go as planned, so I’m really hungry to get a good result in Kenya".
Photo Credits: Toyota
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