SS13- Rovanpira in Control (New Zealand)
Highlights
On this short but particularly wet final stage nobody dared to take a chance, as the provisional classification was anyway already clear and well established. Satisfied this time with the second fastest time, Calle Rovanpera extended his lead to almost half a minute over Sebastien Ogier.
Under such difficult conditions, Ott Tanak lost more than thirty seconds in the Finn today and with 36km to go tomorrow his lag is far too great to hope for better than this third place.
With this provisional ranking, Kali Rovanpera will be in a position to win his first world title tomorrow. Power stage points will be crucial in conquering this crown. If Ott Tänak manages to set the fastest time in this special, the Finn will have to score two more points to become champion.
At the foot of the podium, Thierry Neuville didn’t have much to remember from his day and was able to manage some more after the exit of Joss Greensmith this afternoon. Sixth overall, Hayden Paddon is still flying over the WRC2 ahead of Kajetan Kajetanowicz, well positioned for the championship.
Live Text (to be uploaded in the future)
Rider reactions
| Jim Brain 3:19.2 |
“It was fine on this stage – nicer loop. It was obviously a bit more difficult this afternoon and we cleaned up a lot of water. We didn’t make any big mistakes except for a big slip on the last one, but other than that all is well. |
| L Bertelli 3:46.2 |
“I was very aggressive in the straight a bit and lost the front end. Nothing serious – I was very comfortable on the last stage! We’re here on arrival and we’re very happy.” |
| Oh Solberg 3:27.8 |
“I drove as fast as I could with our problems. Sometimes it works clean and sometimes it doesn’t, but I tried to make it work as well as possible to get the most out of it.” |
| T Novell 3:22.8 |
“It was a tough day, but there wasn’t much we could do today – ride at our own pace and try to survive. With the rain and no visibility it wasn’t easy, but it’s good to be here. Tomorrow is a small day and we’ll try to finish in a position good “. |
| K. Rovanperä 3:22.1 |
“I slowed it down and it felt like shit straight away. But it’s a beautiful day. I can be really happy with what we did in these very difficult circumstances. He attacked really hard and I’m happy.” |
| S. Ogier 3:23.0 |
“The conditions are really tough. We had a lot of rain at the start of this special. It was a big challenge. I’m happy to finish today. We’re in an interesting position for the team so it’s not bad at all.” |
| Oh Tank 3:28.2 |
“What can I say? Why do we need to find the positives from the negatives all the time? We’ll see tomorrow.” |
| H. Paddon | “A really clean and well-groomed day with no faults. We took some spare tires this afternoon just to ride it safely and I’m happy with how it went.” |
next special : SS14- Whitford Forest? Te Maraunga Waiho 1 (8.82 km) from 11:32 PM (Saturday, October 1, 2022)
Class SS13 / After SS13 (5.81 km)
Top 5 penalties: Rovanpera, Ogier +29.0, Tanak +46.4, Neuville +1: 41.4, Solberg +3: 34.9
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