Kalle Rovanpera closes the first stage of Rally Latvia in the lead and does so with an important show of strength. Of the 8 special stages disputed so far, the Finn has won 5 and, above all, has managed to land the decisive blows in the longer tests.
This helped him not only to end the day as leader, but also to increase his margin on the first of his pursuers to 15″7. Martins Sesks, brilliant today on home roads and making his debut at the wheel of a hybrid Rally1, seemed to be able to worry the double world champion especially in the morning lap.
In the afternoon tests, however, Rovanpera made the difference, opening a good margin over the Latvian, who was also excellent thanks to his perfect starting position in today’s special stages.
Sébastien Ogier completed the virtual podium with third place, almost 6 seconds behind Sesks and with a margin of 11.6 seconds over the closest pursuer, his teammate Takamoto Katsuta.
The Japanese, like Adrien Fourmaux who is following him, was able to take advantage of the brake problems that slowed Ott Tanak to gain a position and move up to fourth. Fourmaux, at the wheel of the second Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid, also completed the comeback to finish fifth, but with a margin of just 3 tenths over the Estonian from Hyundai Motorsport.
Not an easy day for Tanak, but tomorrow he will have the opportunity to try to regain the two positions lost in one fell swoop in today’s final race. Elfyn Evans, on the other hand, seems destined for seventh place. The Welshman is suffering from his starting position, as is Thierry Neuville, and does not have the spark to obtain significant times.
Gregoire Munster is eighth in the third M-Sport Ford Puma and has had the pleasure of beating the championship leader. Neuville, ninth thanks to a possible team play that saw Esapekka Lappi drop from eighth to tenth in the final race.
Tomorrow Neuville will have Lappi to clean his floor, as he will enter the test before him. This could be enough to recover seconds on Munster and to defend the position of leader of the World Championship from the assaults of Evans.
In WRC2, Oliver Solberg is in a solo race. The Norwegian from Skoda TokSport is leading with over half a minute of advantage over Mikko Heikkila, at the wheel of the first Toyota GR Yaris Rally2. Third place, instead, for Sami Pajari, who has a gap from his compatriot of 8″6.
The first stage of Rally Latvia ends here. The second stage will start tomorrow morning with the SS9, the 18.87-kilometer Pilskalns. The first car will enter the test at 07:20 Italian time.