Jan.12 (GMM) Kalle Rovanpera’s first full race weekend in method automobiles ended abruptly in New Zealand, however senior figures near the Finnish star are taking part in down strategies of early bother.
Rovanpera’s Oceanian System Regional weekend at Hampton Downs concluded with a first-lap retirement on Sunday after contact in a multi-car incident, sending his Hitech-run automotive into the boundaries. The crash regarded heavy, however no drivers have been injured, and the race was quickly red-flagged.
The incident capped a learning-heavy weekend for the two-time world rally champion, who’s focusing on a future transfer into System 1. After qualifying greater than a second off the tempo early on, Rovanpera climbed to ninth in Sunday’s qualifying and had completed seventeenth, eleventh and fifteenth within the earlier races, in line with Finnish reviews from Ilta-Sanomat.
The New Zealand outing adopted a disrupted build-up, with Rovanpera having just lately missed Tremendous System testing in Japan after reporting dizziness – an element that has fuelled hypothesis about his adaptation to circuit racing.
Former Ferrari GT driver Toni Vilander dismissed considerations over the time gaps, chatting with Iltalehti.
“A time distinction of 1 second is no surprise. It sounds precisely as anticipated,” Vilander mentioned.
“In case you maintain the gasoline on the straights and brake in the suitable place within the corners, you’ll be able to obtain a sure time distinction. You possibly can simply achieve one other half a second from that, however then while you begin grinding away these final tenths, issues get tough.”
Vilander mentioned he had been briefly contact with Rovanpera however was eager to not add strain. “I despatched a message and wished him good luck with the race,” he added.
Rovanpera’s supervisor Timo Jouhki struck a equally measured tone, stressing that the Oceania sequence is preparation reasonably than a results-driven marketing campaign.
“It’s virtually unattainable to say what sort of consequence you must count on. That is pure coaching for Kalle. He doesn’t know a single monitor earlier than,” Jouhki instructed Iltalehti.
“There will certainly be no wins or pole positions from there. If he stays within the high ten, that’s additionally fairly affordable.”
Jouhki underlined that the first goal stays Japan’s Tremendous System championship, which begins in April. “The New Zealand sequence is nice coaching,” he mentioned. “After that, it’s a lot simpler to go to Tremendous System than to go there fully chilly,” he mentioned, including that the “development is certainly upward”.
Rovanpera’s Oceania marketing campaign now continues at Taupo.
