WRC
Evans takes advantage of Rovanperä accident to take the lead in the Ypres Rally
Elfyn Evans (Toyota) leads the 2022 Ypres Rally. © DPPI
From the first special of this Rally of Ypres (Belgium) 2022, a story repeated many times seemed to be written again with the takeover of Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota). But the fairy tale turned into a bad Belgian joke during the second Friday morning special.
The leader of the rally and the championship made a minor driving error, which sent him to the side. But as his boss Jari-Matti Latvala explained, “ This is the typical kind of outing here. The shoulders are very deep, when you hit them, it's the end of the game. »
Big crash for Rovanperä #WRC pic.twitter.com/y7FUHVx1yZ
— Azar (@AzarWutWut) August 19
This is what happened to Kalle Rovanperä. A series of rolls forced him to give up, at least for this first stage. It is currently too early to know if the Nordic will be able to restart with a time penalty on Saturday.
This accident benefited his teammate Elfyn Evans (Toyota). The outgoing double world vice-champion took the lead before the lunch break thanks to the better behavior of his Yaris hybrid against the Hyundai i20 NOtt Tänak. The Estonian had a short interlude but constantly complained about the lack of confidence his car gave him on the asphalt stages.
On his land, Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) completes the provisional podium almost 10'' behind. The fourth position was occupied by Adrien fourmaux (M-Sport Ford) until the fourth special. The Frenchman lost more than a minute, but the Northerner made no mistakes. Indeed, a sudden downpour fell just when Fourmaux, who started in last place in Rally1 this Friday, was due to start. With hard stick tires, the Ford Puma was regularly in a hydroplaning situation.
Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota) is offside for a convincing result, due to mechanical damage. The Japanese drives in electric mode.
In WRC2, the announced match between Andreas Mikkelsen (Skoda) and Frenchman Yohan Rossel (Citroën) keeps its promises. The Habs are leading the way but the gap is small.
General classification after SS4:
Medhi Casaurang
Passionate about the history of motorsport across all disciplines, I learned to read thanks to AUTOhebdo. At least that's what my parents tell everyone when they see my name inside!
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