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The World Rally Championship’s number one and two drivers will return to competitive action on this week’s HYAcenter Rally as a warm-up for the following weekend’s Secto Rally Finland.
Kalle Rovanpera – the 2022 world champion who currently heads the standings – and Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate Elfyn Evans are the top seeds for the national event which takes place on Saturday.
While some will question if Rovanpera needs the seat time in light of his demolition job on Rally Estonia a few days ago aboard his GR Yaris Rally1, Evans has previously indicated he would benefit from the extra practice.
The Welshman missed out on a third-place finish in Estonia to Hyundai Motorsport’s Esapekka Lappi and will no doubt be motivated to try and get one over on the Finn on his home round.
“We were in a pretty intense fight throughout the weekend for the podium places and naturally it’s disappointing not to have made it in the end,” said Evans. “We weren’t a million miles away but unfortunately we just fell a bit short.
“On the first day in Estonia it took us some time to feel comfortable and I think that is when the majority of the damage was done in terms of our road position for the rest of the rally.
“It is hard to be satisfied with our result but we came away with some good points from the Power Stage and from the rally.
“Estonia was also a good warm-up for Rally Finland and we will work hard over the next week to try and do better there,” added Evans, who is currently 55 points behind Rovanpera in the title battle.
The third and final Rally1 car has been entered by M-Sport Ford but, in a change of plan, Ott Tanak will not be behind the wheel as he feels there is little to gain from the exercise, saying he is already at “maximum capacity” with the car.
Instead, young Frenchman Pierre-Louis Loubet – sixth overall in Estonia – will be at the controls for the Tampere-based HYAcenter Rally, which comprises eight stages and totals 50 competitive miles.
Loubet travels there in a positive frame of mind having “made some good steps” in Estonia and been “very close” to the pace and times set by Tanak.
Lappi had originally been mooted to take part but his name is absent from the seeded entry list which was published on Tuesday by organisers.
