Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä has made history by becoming the youngest-ever driver to win a World Rally Championship (WRC) event, aged 20 years and 290 days.

Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä has made history by becoming the youngest-ever driver to win a World Rally Championship (WRC) event, aged 20 years and 290 days.
He broke the record established by his Toyota team boss, Jari-Matti Latvala, who was a Ford driver back when he won the 2008 Rally Sweden aged 22 years and 313 days.
As a result, Rovanperä was two years and 23 days younger than Latvala when he crossed the finish line at on Rally Estonia, having dominated the rapid event to win eight of the 24 stages, with a winning margin of nearly a minute over Hyundai’s Craig Breen.
The Irishman equalled his best-ever WRC result, while another Hyundai – driven by Thierry Neuville – came third.
Fourth place for Toyota’s reigning champion Sébastien Ogier was enough to ensure that the wily Frenchman extended his considerable championship lead.
Rovanperä's job was made a lot easier by the demise of home hero and 2020 winner Ott Tänak. The Hyundai driver set off at a blistering pace but on the third stage picked up a puncture, which cost him around 25sec and demoted him to seventh. Pushing hard to make up the deficit, he went off on the following stage, damaging the car too badly to continue Friday’s action.
He was back on Saturday and, in a galling taste of what might have been, set nine fastest stage times over the course of the event. But the damage had already been done in a season to forget for the Estonian, who admitted that his title bid is now all but over.
The rapid gravel stages of Estonia – like Finland, but with fewer jumps – proved to be a massive challenge, where confidence was everything. Toyota’s Elfyn Evans didn’t quite have the feeling he needed and could only manage fifth, ahead of the top M-Sport Ford Fiesta of Teemu Suninen.
The highest-placed Rally2 car was a Skoda Fabia driven by reigning European Rally Champion Alexey Lukyanuk, who also currently leads the European standings. The Russian rolled on the final stage but still somehow managed to salvage eighth overall.
Temperatures were incredibly hot in Estonia, at higher than 30deg C, which made looking after the tyres particularly important, as the soft compound was nominated as the main choice for the first time this year. As a result, tyre temperatures up to 140deg C were reported at the ends of stages.
The Junior WRC category, which uses identical Fiesta Rally4 cars, was won by Sami Pajari, who is often billed as the next up-and-coming star from Finland, set to follow in the footsteps of Rovanperä.


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Attention turned to the Wolf Power Stage and the second run through the regraded Hell’s Gate (10.56km) with crucial bonus points at stake for the fastest five drivers.

Attention turned to the Wolf Power Stage and the second run through the regraded Hell’s Gate (10.56km) with crucial bonus points at stake for the fastest five drivers.
After the Kenyan trio of Onkar Rai, Karen Patel and Carl Tundo had confirmed the top three places in WRC3, Sordo laid down the Power Stage gauntlet with a run of 6min 17.517sec but a flying Evans was 9.135 seconds faster than the Spaniard.
Rovanperä pushed hard and managed to sneak inside Evans’s target by 1.183 seconds with a new fastest time of 6min 07.199sec. Fourmaux and Greensmith were unable to match the Finn’s time but confirmed two solid finishes for the M-Sport team.
Tänak was desperate for Power Stage points and the Estonian managed to beat the benchmark by 0.734 seconds to snatch the fastest time with Ogier and Katsuta still to run. The Japanese confirmed a career-best WRC finish but was not able to match the target time.
That left the stage free for Ogier but the Frenchman was more concerned with securing a first Safari win and he finished the Power Stage in fourth place to seal outright victory by the margin of 21.8 seconds.


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A San Marino Rally highly fought that of the 49 edition, where they are crossed, for the first time this season, the two major Championships: the (CIR) in the Italian Rally Championship Sparco 2021 and the CIRT (Italian Rally Championship, the Earth).

A San Marino Rally highly fought that of the 49 edition, where they are crossed, for the first time this season, the two major Championships: the (CIR) in the Italian Rally Championship Sparco 2021 and the CIRT (Italian Rally Championship, the Earth). In the end he won the crew more steady and fast, the duo Scandola-D'amore which, moreover, has won four of the nine special stages, leaving them two to Andreucci, two to Campedelli and one at the Bottom. The duo with the usual H -yundai i20 NG scuderia Movisport she took the head in the first part of the race and then sell it in “temporarily” to Andreucci , and then back to him in the last set-backs do so as to seal his third success in the race in san marino. While the constancy of the Shingle has been awarded, it cannot be said the same with the other protagonists, and at the end the place of honor was the prerogative of the ligurian Andolfi that with the Savoy had a Skoda Fabia R5 , which, thanks to a coefficient greater than expected for the race, took the head of the CIR running ahead Low in the last lines he was forced to retire. The third step of the podium for the bolivian Puflatsch (the little brother of the protagonist of the last edition), which, with the argentine Der Ohannesian to the notes has earned points for the CIRT with the Skoda Fabia R5. Good fourth of the young Enrico Oldrati that with Elijah Guio has done a race without errors gaining the fifth position in the CIRT. You could not miss the local Daniele Ceccoli that sailed from Cristina Blond, she took the fifth place, with the usual Skoda Fabia R5. Highlight the good performance of the Italian Junior champion outgoing Andrea Mazzotti that with Silvia Galeotti made his debut on earth with the most powerful Fabia R5 with respect to the Fiesta last season and sixth in the final standings. Andreucci-Pinelli (the latter in the head for two tests in the middle of the race and relegated to a penalty at a Time Control) had to settle for seventh position ahead of a regular Tonso-Bonato, both on the Skoda Fabia and the protagonists in the CIRT.
Another protagonist lingered for a drilling resulting in the replacement of the rubber in the test and the relative loss of precious time was Campedelli that with Rap and his VW Polo is demoted to ninth position overall.
The fight for the tenth square between the two crews in pink, at the end Molinaro-Capolongo on the Citroen C3 has gone before , "says the director-Arena on a similar car with a time both of great importance.
Among the protagonists include the withdrawal of Castenaro on the Hyundai I20 in the two tests from the term has undergone a flipping, and has had to abandon the race when he was behind the podium. Withdrawal also the reigning champion of the CIR Crugnola that he had to leave without ever getting in the race for the break-up of a shock absorber that denied the opportunity to recover valuable points in terms of the championship.
In the Italian Championship Junior in evidence the crew Daprà-Andrian that has struggled to win the final and at the end preceded Life-Bosi and Red-Ferrari all clearly with the high-performance Ford Fiesta Rally 4. With this result the trentino refers to a season with little results, and retrieves useful points while Red keeps the leading ship in the Junior Red in front of Cogni and Life paired in the second position after the race in san marino.
Bad luck for Trevisani is the protagonist of the Two-Wheel Drive , and forced to withdraw to problems with the power steering of his Peugeot 208.
The duo Goldoni-Mattioda instead, and won the special prize of the Italian Championship R1 with the Suzuki Swift Sport Hybrid in addition to strengthening its leader ship in the championship.
In the 6th San Marino Rally valid for the CIRTS (Italian Rally Championship, Earth Historical), the domain in the general ranking, and then in the four-wheel drive for the Lucky-Pons with the fabulous Lancia Delta Int. 16V , bringing to three the successes of the season on three races on the calendar.


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