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Tom Howard

Rovanpera fully recovered from WRC Finland crash injuries

The championship leader rolled his Toyota GR Yaris in stage eight which put him out of his home event as the Finn retired from an event for the first time this season.

While Rovanpera emerged from the incident without any serious injuries, the 22-year-old reported after the event that he was suffering from pain in his ribs and back.

As a result, Rovanpera elected to sit out a European Drift Masters event he was due to contest last month in a Toyota GR Supra.

With the WRC entering its summer break following Rally Finland, it allowed Rovanpera to complete a full recovery before returning to the wheel of his regular Rally1 mount in his pre-event Acropolis test two weeks ago.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s rally on the rough Greek gravel, Rovanpera confirmed he is back to full fitness but was glad to have the opportunity to rest following his Rally Finland exit.

“It was nothing serious, luckily, just a bit of pain in the ribs and back,” Rovanpera told Autosport.

“The hit was quite a big impact on the side of the car, so not the best place to have the impact. I just wanted to have a rest and make sure I’m fine for the rallies.”

Kalle Rovanperä, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT (Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images)

Rovanpera heads to Greece with his championship lead reduced to 25 points over Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans, who benefitted from Rovanpera’s crash to claim a second win of the season in Finland.

Preparations for this weekend’s gravel stages have been severely disrupted by Storm Daniel which has forced organisers to cancel Thursday’s shakedown stage.

It means all crews will be guessing to some to degree on car set-up, a task made even ticker by the rapidly changing road conditions.

“I don’t know if it is a big challenge [to not have a shakedown] it is the same for everybody," he added.

“But of course it raises some small question marks for Friday. You can never be sure of the set-up before you really drive the conditions.”

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