World rally champion Kalle Rovanpera claimed four of Friday’s seven stages to take control of Latvia’s maiden World Rally Championship round from impressive home hero Martins Sesks.
The Toyota driver delivered blistering pace and made a smart tyre decision to capitalise on a strong road position to lead the high-speed gravel rally by 15.7s.
Rovanpera’s nearest rival came in the form of Sesks, a two-time winner of the event in its European Rally Championship guise. The M-Sport driver turned heads by claiming his maiden WRC stage wins in the morning, in only his second Rally1 start.
Eight-time world champion Sebastien Ogier ended the day in third [+21.6s] ahead of team-mate Takamoto Katsuta [+33.2s], while M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux rounded out the top five [+38.5s].
Hyundai’s Ott Tanak was the best of the title contenders that faced the worst of the road conditions in sixth [+38.8s], ahead Toyota’s Elfyn Evans [+52.7s], while championship leader Thierry Neuville cut a frustrated figure in ninth [+1m23.3s], behind Gregoire Munster [+1m10.2] and ahead of Esapekka Lappi [+1m27.4s].
A divergence in tyre strategies added extra intrigue ahead of the afternoon stages although, the timing screens took on a similar look compared to the morning loop. A second pass through Milzkalne [4.99km] provided a hotly-contested fight with the 10 Rally1 cars split by only three seconds.
Ogier gambled on taking only one spare compared to his rivals and it appeared to be an inspired decision as he won the stage by the slimmest of margins. The Toyota driver pipped team-mate Katsuta by 0.1s but the Frenchman was unsure if his tyre choice would pay off.
Carrying the weight of an extra spare wheel, Rovanpera was only a tenth further back, although the Finn extended his rally lead over Sesks by half a second out to 3.7s.
“For sure on this kind of flowing stage you can feel the weight, everybody has different tyre plans for this loop,” said Rovanpera.
Fourmaux managed to get the better of M-Sport team-mate Sesks by 0.2s and moved up to sixth overall ahead of Evans, although the latter remained the fastest of the championship contenders.
Tanak made set-up changes to his i20 N at the midday tyre fitting zone in a bid to find more confidence, but was unsure if they had worked. Meanwhile, his Hyundai stablemates were also finding the going tough, highlighted by Lappi knocking a tyre off the rim in a junction, while Neuville continued to fight with difficult road conditions at the start of the order.
Rovanpera took advantage of his tyre choice by bolting two hard tyres on the front of his GR Yaris which paid off with a stage win, following a second run through Tukums [27.56km].
Sesks proved to be the Finn’s nearest rival, some 3.5s slower than the world champion on the test that delivered the local hero his maiden WRC stage win during the morning’s first pass.
Ogier admitted he’d tried to be smooth with his driving in the test given his tyre gamble [taking only one hard tyre]. The 60-time WRC rally winner ended the stage a tenth slower than Sesks [two hards, three softs] and 0.1s faster than Tanak [three hards and three softs].
While Neuville continued to battle with his road position, his Hyundai team-mate Lappi fared even worse as set-up changes failed to yield any improvement.
“We did many things, but it still doesn’t really seem to be helping. I guess it is between the steering wheel and the seat, that might be the only solution,” said a downbeat Lappi, who was 12.9s off the pace.
Rovanpera increased his lead again after claiming his fourth stage win of the event in stage seven [Strazde, 17.44km], which featured sections from the morning loop and an entirely new section of unswept roads.
Rovanpera felt he could have been faster, but it didn’t need to be as his effort was 1.7s quicker than Sesks, who was once again the best of the rest. Rovanpera’s lead over the Latvian grew to 8.9s.
Sesks' impressive pace meant his margin over Ogier moved to five seconds as the latter clocked the third fastest time.
Sixth-placed Fourmaux set his sights on catching both Katsuta and Tanak in the fight for fourth and by the end of the stage he clawed time back on both his rivals. The M-Sport driver’s fourth fastest time left him 4.5s behind fourth-placed Tanak, who partially lost his brakes in the stage, and 1.6s behind Katsuta.
Fourmaux attacked again on the final stage of the day, Talsi, a 20.52km test that featured asphalt and gravel sections. The Frenchman admitted it was like “driving on ice” in places but his effort was rewarded as he leapt ahead of Tanak in the overall standings.
Katsuta also produced his best drive of the day to beat Fourmaux and Tanak, which was enough to climb to fourth overall, as Tanak slipped to sixth overall behind Fourmaux.
At the front, Rovanpera completed an almost perfect afternoon with his third stage win of the loop with a 3.5s margin over the rapid Katsuta. Munster also lit up the timing screens to sit third fastest without hybrid power.
“It was the first stage today where I felt inside the car that we were driving properly,” said Rovanpera.
While there was joy for Rovanpera, there was plenty of frustration in the Hyundai camp as Neuville thumped his steering wheel at the stage finish after ending a day of sweeping the roads, 1m23.3s adrift. Neuville did however pip Lappi for ninth overall as Hyundai instructed its driver to slow down.
In WRC2, Oliver Solberg ended Friday with a healthy 31.1s lead over Mikko Heikkila, with Sami Pajari in third. Eight stages await the crews on Saturday, comprising 104 kilometres.
