You know, I gotta say, this Rally Islas Canarias thing? Pretty wild. Kalle Rovanperä is just on another planet, I swear. Like, he’s out there dominating with his Toyota, sweeping Friday’s leg like it’s no big deal. Him and Jonne Halttunen, his co-driver, are just smashing it. They’ve got a solid lead of 26.8 seconds. Seriously, all the Toyota cars—five of ’em, mind you—are just chilling out ahead of Hyundai and Ford. Sounds like a pretty sweet day in the office for Toyota.
Now, check this out: Rovanperä’s timing couldn’t have been better if he tried. The guy wasn’t doing so hot at the start of the season; he was 57 points behind. But here we are, round four, and suddenly he’s the man to beat. Crazy, right? So, if he keeps this up through the weekend, he might actually close that gap. Talk about timing.
And the roads? Oh man, those twisty, technical roads high up in the Gran Canaria mountains seem to be just his thing. There were fans all around, and it was a pretty big deal since it’s the island’s first WRC event. Even an understeer hiccup in SS3 couldn’t stop him. He won that stage anyway—what?!
So, Rovanperä finishes the day looking pretty pleased, “It feels quite good,” he says, grinning. Finally, a Tarmac rally that’s interesting. They’ve been messing around with the car, making adjustments, and apparently, it’s going okay.
Now, behind him, you’ve got Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans playing it out for the second spot. Ogier gets his tire pressure sorted after the first stage and just pulls ahead of Evans. By day’s end in Las Palmas, Ogier’s 9.6 seconds ahead. No pressure or anything, right?
Then there’s Sami Pajari and Takamoto Katsuta, just hanging in there, keeping it solid to complete Toyota’s sweep. Katsuta even overtakes Adrien Fourmaux on the last-but-one stage to clinch fifth. Fourmaux and the Hyundai team? Yeah, they’re not having the best day. Tires and setup just didn’t click and they’re sitting over a minute behind Rovanperä. Ouch.
Neuville from Hyundai throws his hands up, saying, “I don’t know what to say,” before adding that it’s tough to swallow days like that. You gotta feel for him and his teammates, Tänak included, struggling with their tires.
Meanwhile, M-Sport Ford’s Grégoire Munster and Josh McErlean are trying to make things work between stages, but it’s uphill for them too. Munster ends up ninth, 56.3 seconds behind Fourmaux.
And hey, in WRC2, Yohan Rossel from France is doing his thing, leading with 18.7 seconds and sneaking into the top 10 overall. Not bad, Rossel.
Tomorrow’s looking epic—Saturday has the longest leg. More than 120km of stages, ending with a unique test in Gran Canaria Arena. Can’t wait to see how that pans out!
