Kalle Rovanperä has been called in to replace Toyota team-mate Sébastien Ogier for the ORLEN 80th Rally Poland, just 48 hours before the event’s start. Initially, this rally was not part of the Finnish driver’s part-time 2024 WRC schedule, but circumstances changed dramatically late on Tuesday.
Ogier and his co-driver Vincent Landais had to withdraw from the rally following a road traffic collision during reconnaissance. Although Landais was discharged from the hospital the same day, Ogier remained under observation until Wednesday morning.
With approval from the FIA and event stewards, Rovanperä will take Ogier’s place, joining his GR Yaris Rally1 colleagues Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta. Despite the short notice, he will also be allowed additional reconnaissance time running into Thursday morning.
Reflecting on the sudden turn of events, Rovanperä said, “It was good to hear at midday that Séb and Vincent were OK, that was the main thing. Then I got the call from Kai [Lindström – Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Sporting Director]. I was just changing some spark plugs on my jet-ski to go on the lake and he called…I knew what it was about.”
While winning the rally may be challenging due to the limited preparation time, Rovanperä aims to score valuable points for the team as they try to close the 13-point gap to championship leaders Hyundai.
The Rally Poland, returning to the calendar after a seven-year break, features super-fast sandy roads and marks the first of three consecutive high-speed gravel rounds. Current championship leader Thierry Neuville, alongside Ott Tänak and Andreas Mikkelsen, leads Hyundai’s three-strong i20 N Rally1 team. Neuville, 18 points ahead of Tänak and Evans, is eager to perform well despite the potential road-cleaning challenges of starting first.
M-Sport Ford is also aiming for a strong performance, fielding Adrien Fourmaux, Grégoire Munster, and Latvia’s Mārtiņš Sesks, who makes his top-level debut in a non-hybrid Puma Rally1 car.
The rally kicks off on Thursday evening with 19 special stages covering 303.16 km, concluding on Sunday afternoon.
Source: WRC
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