The Good, The Bad and a rain master

Top Performer – Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen

There will be soon be a shortage of superlatives to describe Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen as the pair yet again delivered a performance way beyond their years to win Rally Estonia.

This for many is the duo’s most impressive victory of the seven they have incredibly accrued in a 12 month period since a breakthrough maiden triumph in Estonia last year. Rovanpera described his Safari Rally win as his “hardest yet” due to the gruelling conditions but Estonia must rank amongst his most satisfying.

Again, starting first on the road doesn’t appear to faze the 21-year-old with this his fourth win facing this disadvantage. Rovanpera won 14 of the 24 stages to defeat his more experienced Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans by 1m00.9s come Sunday’s final stage.

At the moment it seems everything Rovanpera does turns to gold. Even when he does make an error somehow he gets away with it. On Friday morning he clipped a rock but it failed to halt his charge.

Rovanpera was at one point 19.9s behind Evans, but the Finn’s mesmerising skill and approach when rain wreaked havoc was the key to victory. When conditions become extreme he excels. His Toyota team boss Jari-Matti Latvala, who knows a thing or two about rallying, said his driver was on “another planet” which is a fair comment.

Granted, Rovanpera had the best of the worsening wet conditions on Friday afternoon but instead of defending he attacked resulting in a 22.6s swing to turn a 10.9s deficit into a 11.7s lead. It provided the platform for a crushing victory. It is pertinent to point out that heading into the event with a 65 point lead, Rovanpera didn’t need to push at all, but this is not in his vocabulary.

This mindset was perhaps best displayed when Rovanpera reeled off seven consecutive stage wins to move into a healthy lead, before blitzing the rally’s final stage held in the most treacherous conditions of the weekend. On that test he beat Evans by a staggering 22.5s to bag the five extra championship points.

Typically understated after blowing the field away, Rovanpera said: “I was quite comfortable in the car, I knew the weather was tough but I tried to enjoy it. There was no talk [with the team] at all we just decided to go for it on the final stage.”

Now armed with a 83 point championship lead, Rovanpera…