Kalle Rovanperä demonstrated an undeniable prowess as he spearheaded a remarkable Toyota clean sweep during the opening leg of Rally Islas Canarias.
The Finnish driver, partnered with co-driver Jonne Halttunen, topped the timesheets across all six stages of the day, establishing a commanding lead of 26.8 seconds. All five of Toyota’s GR Yaris Rally1 cars finished the day ahead of their competitors from Hyundai Motorsport and M-Sport Ford, marking a spectacular showcase for the Japanese manufacturer.
Rovanperä’s return to form could not have come at a more opportune moment. A rather lacklustre start to the season had left the two-time world champion 57 points behind the championship leader entering this, the fourth round. However, should his exceptional performance continue throughout the weekend, that deficit may well begin to diminish.
While his rivals struggled with car set-up and tyre management, Rovanperä seemed effortlessly at ease on the intricate asphalt roads that wound high into the mountains of Gran Canaria. These roads were lined with enthusiastic fans eager to witness the island’s inaugural WRC event.
The only minor blemish on an otherwise stellar day was a disrupted rhythm caused by understeer in SS3, a stage he still managed to win. Following Rovanperä on the provisional podium were the eight-time champion Sébastien Ogier and current points leader Elfyn Evans, with Sami Pajari and Takamoto Katsuta rounding out Toyota’s impressive clean sweep in fourth and fifth, respectively.
“It feels quite good,” Rovanperä remarked with a smile. “It’s surprisingly enjoyable to have this sort of Tarmac rally; we haven’t had it in a long time. Hopefully, we’ve gathered enough insights for tomorrow to optimise the car. We tested a few small adjustments here, so it should be quite satisfactory.”
Ogier and Evans were locked in a closely contested battle for second place, but after fine-tuning his tyre pressures following the opening stage, Ogier found his rhythm and finished the day 9.6 seconds ahead of his Welsh counterpart.
Pajari, making just his second appearance on pure asphalt in a Rally1 car, delivered a series of commendable top-four stage times, concluding Friday 18.9 seconds behind Evans. Katsuta, whose confidence visibly grew as the day progressed, finished a further 10.7 seconds back after usurping Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux on the penultimate stage to claim fifth position.
It was a day of frustration for Fourmaux and the wider Hyundai team. The Frenchman fell to eighth place on the final stage, trailing behind colleagues Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak. All three drivers grappled with extracting performance from the hard compound Hankook Ventus tyres, with setup issues leaving them over a minute adrift and in need of solutions overnight.
“I really don’t know what to say,” Neuville expressed. “Days like this can be particularly tough to accept. However, they are not insurmountable. I’m not sure we learned much today, but we still have two days ahead of us. We must remain positive and continue our efforts.”
M-Sport Ford drivers Grégoire Munster and Josh McErlean faced similar trials. Collaborating during road sections between stages to make adjustments yielded limited progress. Munster concluded the day ninth overall, 56.3 seconds behind Fourmaux, while McErlean fell further back in 11th place.
In WRC2, France’s Yohan Rossel opened up an 18.7-second lead, finding himself in the top 10 overall. The Citroën C3 Rally2 driver was followed by Alejandro Cachón, with Nikolay Gryazin in third place, 20.2 seconds further adrift.
As Saturday beckons, the rally’s longest leg awaits, boasting over 120 kilometres of competitive action spread across seven stages. It will conclude with a unique fan-friendly test that invites crews inside the Gran Canaria Arena, a venue typically reserved for professional basketball.
