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Barring an accident, Finland’s Kalle Rovanperä will be crowned 2022 WRC champion at Jack’s Ridge on Sunday.
On his 22nd birthday, Rovanperä again showed he’s going to dominate rallying for many years to come, with a breathtaking balance of speed and consistency, winning three of the six stages on Saturday.
He will take a 29-second lead over France’s Sebastien Ogier into the final four stages of Rally NZ, while Ott Tänak, who is second in the championship, is lying in third place, 46 seconds behind Rovanperä.
Rovanperä needs eight points more than Tänak this weekend to become the youngest ever WRC champion.
READ MORE:
* How NZ lost next year’s WRC event and what needs to happen to get it back
* Advantage to Ott Tänak at end of first full day of Rally NZ, but only just
* WRC Rally of New Zealand: Ott Tänak sets pace in night stage, Hayden Paddon leads WRC2
* Shane van Gisbergen faces toughest challenge of glittering career at WRC’s Rally NZ
If Rovanperä wins and Tänak stays third, that will give him 10 points more. However, there are bonus points available on the power stage at Jack’s Ridge, with five for the winner, going down for one point for fifth place.
WRC
Kalle Rovanpera gets close to the edge on one of the stages on Saturday.
It was an eventful Saturday, with Rovanperä masterful, while others struggled just to stay on the road.
Having spent Friday cleaning the gravel those behind him, Saturday was always going to be a day where Rovanperä went for it.
The opening stage was won by Craig Breen, not that it made up for the disappointment of going down a ditch on Friday, ending his hopes of winning this rally.
Speaking straight after finishing the stage Breen said: “my soul is still hurting.”
Everyone found trouble with grip on SS9, Puhoi 1, but no one more so than Elfyn Evans, who was leading the rally at the time. He spun, hit a bank, but was able to carry on.
WRC
Sebastien Ogier has been told not to push and secure second place at Rally NZ.
However, the incident caused considerable damage to the front and rear of the car.
After making it to the end of the stage, Evans surveyed the wreckage and with the radiator busted, patched it up as best he could, then gathered water from a nearby puddle to fill it up.
The final stage of the morning loop was cancelled as Gus Greensmith continued M-Sport Ford’s miserable weekend with a high speed crash, hooking his wheel into a ditch, then rolling the car multiple times.
There was further drama on SS12, Puhoi 2, with Breen losing panels off his car, while Takamoto Katsuta went down a bank.
Shane van Gisbergen hit a rock, suffering a front right puncture early on the stage and had a long way to limp to the finish line.
At the end of that stage Ogier revealed he’d been given team orders to no longer push, but remain in second place, to keep Tänak in third and secure the title for Rovanperä.
It’s been an unusual rally for Hayden Paddon, who is sixth overall. He is too quick for anyone else in WRC2 to keep up with him, while his Hyundai i20N can’t match the pace of the Rally1 hybrid cars.
WRC
Hayden Paddon has shown this weekend he still has the ability to mix it with the best rally drivers in the world.
That is apart from son of billionaire Prada heir Miucca Prada, Lorenzo Bertelli who’s woefully out of his depth.
Beating Bertelli is a reminder to everyone how good Paddon is, but aside from that there’s not much for Paddon to battle for as few of the leading WRC2 drivers made the trip to New Zealand.
“It’s tricky just maintaining things,” Paddon said.
“When you’re in this position that you’ve got a lot to lose and nothing to gain, it’s easy to make a mistake and we can’t make mistakes.
“I think the guys are doing a good job (in WRC2),” he added.
“Shane has got some good speed and Harry (Bates) has had some good stages, you’ve just got to string it together over a whole rally.
“At the end of the day, we are in no man’s land a bit with our current position, so it does make it difficult.
“We’ve got to be so patient with where we stand and tomorrow afternoon can’t come soon enough.”
Van Gisbergen is ninth overall and third in WRC2.
“It’s just getting better, there’s still plenty to come,” Van Gisbergen said of his rallying exploits.
“We’re having a go, but we’re having some fun too. The last stage especially was very slippery and we lost a bit of time there, but we got through safely.”
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