Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) wins the 2024 WRC Rally Latvia: The two-time world champion wins ahead of fellow brand driver Sebastien Ogier and Hyundai driver Ott Tänak
Toyota driver Kalle Rovanperä was unbeatable at the World Rally Championship (WRC) event in Latvia: The two-time world champion, who is only in the cockpit of the GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid at selected events this year, wins his 14th rally with co-driver Jonne Halttunen – with a lead of 39.2 seconds over Toyota brand colleague Sebastien Ogier
The Frenchman put in another good performance on the final day and secured a stage win at the start of Sunday, but this could no longer jeopardize Rovanperä’s overall success in the end: The Finn ended up in third place on Sunday, maintaining the lead he had already captured on Thursday evening.
Ott Tänak finished third in the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid. The Estonian was still in fourth position on Saturday evening, 20.8 seconds behind local hero Martins Sesks, who put in a strong performance in his Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid and had even been in second position behind leader Rovenperä on Friday
Podium drama for local hero Martins Sesks
On the third stage, Sesks celebrated his first stage win in the World Championship – in front of his home fans of all people! But luck was not on the Latvian’s side on Sunday. On the final day of the Latvia Rally, the Ford driver had a mechanical problem that cost him a well-deserved podium finish. With a deficit of 1:45 minutes, he finished seventh overall.
Hyundai driver Tänak inherited the last place on the podium. The third-placed driver in the WRC had an eventful rally, but finished ahead of his title rivals Elfyn Evans and championship leader Thierry Neuville. Tänak was even considered the favorite, but on Friday the Estonian struggled for confidence at the wheel of his Hyundai i20 N and only finished sixth in the overall standings.
Tänak launched an offensive on Saturday and took fourth place, which he retained despite an interruption due to a burst advertising sheet on stage 14. On the 16th stage, his drive shaft broke and he collided with a bale of hay
Tänak makes up ground on Neuville
The Estonian, however, closed the gap to Neuville in the championship race by adding the maximum possible twelve points to his ten points from Saturday for the lead in Sunday’s classification and victory in the Power Stage.
M-Sport driver Adrien Fourmaux brought his Ford Puma home in fourth place [+1:31 minutes] after a solid and consistent performance over the four days of competition. Title contender Evans (Toyota) finished fifth overall [six points] and collected four more points after finishing fourth in the Super Sunday standings and taking a point from the Power Stage, where he finished behind rivals Neuville and Tanak.
Evans’ teammate Takamoto Katsuta finished sixth [+2:07 minutes], but was already in fourth place before missing a chicane on the twelfth stage, leaving the Japanese driver without power steering on Saturday morning.
Neuville maintains the overall championship lead
Neuville’s hopes of a podium finish were dashed as he lost 1:23.3 minutes to the competition on Friday. The championship leader finished eighth on Saturday to secure three points.
In the end, Neuville salvaged three Super Sunday points and three points on the Power Stage and now has a narrow eight-point lead in the championship over Tänak, who has moved up to second place in the overall standings.
The top 10 was completed by Esapekka Lappi (Hyundai) and Gregoire Munster (M-Sport-Ford). Lappi struggled with speed on Friday and finished with an engine problem on Sunday. Oliver Solberg finished the race in eleventh place to take his second WRC2 victory of the season
