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Rovanpera delights home crowd with Rally of Finland victory / Photo: Valtteri Vainio - Lehtikuva/AFP
Rovanpera delights home crowd with Rally of Finland victory
Finland's Kalle Rovanpera boosted his bid for a third world rally championship title with a dominant win in front of his home fans in the Rally of Finland on Sunday.
The 24-year-old Toyota driver, world champion in 2022/23, competing in his birthplace swept the points, securing 35, having also won the 'Power Stage' and the 'Super Sunday' to move into second place, just three points off series leader Elfyn Evans.
Rovanpera, winning his home rally for the first time, recorded his 17th career win, second this term, beating two other Toyota drivers Japan's Takamoto Katsuta and Sebastien Ogier of France.
Ogier lies in third place overall, 13 points adrift of Evans, who finished fourth and replaced Ott Tanak on top of the title standings as the Estonian endured a nightmare race and finished 10th.
The Hyundai driver's hopes of victory had disappeared when he was slapped with a five-minute penalty after an incident on Friday.
Tanak left the control zone after tyre scanning before receiving permission from a scrutineer and struck the official with his front bumper resulting in minor injuries.
His sanction also carries a suspended penalty of 35 championship points.
The title race looks set to go down to the wire with just five races remaining, though, defending champion Thierry Neuville's hopes of defending his crown dimmed further as he finished sixth.
The drivers move on to the Rally of Paraguay, which runs from August 28-31.
K.Koch--BlnAP
