|
From top speed to a sudden stop
Harri Rovanperä and Risto Pietiläinen's stage win on Saturday morning lifted the spirits of the spectators in Rally of Sweden. After quite a long time, they would see a tight fight of seconds. Even if Marcus Grönholm seemed to have escaped too far, a close fight was expected over the second and the third place. But Rovanperä's chase which had begun well had a rough end on the second stage of Saturday (SS8, Fredriksberg, 18 km).
Already at the start of the stage there was some drama caused by a representative of the organizers in a FIA car. At the start time check, there was a car coming against the driving direction, which forced Juuso Pykälistö to back up. Juuso didn't notice that Harri had just come behind him, and hit the front of Rovanperä's car at full reversing speed. Fortunately only the cars' bumpers suffered.
A more serious crash occurred later on the stage after Pykälistö had rolled his car. The spectators had helped the car back on its wheels and Pykälistäö had already re-started the engine, but it was stalled again and left resting on the road. No-one had the time to warn Rovanperä, and the crash couldn't be avoided. Rovanperä's car hit the side of Pykälistö's, but luckily neither crew was injured. An ambulance was called as Pykälistö was in a shock afetr the accident, and he was taken to hospital for checks. That meant a retirement also for Rovanperä, for a bult in a front wheel arm was broken and the condensers had sunk in.
- We were pushing hard also on stage 8, determined to get on the second place overall, Rovanperä described the situation. - Shortly before the scene of the crash there are very difficult turns that demand extra cautiousness and concentration.
- After about eight kilometers from the start, we came over a crest and arrived at the scene. There were a lot of spectators. People were jumping off the road and then I saw Juuso's car. I merely had the time to put on the brakes, but then we already hit the side of the car. It was fortunate nothing worse happened, disappointed Rovanperä summed the dramatic events.
- There was nobody to warn us. No official warning, not even anybody on the road trying to stop us or waving with crossed arms. On stage 5, Duval's codriver was stopping the followers after they had gone off, and that worked fine. Here, warning the others wasn't taken care of efficiently enough, Rovanperä compared.
- When you are battling of the top places you don't have time to notice all the people waving, codriver Risto Pietiläinen remarked. - As a collegue of mine said today: "Even if you saw people signing for you to slow down in the middle of a stage, you'd know that in 99 per cent of the cases, the road would be clear. There really should be an official warning sign", which is true, said codriver Risto Pietiläinen.
Harri Rovanperä and Risto Pietiläinen had a bad start for their WRC season 2003. Nevertheless, they were able to demonstrate at least partially their potential of speed, which gives confidence in them having a say in the top battles to come. Not even bad luck can go on forever.
|
