Rovanperä wishing for rain at Secto Rally Finland

The 22-year-old Finn split the stage wins with his team-mate Elfyn Evans, heading the Welshman home by 11.6 seconds after a sodden day’s sport on the stages close to Tampere.

Rovanperä said he hoped the rain would continue into this week’s Jyväskylä-based event.

“I hope it will be a bit wet,” said the WRC points leader. “It would be good to use this set-up. We had a really good preparation – we were able to confirm everything we tried in the pre-event test at this rally in Tampere. I’ve never done this one before, so it was good to come here and take the win – it was really nice to see the fans!

“The conditions were quite extreme with the rain and the mud, but the car was working really well. This week will be a bit more of a challenge, but we’re ready for it.”

Evans echoed those sentiments, adding: “It has been great preparation – you never know what the weather’s going to do and if the rain does stay then this rally will be really useful.

“We’ve been fairly focused on getting the right set-up for Rally Finland, we haven’t been taking the same sort of risks we would on a WRC round – but the driving seems to have gone OK and it’s always nice to get the mileage in.”

Toyota wasn’t the only factory team in Tampere, with M-Sport Ford running a Puma Rally1 Hybrid for Pierre-Louis Loubet. The Frenchman ran well with only a minor electrical issue standing between him and a string of third quickest times behind the brace of Toyotas