Reigning two-time world rally champion Kalle Rovanpera swapped a rally automobile for a take a look at in a Purple Bull Formulation 1 automobile on the Purple Bull Ring.
Recommendations the 15-time WRC rally winner might drive an F1 automobile emerged earlier this season whereas an image posted on his Instagram of a go to to the Purple Bull Racing workshop in Milton Keynes final month additional fanned hypothesis.
To organize for the outing Rovanpera visited Purple Bull Racing’s headquarters for a seat becoming earlier than participating in a session on the crew’s simulator.
“We did the seat becoming for the automobile to test I’ve the whole lot nicely within the cockpit for the take a look at after which we did a morning session on the simulator making an attempt completely different smaller class system vehicles constructing as much as the larger ones. I used to be in a position to get a dangle of the observe and stuff,” Rovanpera informed Autosport previous to the occasion.
“I’m nonetheless a race driver so I wish to present my potential and attempt to do nicely.”
Rovanpera then headed to the Austrian Grand Prix venue final week the place he made his single-seater debut, first driving Formulation 4 and Formulation Renault 3.5 equipment, earlier than stepping as much as an older technology Purple Bull F1 automobile.
Kalle Rovanpera take a look at in a Purple Bull Formulation 1 automobile on the Purple Bull Ring
Picture by: Purple Bull Content material Pool
The Finn accomplished roughly 40-50 laps on the venue the place he has raced within the Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux sequence this 12 months.
“It was an excellent day, I bought to drive three completely different system vehicles. I bought fairly a couple of laps in and, after all, the F1 was one thing I had been wanting ahead to for a very long time, so it was actually cool to lastly get to drive it. The day went nicely, and I used to be left with excellent emotions,” mentioned Rovanpera.
“The largest variations between rally and F1 are clearly {that a} rally automobile strikes much more from the physique – F1 is a bit like a karting automobile, it does not transfer a lot from its suspension, but it surely has an unbelievable quantity of grip – and naturally, F1 has an enormous quantity of downforce, which lets you drive a lot sooner in corners. It is also bodily fairly completely different.
“There’s much more lateral G-force, the automobile stops rather more and turns extra – it feels very completely different to the driving force, there are much more G-forces and the automobile has an unbelievable quantity of grip.
“Certainly, the primary time you sit in there, it feels fairly completely different than in a rally automobile – you additionally sit in such a special place that it feels fairly completely different – but it surely was actually cool to get to really feel it at the moment.”
This 12 months Rovanpera has expanded his motorsport horizons by venturing into circuit racing having opted to contest a partial World Rally Championship marketing campaign for Toyota, forward of a return to full-time competitors subsequent 12 months.
Rovanpera’s circuit racing exploits have included an element marketing campaign within the Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux sequence, which has yielded three race wins. The Finn additionally contested a spherical of the Italian Carrera Cup sequence at Monza final month.
Kalle Rovanpera
Picture by: Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux
The 24-year-old can also be an everyday on the drifting scene competing all around the world and has revealed ambitions to in the future compete on the Le Mans 24 Hours World Endurance Championship occasion.
Rovanpera isn’t the primary WRC star to pilot an F1 automobile with 1995 champion Colin McRae and nine-time champion Sebastien Loeb famously having fun with outings.
McRae piloted a 1996 Jordan F1 automobile at Silverstone as a part of a automobile swap stunt that noticed then-Jordan driver Martin Brundle drive McRae’s WRC Subaru Impreza.
In 2007, Loeb drove a Renault F1 present automobile on the Paul Ricard Circuit earlier than becoming a member of Purple Bull at an F1 winter take a look at in Barcelona, the place he set the eighth-fastest time driving a Purple Bull RB4.