Kalle Rovanperä

Kalle Rovanperä (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈkɑlːe ˈroʋɑnˌperæ]; born 1 October 2000) is a Finnish professional rally driver who competes in the World Rally Championship (WRC) for Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, alongside co-driver Jonne Halttunen. He is the reigning World Champion. As the son of former WRC driver Harri Rovanperä, he garnered international attention by starting rallying at an exceptionally young age.

Kalle Rovanperä
Rovanperä in 2021
Born (2000-10-01) 1 October 2000
Jyväskylä, Finland
Related toHarri Rovanperä (father)
World Rally Championship record
Active years2017–present
Co-driverJonne Halttunen
TeamsToyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Rallies59
Championships1 (2022)
Rally wins11
Podiums19
Stage wins129
Total points627
First rally2017 Wales Rally GB
First win2021 Rally Estonia
Last win2023 Acropolis Rally
Last rally2023 Acropolis Rally
Last updated on: 10 September 2023[1].

Rovanperä won two titles in Latvia, before making his WRC debut in 2017. He won the World Rally Championship-2 Pro in 2019, and was promoted to the top tier by Toyota as their works driver in 2020. In 2021, Rovanperä became the youngest driver to win a World Rally Championship event by winning the 2021 Rally Estonia. In 2022, he became the youngest ever World Champion after winning the 2022 Rally New Zealand a day after his 22nd birthday.

Early life and background

Rovanperä was born in Jyväskylä in Central Finland.[2] He is the son of former WRC driver Harri Rovanperä, who was a factory driver for several teams and won a WRC round in Sweden in 2001.[3] He garnered international attention at the age of eight, when a footage of him driving a rally car was uploaded to the Internet, and participated his first rally at just ten years old.[4] Prior to his participation in the professional championships, he was coached by many compatriots, including Esapekka Lappi, who commented that a young Rovanperä already knew as much as him.[5]

Career

2015–2017: Success in Latvia, two other national series, ERC and WRC debut

In 2015, at the age of 14, Rovanperä competed in Latvia where having a driver's license is not a requirement to take part in rallying.[6][7] He won the Latvian rally championship with his Citroën C2 R2 Max car in the R2 class.[8][9]

For the first three rallies of the 2016 Latvian rally series, Rovanperä drove a 300-horsepower four-wheel-drive Škoda Fabia S2000, which was a completely new WRC-2 class rally car with a two-litre naturally aspirated engine.[10] He won the first rally, setting the fastest time at every stage.[11] He finished as the runner-up the second rally despite a power steering issue.[12] Rovanperä switched to a new Škoda Fabia R5 following another second-place finish in the Kurzeme rally.[13] He scored four more podiums, including two victories for the rest of the season.[14] Rovanperä eventually won the championship and became the youngest driver ever to win a national open class rally championship in any country at the age of 16.[15]

In January 2017, the Finnish motorsport association AKK-Motorsport granted a 16-year-old Rovanperä special permission to take part in Finnish rally races and the Ralli SM national championship series.[16] In addition to entering the rallies in the Finnish Rally Championship, he also participated in two other national championships: Latvia, Italy.[17] Rovanperä also made his European Rally Championship debut in 2017 by entering the Rally Liepāja, where he finished second overall.[18] He also successfully defended his title in Latvia by finishing every rally on the podium.[19]

Having acquired his driving licence, Rovanperä made his WRC debut at the 2017 Wales Rally GB, driving an M-Sport-entered Ford Fiesta R5,[20] as well as competing at the 2017 Rally Australia.[21] He won the event in the WRC-2 category, becoming the youngest winner of a WRC-2 round, though he was the only contestant in the class.[22]

2018–2019: Steady improvement and WRC-2 Pro crown
Rovanperä at the 2018 Rally Finland.

Rovanperä joined Škoda Motorsport for the 2018 season.[23] He recorded two victories at the 2018 Wales Rally GB and the 2018 Rally Catalunya,[24][25] completing the championship third.[26] Rovanperä also contested some events in the Asia Pacific Championship series.[27]

Rovanperä was retained by the team for the 2019 season.[28] He took his first victory of the season at the 2019 Rally Chile,[29] and took over the championship a round later at the 2019 Rally de Portugal.[30] He would go on to win three more rallies during the rest of the season and eventually sealed the title at the 2019 Wales Rally GB.[31] His only retirement of the season was at the 2019 Tour de Corse, where he crashed out during the ninth special stage.[32]

In November 2019, Toyota announced that Rovanperä would drive for the Japanese manufacturer in 2020, alongside world champion Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans.[33]

2020–2021: Top tier debut and youngest WRC event winner
Rovanperä at the 2020 Rally Sweden.

Rovanperä chose 69 as his car number.[34] He scored his first podium at his second outing in the top class at the 2020 Rally Sweden by finishing third.[35] At 19 years, 4 months and 16 days, Rovanperä became the youngest WRC podium finisher.[36] Rovanperä eventually finished fifth at the end of season.[37]

Rovanperä's 2021 campaign started with a fourth at the 2021 Monte Carlo Rally and a second at the 2021 Arctic Rally Finland, which was enough to lead the WRC championship for the first time in his career.[38] Following a series of troublesome events, Rovanperä took his first WRC career victory at the 2021 Rally Estonia.[39] The victory saw him become the youngest driver to win a World Rally Championship event at 21 years and 289 days, breaking the previous record of 22 years and 313 days held by his team boss Jari-Matti Latvala.[40] Later in 2021, he also won the 2021 Acropolis Rally.[41] Rovanperä eventually finished fourth at the conclusion of the championship.[42]

2022: Youngest World Rally Champion

Rovanperä started 2022 with a fourth place at the 2022 Monte Carlo Rally, before he went on to win a hat-trick events.[43] Following a fifth place at the 2022 Rally Italia Sardegna, he secured back-to-back victories to build a commanding lead in the championship.[44][45] Despite a number of eventful rallies, he returned to form to claim his sixth rally of the season at the 2022 Rally New Zealand.[46] The performance was enough to secure the first world title of his career.[47] At the age of 22 years and 1 day, Rovanperä became the youngest World Rally Champion, breaking the previous record set by Colin McRae at the age of 27 years and 89 days in 1995.[48] He also became the first Finnish World Rally Champion since Marcus Grönholm in 2002.[49]

2023
Rovanperä at the 2023 Rally Finland.

Rovanperä is competing in Formula Drift Japan FDJ1 driving a Red Bull GR Corolla.

Personal life

In June 2017, the Finnish transport safety agency Trafi granted Rovanperä special permission to apply for a driver's license when he turned 17.[50] On 2 October 2017, a day after his 17th birthday, Rovanperä successfully completed the mandatory driving test after having completed the theory part beforehand.[51]

In 2020, Rovanperä moved to Estonia.[52]

Awards and honours

Rally victories

WRC victories
# Event Season Co-driver Car Ref.
1 Estonia 2021 Rally Estonia 2021 Finland Jonne Halttunen Toyota Yaris WRC [54]
2 Greece 2021 Acropolis Rally 2021 Finland Jonne Halttunen Toyota Yaris WRC [55]
3 Sweden 2022 Rally Sweden 2022 Finland Jonne Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 [56]
4 Croatia 2022 Croatia Rally 2022 Finland Jonne Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 [57]
5 Portugal 2022 Rally de Portugal 2022 Finland Jonne Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 [58]
6 Kenya 2022 Safari Rally 2022 Finland Jonne Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 [59]
7 Estonia 2022 Rally Estonia 2022 Finland Jonne Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 [60]
8 New Zealand 2022 Rally New Zealand 2022 Finland Jonne Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 [61]
9 Portugal 2023 Rally de Portugal 2023 Finland Jonne Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 [62]
10 Estonia 2023 Rally Estonia 2023 Finland Jonne Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 [63]
11 Greece 2023 Acropolis Rally 2023 Finland Jonne Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

WRC-2 victories
# Event Season Co-driver Car Ref.
1 Australia 2017 Rally Australia 2017 Finland Jonne Halttunen Ford Fiesta R5 [64]
2 United Kingdom 2018 Wales Rally GB 2018 Finland Jonne Halttunen Škoda Fabia R5 [65]
3 Spain 2018 Rally Catalunya 2018 Finland Jonne Halttunen Škoda Fabia R5 [66]

WRC-2 Pro victories
# Event Season Co-driver Car Ref.
1 Chile 2019 Rally Chile 2019 Finland Jonne Halttunen Škoda Fabia R5 [67]
2 Portugal 2019 Rally de Portugal 2019 Finland Jonne Halttunen Škoda Fabia R5 evo [68]
3 Italy 2019 Rally Italia Sardegna 2019 Finland Jonne Halttunen Škoda Fabia R5 evo [69]
4 Finland 2019 Rally Finland 2019 Finland Jonne Halttunen Škoda Fabia R5 evo [70]
5 United Kingdom 2019 Wales Rally GB 2019 Finland Jonne Halttunen Škoda Fabia R5 evo [71]

Career results

WRC results
Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pos. Points
2017 Kalle Rovanperä Ford Fiesta R5 MON SWE MEX FRA ARG POR ITA POL FIN GER ESP GBR
35		 AUS
10		 25th 1
2018 Kalle Rovanperä Škoda Fabia R5 MON
11		 SWE 22nd 3
Škoda Motorsport MEX
35		 FRA ARG
Ret		 POR ITA FIN
14
Škoda Motorsport II GER
10		 TUR GBR
9		 ESP
12		 AUS
2019 Škoda Motorsport Škoda Fabia R5 MON
18		 SWE
18		 MEX FRA
Ret		 ARG CHL
8		 12th 18
Skoda Fabia R5 evo POR
6		 ITA
9		 FIN
9		 GER
16		 TUR
18		 GBR
9		 ESP
12		 AUS
C
2020 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC MON
5		 SWE
3		 MEX
5		 EST
5		 TUR
4		 ITA
Ret		 MNZ
5		 5th 80
2021 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC MON
4		 ARC
2		 CRO
Ret		 POR
22		 ITA
25		 KEN
6		 EST
1		 BEL
3		 GRE
1		 FIN
34		 ESP
5		 MNZ
9		 4th 142
2022 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 MON
4		 SWE
1		 CRO
1		 POR
1		 ITA
5		 KEN
1		 EST
1		 FIN
2		 BEL
62		 GRE
15		 NZL
1		 ESP
3		 JPN
12		 1st 255
2023 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 MON
2		 SWE
4		 MEX
4		 CRO
4		 POR
1		 ITA
3		 KEN
2		 EST
1		 FIN
Ret		 GRE
1		 CHL
4		 EUR JPN 1st* 217*
Source:[1]

* Season still in progress.

WRC-2 results
Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pos. Points
2017 Kalle Rovanperä Ford Fiesta R5 MON SWE MEX FRA ARG POR ITA POL FIN GER ESP GBR
15		 AUS
1		 15th 25
2018 Škoda Motorsport Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE MEX
5		 FRA ARG
Ret		 POR ITA FIN
4		 3rd 90
Škoda Motorsport II GER
2		 TUR GBR
1		 ESP
1		 AUS
Source:[72]

WRC-2 Pro results
Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pos. Points
2019 Škoda Motorsport Škoda Fabia R5 MON
2		 SWE
2		 MEX FRA
Ret		 ARG CHL
1		 1st 176
Skoda Fabia R5 evo POR
1		 ITA
1		 FIN
1		 GER
3		 TUR
3		 GBR
1		 ESP
3		 AUS
C
Source:[73]

ERC results
Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pos. Points
2017 Kalle Rovanperä Ford Fiesta R5 ACO ESP GRC CYP POL CZE ROM LVA
2		 12th 30
Source:[74]

References
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