Kalle Rovanpera has climbed up another notch in the World Rally Championship Hall of Fame following the successful defence of his world title.
After rewriting the record books last year by becoming the youngest ever world champion at the age of 22, the WRC’s latest superstar sealed the 2023 title by defeating Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans at last weekend’s Central European Rally.
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Here’s how Rovanpera and co-driver Jonne Halttunen completed a very different journey compared to 12 months ago, to remain on top of the rally world.
Slow but steady start raises eyebrows
Rovanpera highlighted in pre-season that the route to become only the sixth driver in WRC history to defend a world title would be “tricky”. Speaking in Autosport’s season preview he made it clear that the competition in 2023 would be stronger.
“Of course it’s going to be quite tricky to defend the championship,” he acknowledges. “I think definitely Hyundai is levelling up quite a lot during the end of the season last year, so they were catching up a lot. And now with Ott Tanak at M-Sport it will be interesting to see their pace and I think the competition will be higher all the time.”
But such was the Finn’s domination of 2022, that included five wins from the first seven events, recording one podium from the first four events of 2023 raised eyebrows. The campaign began with a second and now customary Power Stage win in Monte Carlo as team-mate Sebastien Ogier racked up a record breaking ninth win in the principality.
Three fourth place finishes followed in Sweden, Mexico and Croatia. In hindsight these results display the consistency that was key to winning the championship, but at the time there were concerns Rovanpera had lost his hunger and spark.
Starting first on the road certainly hampered him in Sweden as he stated after Tanak claimed the victory for M-Sport: "I'm not really worried, we were in the fight quite well. Definitely, if we didn't have this road position we could have been better. It was clear that everyone would be much closer than last year.”
But after witnessing Ogier triumph in Mexico, and a third consecutive non-podium finish in Croatia, where Evans broke his victory drought, Rovanpera made it clear that all was not well, aside from the two minutes lost to a puncture.
“A difficult weekend - and I need to prepare better on the set-up side, see,” he said in Croatia. “We cannot start rallies like this. We didn’t nail the set-up this time and it cost quite a lot of confidence and pace on Friday morning, so we just need to be really sharp and sure that we start with the right car and then we can push from the start.”
“He has been driving without mistakes but maybe a little spark has been missing. But I think he found it here" Jari-Matti Latvala
But Toyota boss Jari-Matti Latvala felt Rovanpera’s spark had returned.
“It has been a little bit tough for him this beginning to the season but I totally understand,” Latvala told Autosport. “He has been driving without mistakes but maybe a little spark has been missing. But I think he found it here.”
Rovanpera answer critics emphatically in Portugal
Latvala’s predication turned out to be spot on as Rovanpera rekindled the devastating form of 2022 in round five - Rally Portugal.
Rovanpera won 10 of the 19 stages, including a trademark Power Stage triumph, to end his victory drought that had stretched back to October 2022 when he sealed a maiden title.
The feat was made even more impressive given the disadvantage of starting second on the road. It was one of his best performances of his career which kick-started his title defence as he sailed into a 17-point lead over Tanak at the top of the championship standings.
The victory was met by relief before he offered a bit more insight into slow start to the year by his own high standards.
"It has been a bit too long coming but I knew when we get a clean weekend and a good drive we would be back in the game. It was nice to have it here and be back,” he said.
"Everything was like it should be with the car so we were a back on the game and pushing on. You always miss the feeling when you are not there and it is nice to be back.
"I have to say a big thank you to [co-driver] Jonne Halttunen and the team. They have been pushing all the time and going forward. I also have to give a good thank you to my very good friend Arttu. I have been having a hard time since the end of last year personally, and he has been pushing me to come back.”
From here, Rovanpera was never headed in the championship standings and so began a run a four consecutive podiums.
A third in Sardinia, which he hails as one of his worst events on the calendar, showed off his maturity. Rovanpera made no mistakes awful wet conditions to finish third behind Hyundai duo Thierry Neuville and Esapekka Lappi. He left with a 25-point championship lead after claiming 20 points thanks to another Power Stage win.
“I didn’t think we would be getting 20 points when I came here, but yeah the plan was to try to be fast and steady the whole weekend,” Rovanpera told Autosport.
“We knew we had the pace when needed and we were clever when we needed to be, so I think it was a really clever drive from our side.”
Rovanpera then pushed Ogier all the way at Safari Rally Kenya to finish second, missing out on victory by 6.7s as his championship lead increased to 37 points.
Enters new level of dominance in Estonia
If the world thought they had already seen the best of Rovanpera, then that idea was completely reset following an utter domination of Rally Estonia.
"I feel if I want to win the stage, I will win the stage” Kalle Rovanpera
The Finn delivered his most crushing victory yet, beating Neuville by 52.7s. Rovanpera emerged in the lead on Friday despite opening the road. He then went unbeaten across Saturday and Sunday, racking up 13 consecutive stage wins mirroring similar displays by nine-time world champion Sebastien Loeb.
Rovanpera even had the presence of mind to recall and repeat the famous saying “I feel if I want to win the stage, I will win the stage” delivered by Finnish rally legend Marku Alen during his period of dominance 36 years previous.
“I know some of the old sayings from the old guys [in rally] and it is fun when you drive like that, you can choose when to win the stage – it was funny," said Rovanpera when asked about his imitation of Lancia legend Alen.
“It was a really good one [rally],” Rovanpera continued as his championship lead ballooned to 55 points.
“It is my favourite event on the calendar and I was really enjoying it. I was really enjoying the car and the stages and I think we could see that in the stage times.
“I think it is really simple. If the car works how you want, then you can do what you want with it.
“I think Loeb has done something similar [winning 13 stages in a row], more or the same, I don’t care, it is still a good chunk of stage wins.”
Shows another string to his bow in Greece after Finland heartbreak
From the highs of Estonia came the lows of Finland. It was a homecoming to forget as Rovanpera rolled his GR Yaris on stage eight while leading Evans by 5.7s. Labelling the incident as a “stupid crash”, it marked the only retirement of his season to date.
After Evans claimed a maximum 30 points with his second Finland win, the title race was back hanging in the balance with Rovanpera leading his team-mate by 25 points. It meant the following Acropolis Rally was a crucial moment.
Rovanpera issued the perfect response but there was something quite special about his third win of the season. Following days of torrential rain from Storm Daniel, the Acropolis Rally was particularly attritional with Rovanpera and Dani Sordo the only drivers to avoid any trouble or mechanical issues.
Again starting first on the road, Rovanpera was able to to deliver a fast, yet measured pace to protect his car and keep himself in the victory hunt. He assumed the rally lead after Neuville first broke his suspension in a compression, before Ogier then suffered a double puncture and suspension damage.
Rovanpera then cruised to victory by 1m31.7s from Evans, who recovered from a broken radiator. A Power Stage win increased his championship lead to 33 points.
“It is always quite clear that you need to finish and take care of the car and the tyres also, so that was our plan, to push hard from the first place [on the road] but I still felt that I took care. I didn’t take all the risks.
“When you speak with him and listen to his comments it's very difficult to think that he was born in the 2000s. He is very mature” Kaj Lindstrom
“There is always a need [to push] when you can grab extra [Power Stage] points,” he added. “I didn’t really want to give them away either.”
Toyota’s sporting director Kaj Lindstrom added: “It is a [remarkable win],
“He is young but he is bloody clever. I think he was the smartest driver at this rally.
“To see him push and take everything out of the car, and stay out of trouble and save the car, he did it really maturely.
“When you speak with him and listen to his comments it's very difficult to think that he was born in the 2000s. He is very mature.”
Seals title in cruise mode with a round to spare
After only conceding two points to Evans in Chile - a gravel round that proved to be the most damaging for Rovanpera as road sweeper - he received a first match point to seal a second world title at the following Central European Rally.
Knowing the title would arrive if he outscored Evans, Rovanpera once again displayed his maturity to ensure he left the three country asphalt rally completing his intended objective.
This time starting first on the road proved to be a benefit as extreme wet conditions played ensured plenty of mud would be dragged onto the road by cars. Making the most of his position and his ability to shine in slippery conditions, Rovanpera marched into a comfortable 36.4s lead at the end of Friday.
A rare overshoot at a hairpin saw that lead slashed before title rival Evans crashed out of third on stage 11. With his rival absent, Rovanpera was smart to back off and cruise to finish second behind Neuville to secure a second title.
"I'm quite proud of the year and I think the performance was more important,” said Rovanpera.
"The competition was stronger and there wasn't many easy points to get like last year when there was much more trouble between everybody. This year it was important all the time to take the points and stay in good positions. Sometimes you just have to settle for the points, but as we have seen this is quite clever."
Rovanpera clinched the title with a round to spare, scoring three wins while displaying incredible consistency to finish no worse than fourth and with only one retirement. A proof that this year’s mature, clever and consistent approach was indeed an inspired choice.
