After his partial season, Rovanperä ready and motivated to reclaim his title in 2025

Kalle Rovanperä is a reinvigorated man. At 24, the young Finn has enjoyed a short break in his career in rally to discover new horizons, including circuit racing. The double world champion took part in the Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux with some success: three wins in eight races and a 4th place in the championship despite his absence from two meetings. At the same time, Kalle Rovanperä had not completely cut off from the WRC since he took part in seven rallies in 2024… and won four of them, more than any other driver last season!

After a year of exploration, Kalle Rovanperä is ready to return to the fray for a full season in the WRC. Champion in 2022 and 2023, the Finn logically gave up his crown last year, but is motivated to take it back from the hands of Thierry Neuville. “It was a great year, he confided during the Rallye du Dévoluy, which he took part in to prepare for the next Rallye Monte-Carlo. That’s what I wanted, that’s why we did it this year. It was different, I was able to do a lot of different things to keep busy. That was the plan, I had fun, but now I’m ready to come back and the motivation is definitely there. It’s going to be a real fight and a great season.”

The Dévoluy as a cleaning for Rovanperä

In 2025, Kalle Rovanperä will have a hard time facing the Hyundai by Thierry Neuville, Ott Tänak et Adrien fourmaux, but also against his own teammates at Toyota, Elfyn Evans, Takamoto Katsuta and Sami Pajari. Despite taking a step back from his rally career in 2024, the Finn has shown in his seven outings with Toyota that he still has the pace of a champion with his four victories. However, the son of Harri Rovanperä has shown some weaknesses with uncharacteristic errors, notably on home soil in Finland where he rolled in the penultimate stage, while leading.

His presence at the Rallye du Dévoluy was therefore not insignificant: Kalle Rovanperä took the opportunity to get used to the Toyota Yaris again – now without a hybrid system, like its competitors – but also to the new Hankook tires and their behavior on difficult and slippery terrain, in view of the Rallye Monte-Carlo. An event that he had missed in 2024 and which he therefore prepared for in advance with the Rallye hivernal du Dévoluy, where he finished 2nd behind Adrien Fourmaux. “I think you’re never really ready for Monte Carlo. It’s a rally that offers so many different conditions, with the weather changing very quickly. It’s always exciting to start the season with a race like this.”

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