Kalle Rovanperä 2022 WRC World Champion

22 years and 1 day… Kalle Rovanperä became the youngest world champion WRC at the end of a Rally managed with a maturity worthy of the greatest champions whom he joins in the elite. A title acquired in a sumptuous setting with these New Zealand landscapes finally found again after 10 years of absence.

Impressive at the start of the event when he had to open the road for his little comrades and tirelessly clear the layer of gravel covering the New Zealand tracks, the young prodigy finally managed to open up a sufficient gap on Ott Tänak to be able to manage the rest of the ordeal on his own. 

Kalle Rovanperä size pattern © WRC

If he wanted to forget his last two mediocre rallies, Rovanperä wanted above all to have fun and rediscover that instinctive driving which makes him untouchable whatever the obstacles. And there was no shortage of obstacles! Above all this infernal, incessant, stubborn rain, which transformed the magnificent special stages into fields of mud. The opponents then with Elfyn Evans at the forefront of newfound speed but unfortunately still just as unstable in his management of pressure. And what can we say about Ott Tänak, to whom the final gap of 48″5 does not pay tribute since he received a 15-second penalty following two excesses of the authorized electrical energy on his hybrid propulsion system.

Ott Tänak s’incline avec les honneurs © Hyundai Motorsport GmbH

Pour surmonter les obstacles, Kalle a pu compter sur de précieux alliés. Côté paddock d’abord avec son père Harri, présent à ses côtés et son Team Principal Jari-Mari Latvala. Ces deux anciens vainqueurs WRC ont certainement su trouver les mots pour guider le jeune apprenti champion vers le Graal. Cette équipe Toyota ensuite qui lui a fourni l’arme ultime avec cette Yaris performante et fiable et a su faire retomber la pression du week-end en célébrant ses 21 ans sitôt le troisième jour de course achevé.

Finally, it would be indecent not to associate Sébastien Ogier as such, the eight-time French World Champion simplified Rovanperä's task by interposing himself between him and his direct rival Ott Tänak. The Gapençais was able to put himself at the service of Team Toyota to produce a perfect team race despite the loss of Evans. We only remember the winners, but some runners-up deserve their share of the spotlight.

On the podium, the complicity between the youngest World Champion in history and the veteran with 8 crowns had the sweet flavor of passing on a legacy.

Final classification of the New Zealand Rallynd WRC In 2022:

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