Kalle Rovanperä “gave everything” in the Power Stage

The meteoric trajectory of Kalle Rovanpera continues. After a wise but convincing start to Rally Monte-Carlo last January, the Finnish prodigy of Toyota Gazoo Racing yesterday offered himself his first podium in WRC, finishing 3rd in the Swedish Rally.

Contested in delicate road conditions due to the mild weather, with dirt as a guest on the Nordic tracks, the rally nevertheless smiled on the nugget of Tommi Mäkinen's team, who took the advantage of his teammate and six-time champion of the world Sébastien Ogier in the final timed sector, and the only ES run yesterday.

Leading by half a second before the Power Stage, Rovanperä showed the most verve on the Likenas course to pocket the special stage and the podium, at the same time as the bonus points awarded to the winner of this SS.

« It’s a great feeling to be on the podium, comments Harri Rovanperä’s son. It was a very demanding rally because it was shorter than usual and you had to be at full throttle all the time.

We lost a little time because of my mistakes but it's nice to get back on the podium today and also to have the five points from the Power Stage.

It was a solid passage, I gave it everything I had. I didn't feel very good at the beginning because I was maybe a little cautious and saving the tires, but it paid off in the end because we had very fast split times and the final time was good. »

An ES that Tommi Mäkinen considers to be one of the most “exciting to see”. “I could also see that for Harri (Rovanperä) it was, I think… it wasn’t an easy stage for him! »

It remains to be seen whether Rovanperä will be able to beat Jari-Matti Latvala's record as the youngest WRC winner, the former Toyota works driver having won at the age of 22 in Sweden in 2008.

Discover the full report and analysis of the Swedish Rally, produced by our special correspondent in Karlstad, in issue 2255 of AUTOhebdo, available from this Wednesday in digital version, and from February 21 on newsstands.