Has Kalle Rovanperä really had time to recharge his batteries in 2024? The Finn has multiplied new experiences in motorsport, whether in Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux (4th in the championship), in drift but also… in Formula 1, with a day of riding on the Red Bull Ring. Not to mention the seven rallies WRC which he played last year (with four victories to his name).
In 2025, after taking a year off from the discipline, the double world champion returns full-time with the aim of reclaiming his crown from the hands of Thierry Neuville. Nevertheless, the 24-year-old driver wants to adopt a new philosophy and use his various adventures experienced in 2024 to better enjoy his 2025 WRC season.
“What the 2024 season made me realize is that I want to learn to have fun, he said last December, on the sidelines of the Rally from Dévoluy. That's what I'll try to do. It doesn't mean I'm going to do worse, because, of course, if I'm lining up, it's to win and bring points to the team. My ambition hasn't changed. I'm coming to win the world champion title, but I'm going to try to achieve it by having a different approach. I think that will be the best way to overcome 2025."
« "A 2nd place will never be a good result" for Rovanperä
Winning while having fun, having fun to win: this is the new mantra of a more relaxed Kalle Rovanperä, a little warmer too, who has not lost his ambition and his rage to win. Within a field that is certainly still as thin but still very competitive, the double world champion is not ready to be satisfied with places of honor in 2025. "A 2nd place will never be a good result! I'm already sure of that! No, the idea is always to win, but by trying to enjoy the process of getting there more."
This season, Kalle Rovanperä will also have to learn the trade of grocer, or mathematician, as you choose. Indeed, with the three-scale points system and the "Super Sunday" which can earn up to ten points (five on Sunday, five during the Power Stage), the Finn will have to adapt his weekend and the approach to each special stage in order to score as many points as possible. An exercise to which he is not really accustomed, unlike his direct opponents who have been able to master this new system in 2024 and take a certain advantage from it.
For the pilot Toyota, however, the impatience to get back into the Yaris Rally1 is growing: the Finn expects a hard-fought season against the Hyundai and against his own teammates but feels ready to fight. "I think the competition will be even tighter than ever, so yes, it will be interesting., he said ahead of the Monte Carlo Rally. But of course, [the title] is our only goal of the season. So yeah, I'm trying to do my best to come back in the fight. Since last year, Thierry [Neuville] is one of the best riders to beat. Everyone is chasing him now. It's a different situation for us too. We are behind him so, yeah, let's see how it goes and who will be in the fight."
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