BHP Motorsports Magazine

HOW ROVANPERÄ BECAME A WRC RECORD-BREAKER
Kalle Rovanperä,
driving only his
second WRC rally in
a headline category
World Rally Car,
smashed six-time world
champion and Toyota
Gazoo Racing team-mate
Sébastien Ogier to
become the sport’s
youngest podium
finisher at 19 years
and 139 days. Not only
that, he smashed world
champion Ott Tänak and
he smashed 2019 title
runner-up Thierry
Neuville in the
21.19km Likenäs to win
his first special
stage.
By the not
insignificant margin
of almost four secons.
Even Rovanperä was
impressed with his
efforts after
converting fourth
place to third with a
time almost 3.9sec
faster than Ogier. “I
think it was the best
stage I have done. It
was a really good run,
I gave it everything I
have.It didn’t feel so
good in the beginning
because I was maybe a
bit more careful and
saving the tyres, but
it paid off
in the end as we were
doing really fast
split times and the
final time was really
good,” he said. The
Finn stayed under the
radar en route to
fifth in last month’s
season-opening Rallye
Monte-Carlo, at that
time a career-best
result. But, even if
he did not admit it
before the event, his
targets were higher
for Sweden.
"Here I was not maybe
expecting, but hoping
for it,” he said.