Autosport Top 50 of 2024: #20 Kalle Rovanpera

Kalle Rovanpera only contested seven WRC rallies in 2024, exchanging his title defence for a partial campaign to recharge his batteries and expand his horizons, but the two-time champion led them all.

The 24-year-old won more events than anyone, surpassing the tally achieved in his 2023 title run, and could easily have racked up seven wins without crashes in Sweden and Portugal. But there was little he could do to avoid the rock that thwarted him in Finland.

Outside rallying, his versatility was underlined by winning his fourth circuit race start in Carrera Cup Benelux and testing Red Bull’s 2012 F1 car.

Rovanpera’s latest marvel

Just when we thought that Kalle Rovanpera had shown us all his tricks, he went and raised the bar even higher this year with a remarkable victory in Poland.

The event had not been part of Rovanpera and co-driver Jonne Halttunen’s planned schedule. But at short notice, the duo ditched their plans (Rovanpera was repairing his jet ski, Halttunen getting a tattoo) and answered a call from Toyota to fill in for Sebastien Ogier after the Frenchman was injured in a recce crash. The Finnish pair would turn into the ultimate supersub act.

Rovanpera may not have contested a full season, but he still showed why he was champion with epic Poland win

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Without the usual preparation of a pre-event test or studying on-board videos beforehand, Rovanpera and Halttunen had to undergo a rushed recce of the stages. At points during the weekend, the driver fell asleep at his laptop during the long night studying stage videos.

Despite the challenges, Rovanpera claimed an unthinkable and remarkable victory by 28.3s from Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans. It will forever rank as one of Rovanpera’s most impressive feats and quite possibly the drive of a WRC season in which he also triumphed in Kenya, Latvia and Chile.

“I wasn’t really expecting much and of course,” said Rovanpera of the win. “Every time you put the helmet on, you try to do your best. I had a chance; you always have a chance, but you have to count on yourself, but I knew it would be difficult for sure. You need to keep going and trying all the time.

“I think the biggest challenge was that I just had no sleep and already coming into the weekend I was quite tired,” he added. “I didn’t sleep well the weekend before and on Monday, I was watching NHL finals with my friend. The next morning I was waking up for the recce.”

Rovanpera says he is “recharged” ahead of his full-time WRC comeback next year, which is an ominous thought given the performances witnessed in 2024. It will however be interesting to see how he adapts to a GR Yaris without hybrid power.

Rovanpera returns full-time next season, will he fly back up the Top 50 rankings with a strong WRC result?

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool