Conventional wisdom dictates experience can be a deciding factor in the direction of the World Rally Championship title. Kalle Rovanperä doesn’t deal in conventional wisdom. While the 21-year-old Finn has only completed two years in the top-flight, he’s been a regular on the WRC scene since 2018. There aren’t many rallies he hasn’t seen. Experience of the events is one thing, it was limited seat time at the top level which hindered the son of former one-time World Rally winner Harri Rovanperä. Until now.
With so much more reliance on mechanical componentry rather than electronics and hydraulics, under ICE conditions the new cars are more representative of Rally2 technology. Nobody knows a Rally1 that much better than anybody else and Kalle’s only just over two years on from a two-year stint driving Skoda’s Fabia Rally2 at the absolute limit. Running mechanical differentials and a stick shift is going to come more naturally to him than his rivals.