Devastating Rovanperä loss shows WRC has to stop its own drift

Rally News

At just 23, Kalle Rovanperä has taken the WRC by storm – but now the young star is looking for tranquility with less time under the spotlight. It's the championship which will suffer, writes Damien Smith

Kalle Rovenpera Toyota drifting Japan 2

Rovenperä will look to both take a break and diversify his motor sport experience next year – but it means the WRC will likely suffer

Red Bull

On Instagram, Kalle Rovanperä describes himself as “Most of the time pro rally driver and rest of the time wannabe drift king.” The handle says much about the newly crowned two-time World Rally Champion’s refreshing wider view of life – and why we shouldn’t be too surprised by his decision, announced this week, not to bid for a title hat-trick in 2024.

The Finn has re-signed for Toyota Gazoo WRT on another multi-year deal, but has taken a leaf from his veteran team-mate Sébastien Ogier by opting for a part-time campaign next season. He’ll compete in about half the rounds, but has yet to say which ones.

The call might not be a huge surprise, but I still felt a sense of shock when the news broke. And immense disappointment. The WRC remains the most spectacular form of motor sport at world level. Its crews are fantastically skilled and brave beyond comprehension. The TV coverage, easily viewed online (at a reasonable price), has never been better. And yet no one outside of the dedicated hardcore who love this wonderful sport pays much attention.

Losing its biggest star, even if he will still be there half the time and promises the break is just for a year before he returns to maximum attack in 2025, has to be considered a major blow. Just when it was looking so good, too.

Kalle Rovenpera Toyota WRC Japan 2

Young double champion has shown skill and speed to become a WRC great

Red Bull

After a tough year at M-Sport Ford, 2019 champion Ott Tänak will be back in a works Hyundai next year. Elfyn Evans, on the back of three wins this term including a finely judged victory in terrible conditions in Japan last weekend, looks ready to screw together a convincing title campaign (he was the only one to stay within touching distance of Rovanperä this year, but only at arm’s length). Then there’s Thierry Neuville, who has all the speed and experience to win a WRC crown – if he can iron out the errors.

Any of them would make a fine champion in 2024. But won’t it mean less without Rovanperä fully engaged? Of course. Just as Rovanperä’s achievements are tarnished – albeit only lightly – but Ogier’s frustrating insistence on side-stepping a bid to equal old nemesis Sébastien Loeb’s record tally of nine WRC titles so he can spend more time with his family. The established master versus the bright young star? It’s a narrative that writes itself. And we’ve enjoyed it in part. But because it’s not maintained on every round, questions linger. Ogier had the better of Rovanperä in the early rallies this year. If only we had got to see how that duel would have played out had the 39-year-old committed to all 13 rallies.

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Likewise, Rovanperä will probably take a clutch of wins when he does appear next year, especially because he won’t be starting Fridays first on the road. But whichever of his rivals claims the crown – and my money will be on Evans given that he’ll now have the full weight of Toyota’s support – they will always wonder: how might it have been with Kalle?

At the same time, I can’t help but admire Rovanperä for making such a call. At just 23!

His reasoning is simple – and is undoubtedly related to his love of drifting, a sport I enjoyed watching at the Nürburgring this year the night before the 24 Hours (but still struggle to take entirely seriously. Isn’t it simply about pulling cool skids?)

Anyway, here’s what Rovanperä said in full:

“I have signed a multi-year contract with Toyota Gazoo World Rally Team again and I’m really excited to continue with the team, which I like a lot. But next year we are going to see some changes for me and Jonne [Halttunen, his co-driver] because we are going to drive half of the WRC season calendar.

Kalle Rovenpera Toyota WRC Portugal

Driver says time is needed away from intensity of WRC to fully “recharge”

Red Bull

“There are many reasons behind this, but the biggest reason is that I’ve been driving rallies for 15 years which is quite a long time. The last seasons have of course been amazing, but also really demanding mentally and physically, and it’s consuming a lot of time and energy to fight for the championships and go around the world full-time on rallying.

“So I felt now would be a good moment to take this kind of year, for recharging the batteries, refreshing the mind and then come back again full-time to fight for the championships with full attack. As you know, I like other forms of motor sport a lot and next year I will have more free time so maybe I will see you guys on some drifting events and other cool events, and the rallies which we will select later on.”

From the archive

A few thoughts on that. Fifteen years – and he’s only 23. That’s a reminder how young the son of Peugeot works ace Harri Rovanperä was when he started rallying. It also suggests, again refreshingly, that he rallies not for titles but for the love of the pursuit. Shades of Walter Röhrl, perhaps, who famously won two WRC crowns but could have at least doubled his score – if only he’d been motivated by such trinkets.

It’s also true that Rovanperä has plenty of time, perhaps to match both Ogier and Loeb and even surpass them. If he wants to. But much like Max Verstappen in Formula 1, you sense that if those crazy career numbers come his way it would be a bonus rather than the target.

And what self-belief! To turn down the hot chance of a third title, driving the best car for the best team, at such a young age… He clearly knows his own mind.

Like I say, he’s refreshing. And he has genuine star power, which is why his full attention on the WRC is such a loss.

So what of next year’s WRC? The hybrid Rally1 cars still have their problems. Windscreens misting up in Japan to the point that drivers could barely see is, as Hyundai team boss Cyril Abiteboul put it, “embarrassing”. There are calls for a major rethink on the WRC’s future direction, just two years into this new hybrid era. That’s a bit of an indictment.

Kalle Rovenpera Toyota drifting Japan 3

Rovanperä has a great enthusiasm for drift events – here he is competing in Japan this year, with plans to do more

Red Bull

Yet despite all that, the cars are still spectacular to watch, the margins are as fine as ever and despite the commitment of just two-and-a-half manufacturers – Ford offers only limited support to M-Sport’s Pumas – the competition remains rife.

So next year will remain riveting. And whoever prevails should be considered a ‘full-fat’ champion. Of course they will have earned – and will deserve – the crown.

But don’t tell me it won’t be devalued (at least a smidge) by Rovanperä backing down. The WRC needs all the help it can get to grab the attention of the wider world. There’s no dressing it up. As my late friend Simon Arron might have put it, this is rubbish news.

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