Record-breaker Rovanpera takes his first win driving Toyota Yaris WRC
TOKYO, Jul 19, 2021 - (JCN Newswire) - Kalle Rovanpera has become the youngest driver to ever win a round of the FIA World Rally Championship after he and co-driver Jonne Halttunen secured victory on Rally Estonia: the fifth win in a row for the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team.
At 20 years and 290 days, Rovanpera claims the record that was previosuly held by the man who is now his Team Principal, Jari-Matti Latvala (who was just over two years older when he won Rally Sweden in 2008).
Rovanpera led after all but two of the event s 24 stages, held over some of the fastest roads in rallying. He took six out of eight stage wins on Friday in a close battle with his nearest rival, who he then pulled away from during Saturday with some stunning stage times.
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Flying Finn Rovanpera Claims the Championship Lead in the Toyota Yaris WRC
Toyota City, Japan, Mar 01, 2021 - (JCN Newswire) - Kalle Rovanpera has become the youngest ever driver to lead the FIA World Rally Championship standings after finishing in a strong second place on home ground at Arctic Rally Finland, securing the position with the fastest time on the rally-ending Power Stage in his Toyota Yaris WRC.
Twenty-year-old Rovanpera and his co-driver Jonne Halttunen were among the pacesetters from the beginning of the rally, and were holding onto second overall by just 1.8 seconds at the beginning of the final day - a margin they extended by 0.1s in the first of the two passes of the Aittajarvi stage.
Ott Tanak will carry a 24.1-second lead into today s final leg of the Arctic Rally in the north of Finland.
The Hyundai i20 driver was in imperious form yesterday, going fastest on three of the day s six stages. A brush with a snowbank on the first run through Kaihuavaara - which he later admitted he had been lucky to escape - was the only blot in the copybook of the 2019 World Rally Championship winner. All in all, everything has gone to plan so far, he said. We had a good day, but the stages were very demanding, incredibly fast and there are always places where the pace notes are not 100%. It was important just to get through to the end of the day, and not to make any mistakes.