WRC
Kalle Rovanperä becomes the youngest World Rally Champion ever and ends a 20-year Finnish title drought on a very successful trip to the revived Rally New Zealand.
Former World Rally Champion Ott Tänak smiled. Then laughed. Three years ago, it was him. Now it was the turn of Kalle Rovanperä. Aged 22 years and one day, the Finn became the youngest-ever WRC champion by more than five years, eclipsing the record held by Colin McRae, on Sunday. And he did it in style, by winning Rally New Zealand.
Question was, how would he be celebrating?
“By the way, he was dancing on the roof of the car. I think he will be doing some more dancing tonight,” said Tänak. “He’s a young guy, I think it’s going to be a wild party.”
The Estonian was among the first to congratulate Rovanperä: “You can’t take anything away from him. Fair play to him and all of the Toyota guys. They have really done the job properly this year. They started really quick, and they stayed like that.”
Driving and dancing done, it was time for the post-event press conference. And the return of ice-cool Rovanperä. Utterly impassive, he answered the questions, but clearly, he wanted to be back with his team. And back with his father.
Harri's boy
Harri Rovanperä won one WRC round in a career which failed to fire in quite the same fashion as some of his Finnish countrymen. The same won't be said for his son.
"It is quite a big moment,” said Harri, eyes filled with emotion. “Big moment. Kalle is champion, and this is something special, something very nice. We were waiting for this moment this season – people were asking, you were asking: what did we think for him to be champion? But I didn’t want to say. We don’t talk to this until now. Now he's done it."
There’s a pause. Another handshake from another well-wisher. A pause for reflection and collection: "I don’t know, what can I say. The boy is the world champion. Sounds special.
“I think we knew from a long time that he has this talent and the chance to drive like this in the car. I made one ride with him in the car, the speed was incredible – I said I wouldn’t do it again! He is champion. There’s nothing more.”
A father’s pride is a special thing to see on a Sunday afternoon in Auckland. And, let’s not forget, there’s also a Rally New Zealand win to celebrate.
"I wasn't thinking about the championship, the points or anything like that, just driving," said Rovanperä. "And these roads made it easy to drive to enjoy them. OK, today, the final day was short, but yesterday and Friday, we had some really nice roads. I felt yesterday morning when the rain was coming, that the conditions were coming to me, and I could push."
And when he pushes, very few drivers – if any right now – can keep up. This time, nobody could.
“It’s a nice time,” he said with a grin broadening on his face. “I didn’t think about the age thing for the championship. It was Colin [McRae], and now it’s us. This is special.”
I wasn't thinking about the championship or anything like that, just driving
Ogier does the decent thing…
Outgoing champion Sébastien Ogier, who finished second in the event, was listening to the Kiwi crowd where Rovanperä and co-driver Jonne Halttunen couldn't hear them.
“We were on the finish podium, and I could hear the people shouting for Kalle to do a shoey, said Ogier". "I knew they couldn’t hear, so I took off my shoe and poured it in for them to drink. I took some as well – it didn't taste so bad!
“For Kalle, this is a fantastic result. You know, at his age, I still hadn’t even sat in a rally car, so the potential for this young guy is just huge! Really, nobody has been able to catch him this season, he’s been so fast and so consistent. It’s very, very impressive.”
Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala was similarly reflective on his own 22nd year.
"This was the year when I got my first works drive, so he is a little bit of a way ahead of me now," he said. "It's amazing to see this young gun of ours taking the title. The pressure is gone from his shoulders now, and I'm sure there's nothing he can't do.
"I'm also so happy for the Finnish people. We've waited for a long time, 20 years for this moment. Myself and Mikko Hirvonen, we tried hard, but it wasn’t possible for us, and the sport was going down a little bit in Finland. “Now, at home, all the time, they're shouting his name. Kalle has brought the sport back for Finland."
