How Rovanpera overcame rallying royalty in Portugal to extend his WRC lead

On a weekend when past champions and icons gathered to celebrate the World Rally Championship’s 50th anniversary season, it was Kalle Rovanpera who again outlined the potential to one day join the pantheon of rally legends.

The revered gravel roads of Portugal have been almost ever-present since the WRC’s inaugural season in 1973, providing a perfect backdrop to mark 50 years of rich history. It was a festival of rally that didn’t disappoint, both on and away from the stages.

Thirty historic cars from the beautiful Alpine A110, the Group B monsters from Audi and Lancia, to the Group A Subaru Impreza and Toyota Celica icons were on show, accompanied by a glittering cast list that amassed 28 of the 50 drivers’ titles to date. Champions Walter Rohrl (1980, 1982), Ari Vatanen (1981), Miki Biasion (1988-89), Carlos Sainz (1990, 1992), Marcus Gronholm (2000, 2002) and Petter Solberg (2003) made the trip to attend a gala dinner, and there were of course the modern day heroes Sebastien Loeb (2004-12), Ott Tanak (2019) and Sebastien Ogier (2013-18, 2020-21).

That list of world title winners doesn’t yet feature the name Kalle Rovanpera but, if his performance in last weekend’s rally is anything to go by, then it is surely only a matter of time before the WRC crowns its youngest ever champion.

Few expected Rovanpera to challenge for victory in Portugal given that the Finn faced the daunting task of sweeping the dusty roads by virtue of leading the championship standings after back-to-back wins on Swedish snow and Croatian asphalt. Yet after four days of competition, Rovanpera defied the odds to stun the rally world once again. The 21-year-old emerged from a battle with Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans to chalk up his third consecutive victory.

This latest triumph arrived in a rally that featured, coincidentally, five-time Portugal winner Ogier and – the most successful WRC driver of all time – Loeb, as the part-time campaigners that lit up January’s Monte Carlo Rally rejoined their respective Toyota and M-Sport teams.

There were plenty of unknowns heading into the first gravel test for the new heavier Rally1 hybrid cars, and it would prove to be a stern challenge for tougher events to come after a surprisingly brutal start to the rally.

There was no fairytale WRC return for Ogier

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Portugal’s rich WRC history over the past 50 years has built up a loyal following despite the lack of a local driver in the top flight, and they were out in force when the proceedings kicked off south of host city Porto for a superspecial in Coimbra. The Thursday night stage also featured a demonstration run for historic cars as part of the half-century celebrations. It was Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville that topped the technical asphalt test, but that would be among few highlights for the Belgian who would face another frustrating rally.

If there was a communal swear jar in the service park, then it would have been brimming come end of Friday, such was the drama and misfortune that unfolded. The first full day of gravel action this year was a savage one that relentlessly dished out punishment. Dust quickly became a talking point among the crews, with overnight leader Neuville, second on the road, forced to slow due to the dust hanging in the air following Rovanpera’s run in stage two.

That was a minor issue in comparison to what was affecting three of the five M-Sport drivers: Craig Breen, Gus Greensmith and Loeb. Dust was coming into the cockpit of the cars adding to the visibility issues and all round discomfort behind the wheel.

Breen summed it up best. “I go into a right-hand corner it [the dust] is billowing up in the back here,” he said at the end of stage three. “I couldn’t see a thing and it is cutting my f****** eyes.”

If watching Loeb retire due to a mistake sent shockwaves through the service park, losing Ogier from the fight two stages later left many in disbelief

At the front, Evans had emerged as the pacesetter having swiftly moved into a five-second lead over Hyundai’s Ott Tanak, with Ogier and Breen in pursuit, while road sweeper Rovanpera hung on in sixth ahead of Loeb and Neuville.

Loeb had been relatively quiet but one should never turn a blind eye to the nine-time world champion. On stage four he burst into life in devastating fashion, winning the legendary Arganil test that has gone down in rally folklore thanks to exploits of Vatanen, Rorhl and Michele Mouton in the 1980s. While Evans struggled for grip, Loeb produced a masterclass from nowhere to find 10.6s, jumping from seventh to the outright lead, 0.5s ahead of early pacesetting Toyota.

This was achieved without the Frenchman using the hybrid boost at the start of the stages. “I tried hard and I had a very good stage,” said a modest Loeb.

Loeb made a rare mistake to end his Rally Portugal hopes having looked strong again in the M-Sport Ford

Photo by: M-Sport

With only a short tyre-fitting zone splitting the morning and afternoon loops, crews were thrown into the deep end for what was a vicious second pass through the morning stages, which began with the rarest of things – a Loeb unforced error. Loeb proved he is human after all as he misjudged a left-hander, resulting in his Ford Puma sliding into a wall, ripping the right rear wheel and suspension from the car.

This unexpected retirement restored Evans to the lead, albeit 2.1s ahead of Neuville, who looked threatening, while Ogier had gathered momentum after winning the very stage where his long-time rival crashed.

If watching Loeb retire due to a mistake sent shockwaves through the service park, losing Ogier from the fight two stages later left many in disbelief. Punctures became the talking point, and if one arrives several are likely to follow. M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux was the first to fall with a left-front failure. Worse was to come as Ogier, Tanak and Breen suffered punctures in stage six, dropping the trio down the order.

After losing two minutes fitting a spare, Ogier was particularly punchy with his review of the situation: “It’s rough, and we drive Pirelli, so a good combination.”

Breen added: “This stage is completely destroyed. I could have got it [the puncture] in about 150 places because there’s boulders everywhere. It’s a lottery.”

On the next test punctures struck Ogier and Tanak again and it proved terminal for the former, having elected not to take two spare wheels. Tanak lost more than a minute and 30s fitting a spare. The stage also claimed one of Greensmith tyres as Pirelli’s upgraded rubber came under scrutiny.

The drama kept on coming as Hyundai’s reliability issues reared their head again, with Neuville the victim. A driveshaft failure on a road section dropped the Belgian from second to seventh, cue another expletive explosion at stage end.

Neuville suffered yet more mechanical heartache with his Hyundai

Photo by: Vincent Thuillier / Hyundai Motorsport

“We could have been in the fight for the lead, but we got hit again with technical issues,” said Neuville once he had calmed down after ending Friday 1m46.4s adrift. “It’s frustrating – I cannot do more than I am doing and we are always missing points at the end of the year, mainly due to small technical issues.”

As the drama subsided, Evans emerged with a 13.6s lead from Rovanpera, who had quietly climbed into contention after claiming two stage wins. Hyundai’s Dani Sordo and Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta sat third and fourth having avoided serious time loss.

Evans and Rovanpera took it up a notch on Saturday in a head-to-head battle for the win. The hot sun of Friday was replaced by rain and humid conditions as crews tackled almost 165 kilometres of stages. Evans came out of the blocks fast, extending his lead to 18.4s at the end of the morning loop that wasn’t without action.

"I have really good feelings [about this win]. I am a bit surprised also as I didn’t really think when we started the rally we could do something like this" Kalle Rovanpera

The two Sebastiens who had rejoined the rally under restart rules were at the heart of it. Loeb suffered a suspected turbocharger issue that reduced his Puma to a crawl while Ogier crashed out on the same stage 11 after being distracted by a hybrid issue. Both, amazingly, retired for a second time – the last time the duo retired from a WRC event on the same day was at Rally Australia in 2011.

As the rain intensified so did Rovanpera’s charge, which was most evident on the day’s penultimate stage won by the recovering Neuville. The Finn managed to overhaul Evans, who faced the worst of the conditions, to move into a 4s lead that extended to 5.7s after a run through the Porto asphalt superspecial.

A surprised Rovanpera said: “I was not expecting it. I have had quite a comfortable feeling in the car and I’m not pushing the limits all of the time but when I knew it was good conditions, I went for it.”

The battle for third provided plenty of entertainment as Katsuta jumped Sordo, while Neuville held fifth from Breen and Pierre-Louis Loubet, who had run as high as fourth before a wild off-road excursion on Saturday. Tanak and Fourmaux completed the Rally1 field, the latter however lost three minutes to a puncture on the rally’s longest stage. M-Sport’s fortunes had been dealt a further blow when Greensmith retired with suspension failure after he clipped a bank earlier in the afternoon.

Rovanpera was able to take the fight to Toyota team-mate Evans after a tricky opening day

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

As for the victory battle, Toyota boss Jari-Matti Latvala uttered the words the neutrals wanted to hear: “We don’t like team orders and it is not correct for the drivers.” And so, a Sunday showdown between Rovanpera and Evans was locked in.

Overnight rain threatened to create a grandstand finish but in truth Rovanpera appeared to have this under control just like his GR Yaris. Such is his confidence, Rovanpera was able to employ his “full send” mantra across the iconic Fafe powerstage to delight the thousands of fans congregated at the huge jump.

Not only did he fend off Evans to score a 15.2s win, Rovanpera coolly won the final powerstage to clinch five bonus points to add further gloss to an against-the-odds victory.

“I have really good feelings [about this win],” said Rovanpera, who now leads the championship by a whopping 46 points from Neuville. “I am a bit surprised also as I didn’t really think when we started the rally we could do something like this.”

A first podium of the season for Evans pushed the Welshman up to fifth in the standings but he admitted he didn’t quite have the confidence to push as hard as Rovanpera. “Hats off to Kalle for the victory, he has done a great job,” said Evans. “I was trying to catch him but I was not 100% gelled with everything, so I wasn’t free enough to push to that level.”

Toyota was denied a podium lock out on the final stage as Sordo snatched third away from Katsuta by 2.1s – a rostrum on the Spaniard’s first start of the season. Neuville was left to ponder what could have been in fifth, ahead of team-mate Tanak, as Loubet led M-Sport’s charge in seventh after Breen limped home with a brake problem in eighth, in front of a distant Fourmaux.

But the plaudits righty belonged to Rovanpera, who quite simply is operating in a different league. If last month’s first win on asphalt in Croatia was a warning shot to the WRC field, then this latest victory should have his rivals worried.

Loeb and Ogier may have dominated the championship for the past 16 years, but it appears this just might be the start of the Rovanpera era.

Rovanpera is making a name for himself as the WRC's next superpower, but can he make it four in a row next time out in Sardinia?

Photo by: Toyota Racing