How Rovanpera reached a Loeb-like level in Estonia WRC domination

Finnish rally legend Markku Alen once uttered the words “I feel if I want to win the stage, I will win the stage” during a period of World Rally Championship dominance 36 years ago. The saying steeped in rally folklore was revived by the WRC’s latest flying Finn Kalle Rovanpera, who repeated those famous words en route to the most crushing victory of his career to date at Rally Estonia last weekend.

There wasn’t any arrogance behind Rovanpera’s delivery of Alen’s words, just pure fact backed up by the timing screens, and an astonishing streak of 13 consecutive stage wins that left his rivals trailing in his wake. The 22-year-old raised the bar to new heights on his way to becoming the youngest-ever world champion last year, but in Estonia, he and co-driver Jonne Halttunen raised it further.

“I know some of the old sayings from the old guys [in rally] and it is fun when you drive like that, you can choose when to win the stage – it was funny," said Rovanpera when asked about his imitation of Lancia legend Alen.

Fun and enjoyment was at the core of Rovanpera’s total domination. The prospect of Rovanpera standing on the top step of the podium in Estonia was not a surprise. The Toyota driver openly declared the rally as his favourite on the calendar and it is easy to see why. The Baltic nation’s fast, smooth gravel roads were the scene of his maiden WRC win in 2021, followed by another triumph 12 months ago. However, the utter domination and the apparent ease at which it was delivered was a shock.

Rovanpera’s run to a third successive Rally Estonia win was made easier when a nightmare scenario unfolded for the event’s poster boy and Estonian national hero Ott Tanak. The 2019 world champion was perhaps the only driver capable of taking the fight to the Toyota star. Event promoters had even gone to the lengths of billing Rally Estonia as “Ott versus Kalle”.

Sadly, for a third year in succession, this rally-mad nation breathed a collective sigh as hopes for a fifth Tanak Rally Estonia triumph were effectively over without a wheel turned in anger. Tanak’s M-Sport Ford Puma developed a significant engine issue during the pre-event shakedown that necessitated an engine change, triggering a five-minute penalty as stipulated in the FIA sporting regulations.

An engine change after the shakedown and subsequent penalty ended Tanak's victory hopes early

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

“It is a really frustrating beginning to the rally and possibly the worst start we can have, but that is the situation we find ourselves in,” said M-Sport team principal Richard Millener. “The biggest disappointment is for Ott and for Martin [Jarveoja, co-driver], his team and I fully appreciate the situation being in their home country and the expectation and the support from their home fans.  There is nothing more frustrating about what is going on, but we can't do much about it.”

Rovanpera summed up the mood, stating the penalty was “harsh” and a “shame” as it denied the head-to-head everyone wanted to see. But the pain and disappointment etched over Tanak’s face increased as the reality of the situation set in. Eighth position appeared to be the best he could hope for lumbered with a hefty penalty.

Tanak was able to channel the emotions into speed by winning Thursday’s superspecial opener in front of an army of his supporters, but there was no hiding the disappointment: “There is nothing much to say. I would say that the more I have to go through the day, the more it hurts. It's getting more and more painful. This was a proper kick in the balls.”

Tanak underlined the extent of the missed opportunity the penalty had caused on Friday. Fired up by the circumstances, the 35-year-old lit up the timing screens, winning five of the day’s seven stages to climb from 48th to 11th overall, despite starting third on the road.

"From one ski jump to another ski jump – it's a massive pain to survive. Not a nice one at all. The front wheels were directing who knows where. By the eye I made my own geometry" Ott Tanak

It would have resulted in a 13-second rally lead over Rovanpera at the end of the day, had the penalty been avoided, to rub salt to the wounds. The pace was even more impressive considering Tanak wasn’t completely at one with his Puma. 

“It has been an incredible drive,” said Millener, who was in awe of this year’s Rally Sweden winner. “It is hard to take as we would be leading the rally but we can’t look at it that way as it is never going to change. It was aggressive and controlled and it was probably one of his best drives for us, if not the best.”

The actual leader of the rally come the end of Friday was Rovanpera, who offered a glimpse into the domination that was to come. Facing the disadvantage of sweeping the loose gravel roads as championship leader, he appeared to make light work of the handicap. While Rovanpera admitted he had to push to the limit in places, his reward was two stage wins and, more importantly, a 3.0s rally lead over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville. The feat left both the driver and his Toyota boss Jari-Matti Latvala surprised.

“He has been very impressive with what he has been doing because opening the roads was not easy in the morning, and in the afternoon there were quite big ruts,” said Latvala. “I didn’t think he would be leading and making fastest stage times.”

Neuville put on an encouraging display for Hyundai but was powerless to stop Rovanpera

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

A strong showing from Hyundai and particularly Neuville was perhaps even more surprising than Rovanpera’s impressive pace. A year ago the Korean brand was clearly second best to Toyota, while Neuville struggled for confidence in taming the i20 N on high-speed gravel rallies. However, the work spent developing the car utilising the team’s new Finland test base has paid off. Likewise, the addition of former Toyota driver Esapekka Lappi to the ranks has benefited the Belgian, with the Finn helping develop set-ups that also fit with Neuville’s demands from the car.

The result was Neuville’s best performance on roads where you have to be fully committed in recent memory. While he wasn’t able to claim a stage win on Friday, he was consistently clocking top-four stage times.

“The best thing is I felt comfortable in the car and I was able to drive with my usual rhythm,” said Neuville. “The car has evolved and we were far off last year and [former team-mate] Ott was even struggling to be close to the podium.

“We have a good car and we have been doing lots of testing on Finnish roads, which are similar and I'm getting more used to it. With Esapekka, we work in the same direction and we had the same set-up because the balance, grip and speed we want is the same.”

Lappi ended Friday sitting third, 12.2s adrift, after wrestling the position back from Toyota’s Elfyn Evans (+14.1s), the start of a rally-long battle with the Welshman. Lappi’s day was far from plain sailing, though. A heavy landing from a steep jump on stage two knocked out the car’s hybrid system, which then contributed to a startline confusion with marshals on stage four, who initially refused to allow Lappi to start the stage due to his hybrid unit indicator light not being on.

“It is [frustrating] but in the end, I f***** it up myself,” said Lappi when asked about the hybrid failure. “I was not expecting these things to happen but it was my mistake. It is frustrating but you just have to forget it and try to minimise the time loss.

“I really enjoyed the driving. I guess my green hybrid indicator light flashed or something and they [the marshals] said I cannot start. I think they got scared or whatever because for a few seconds, it was not on.”

Hyundai’s encouraging start was completed by an impressive display from Teemu Suninen, who made his return to the WRC’s top flight since Rally Monza 2021. Despite an initial shock by the brute power of the 500bhp Rally1 machines compared to his previous Rally2 car, the Finn quickly adapted to his new office to sit fifth ahead of M-Sport’s Pierre-Louis Loubet and Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta, who was bereft of confidence on the fast roads. 

Rovanpera won all 13 stages across Saturday and Sunday

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

“I am really happy with the car. The speed is crazy with this. I am really enjoying it, I really like it,” said Suninen.

However, from here, only one name would appear on top of the timesheets for the remaining 13 stages. Without the disadvantage of starting first on the road, Rovanpera was able to showcase the true speed at his disposal and so began a simply remarkable run of 13 consecutive stage wins. It was how relaxed and calm Rovanpera was behind the wheel, stunning not only his rivals but everyone watching on. He had found the elusive ‘zone’ that elite athletes strive for and few can ever dream of reaching.

The effect was devastating. Rovanpera could seemingly do no wrong to the point his performances were machine-like, as he transformed an overnight 3.0s lead into 34.9s advantage over Neuville on Saturday. The gap was aided by a slow front right puncture for Neuville on stage 12, but the Hyundai only lost 6.5s to the issue.

“I have not done that [win nine stages in a row] before,” Rovanpera told Autosport. “It is not the main point though, the main point is that it came quite easily. It is relaxing and you don’t need to stress about anything. You can just go with the flow and you know all the stages, you know your pace and you can just enjoy the driving.”

"We could be a bit faster by pushing and taking risks but the driving is clean and that's why the clock is liking it. If I want to win the stage, I will win the stage" Kalle Rovanpera

With Rovanpera in a league of his own and Neuville left to ‘watch’ the GR Yaris disappear into the distance, an intense battle for third captured the attention of many. Lappi versus Evans was a thrilling contest that ebbed and flowed throughout Saturday.

At one point Evans managed to close to within 0.7s as Lappi admitted “something is missing from my side, the car feels good but I am not on the limit as yesterday”. However, he responded as the day progressed to head into Sunday’s final four stages with a 7.3s margin over Evans.

The only change on the Rally1 leaderboard was provided by Tanak as his valiant recovery reached point where he would require problems from his rivals to progress further. Now starting first on the road, he was unable to repeat the stunning stage times of Friday, but his pace was enough to claim eighth overall. Aside from sweeping the road, his biggest problem seemed to be the harshness of the man-made jumps of stages 10 and 12 that left several drivers shaken, and a steering rack issue that required a fix on a road section.

“From one ski jump to another ski jump – it's a massive pain to survive, not a nice one [stage] at all,” said Tanak after stage 10. He later added in the afternoon: “The front wheels were directing who knows where. By the eye, I made my own geometry.”

Rovanpera could afford to back off on Sunday given his margin but, after winning the day’s first stages to extend his streak, he put fear into his rivals again by stating: “That's our pace at the moment with no risks and I cannot be any slower than that, to be honest.”

Lappi tussled with Evans for the final spot on the podium and ultimately came out on top

Photo by: Romain Thuillier / Hyundai Motorsport

Another fastest stage on the following test prompted the channelling of Alen which will surely be added to Rovanpera’s stage-end interviews highlights reel.

“We could be a bit faster by pushing and taking risks but the driving is clean and that's why the clock is liking it,” he quipped. “If I want to win the stage, I will win the stage.”

In trademark Rovanpera style he refused to relent, recording his 10th WRC victory to match the late Richard Burns and Finnish legend Ari Vatanen, with a 15th Power Stage win to claim maximum points. The 13-stage winning streak sparked comparisons to similar feats achieved by rally legend Sebastien Loeb in his pomp – in Germany 2008, and when the Frenchman won all 12 stages to win Corsica in 2005.

Asked to explain how he achieved such total domination, Rovanpera said: “I think it is really simple. If the car works how you want, then you can do what you want with it. When you know the stages quite well it is all about confidence. I didn’t need to push over the limit in places and I drove my speed and it is enough.”

Neuville was left to settle as best of the rest, some 52.7s adrift, although he declared: "Actually it feels like a victory because Kalle was out of the competition this weekend.”

Lappi won the battle with Evans to claim a double podium for the rapidly improving Hyundai squad, while an emotional Suninen claimed fifth on his Rally1 debut in the car vacated by the late Craig Breen: "It has been a really special feeling, I am sure Craig [Breen] has been following my speed and it would have been nice to say a podium was for Craig to honour him, but we didn't manage to do it. It's been an emotional rally for me.” 

There was time for drama on the final stage as Katsuta lost sixth to Loubet by 0.3s, while Tanak took eighth and gave his loyal air horn ladened home fans something to cheer by taking two Power Stage bonus points.

Rally Estonia was where Rovanpera stamped his authority on his title defence, now equipped with a 55-point lead with just the ‘small matter’ of his home rally next up. It seems his rivals are at a loss to understand how to catch Rovanpera. In the post-event press conference, Lappi was asked what needs to happen to match his compatriot.

“We need to make him a father,” he joked. "But that is the only difference apart from age and stuff – he doesn't have kids.”

Rovanpera's win has taken him a huge step forward to the 2023 WRC title

Photo by: Toyota Racing