How Rovanpera underlined his superiority in winning his second WRC title

Rewriting the record books to win a maiden World Rally Championship title is difficult, but to find the resolve to repeat the feat the following year is even harder. It’s a task only six drivers in WRC history have achieved – an exclusive club that now includes the mercurial Kalle Rovanpera.

The WRC’s new superstar underlined his once-in-a-generation talent with his 2022 domination and, with the competition raising the bar, Rovanpera was arguably even more impressive in 2023. The Finn added relentless consistency and mature, clever driving of his Toyota to his already impressive repertoire to win the championship, as the WRC delivered an unforgettable season of incredible highs and the most shattering of lows.

Before the season began, Rovanpera identified that 2023 was going to be tougher. Hyundai had eaten into the advantage Toyota possessed following the bulletproof roll-out of its all-new GR Yaris Rally1, while M-Sport had lured his title rival Ott Tanak to lead its Ford squad. Tanak’s move from Hyundai to M-Sport meant all three teams now possessed a rally winner in their ranks, but ultimately this failed to live up to the off-season hype.

“Of course, it’s going to be quite tricky to defend the championship,” Rovanpera said prior to the Monte Carlo curtain raiser. “Hyundai was levelling up quite a lot during the end of the season last year. And now with Ott at M-Sport it will be interesting to see their pace.”

These words would ring true to the point where eyebrows were raised by his somewhat slow start to the campaign compared to last year. Although a Monte Carlo devoid of the usual snow and ice did yield a much more positive result than his fourth place in 2022, Rovanpera was unable to match Monte master and part-time Toyota team-mate Sebastien Ogier, who enjoyed a dominant run to a record-breaking ninth win in the principality. But a second-place finish and Power Stage triumph represented a strong start to Rovanpera’s title defence.

Incredibly, Rovanpera would have to wait almost four months before returning to the podium, a period when his drive and desire to defend the title were questioned. The disadvantage of an advanced road position played its part as Rovanpera finished fourth in Sweden and Mexico, while a puncture on Friday ended any podium hopes in Croatia. It was after a third consecutive fourth that the world champion showed that all was not well.

“We cannot start rallies like this,” grimaced Rovanpera. “We didn’t nail the set-up and it cost quite a lot of confidence and pace on Friday morning, so we just need to be really sharp and sure that we start with the right car and then we can push from the start.”

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Rovanpera didn't win a rally until Portugal in May, but he proved the year's best driver

During this perceived lull, which in hindsight now underlines Rovanpera’s impressive consistency, Tanak shot to the top of the championship standings after ending M-Sport’s 13-month victory drought in Sweden. The Estonian wasn’t the only star on the snow; Craig Breen lit up the timing screens on his return to Hyundai in a part-time capacity driving the third i20 N.

Breen, who ended a tough 2022 with M-Sport struggling for confidence, was rejuvenated and challenged for a maiden win. He even jokingly declared himself the ‘Mayor of Brattby’ after winning the eponymous stage. A brief brush with a snowbank and a tyre delamination meant his victory hopes faded, and the emotional Irishman finished second after Thierry Neuville’s final-stage off botched Hyundai’s team order call from new team principal Cyril Abiteboul to move Neuville ahead of Breen. There was no questioning who left Sweden with the biggest of smiles.

“Honestly, I needed it for my own state,” declared Breen in what would be profound and sadly lasting words. “It’s been a rough old couple of months, over a year basically. I won’t say I lost the confidence, but for sure it was difficult to keep the belief all the time. It means everything really; it has given me all the confidence again to keep pushing forward. We have all the capabilities to be at the front and I will try and keep that way now.”

"I knew when we get a clean weekend and a good drive we would be back in the game. You always miss the feeling when you are not there, it’s nice to be back" Kalle Rovanpera

Tanak had emerged as a genuine title contender, but this was a false dawn and the 2019 champion came crashing back down to earth in Mexico thanks to a turbo failure. Ogier regained the championship lead after scoring a record-breaking seventh Rally Mexico win as the gravel event returned to the championship for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. The success triggered discussion that the Frenchman could achieve the unlikeliest of titles contesting only a partial campaign, such was his form.

Thoughts of championship battles were swiftly put to one side following the tragic news that Sweden had been Breen’s last WRC outing. The much-loved Hyundai driver, aged 33, died in a testing crash in the lead-up to Croatia in April, which rocked the motorsport world to its core, leaving the WRC and its fans numb.

After careful consideration between Breen’s family and surviving co-driver James Fulton, round four went ahead, albeit in the most sombre of circumstances. The service park came together in a special tribute to honour a people’s champion, and Hyundai withdrew the third car that Breen would have driven. A special Irish flag tribute livery adorned the remaining full-time entries for Neuville and Esapekka Lappi, featuring some of Breen’s famous quotes, including the rather poignant: “Don’t forget to enjoy… you have to have fun, life is too short.”

“The most important thing is that everybody is here to drive for Craig – that’s the goal for the weekend,” said Rovanpera. Breen’s team-mate Neuville added: “I have many great memories, but I think we will remember Craig as somebody who lived his dream 110%, and who achieved his goal in life by getting into the WRC.”

Neuville fought hard for a Hyundai win that seemingly everyone wanted in the circumstances, but a crash from the lead handed Elfyn Evans and Breen’s former co-driver Scott Martin a fitting victory. It was a first for the Toyota pair in the hybrid era following a winless 2022.

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

Evans took his first win since 2021 at a sombre Croatia round where the paddock was united in grief following Breen's passing

Another winless streak ended come Portugal in emphatic fashion. Rovanpera answered his critics with a return to the devastating form that formed the cornerstone of his 2022 title campaign. Disadvantaged by starting second on the road, he won 10 of 19 stages, including the Power Stage, to storm into a championship lead he wouldn’t relinquish.

“It has been a bit too long coming, but I knew when we get a clean weekend and a good drive we would be back in the game,” reckoned Rovanpera. “You always miss the feeling when you are not there, it’s nice to be back.”

Clever, consistent driving came to the fore as he continued to bank solid points. A third in Sardinia, which he states is one of his worst events on the calendar, showcased his maturity. Rovanpera made no mistakes in wet conditions to finish behind Hyundai duo Neuville and Lappi.

“I didn’t think we would be getting 20 points when I came here, but the plan was to try to be fast and steady the whole weekend,” Rovanpera pointed out. “We knew we had the pace when needed and we were clever when we needed to be.”

Rovanpera then pushed Ogier all the way at Safari Rally Kenya to finish second, missing out on victory by 6.7 seconds as his championship lead increased to 41 points. Ogier’s third win of the season was perhaps his most impressive of 2023 after suffering a double front puncture when torrential rain hit, which sparked a Rovanpera revival. Ogier came under pressure from his team-mate on Sunday but managed to hold his nerve, despite a brush with a tree, to take the win. The eight-time world champion admitted he’d rarely had to overcome so many hurdles to win a rally.

If the world thought they had already seen the best of Rovanpera, then that idea was completely reset following an utter domination of Rally Estonia. He delivered his most crushing victory yet, beating Neuville by 52.7s. Rovanpera went unbeaten across Saturday and Sunday, racking up 13 consecutive stage wins in a Sebastien Loeb-like performance.

Rovanpera even had the presence of mind to recall the famous words, “I feel if I want to win the stage, I will win the stage”, delivered by Finnish rally legend Markku Alen during his pomp 36 years ago. “I know some of the old sayings from the old guys and it’s fun when you drive like that,” said the points leader.

Finland was supposed to be Rovanpera’s homecoming and the chance to give his adoring the public the victory they craved. But for the second year in succession, he was denied. A collector’s item of an error resulted in Rovanpera retiring after rolling his GR Yaris while leading, an incident he declared a “stupid crash”.

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

Rovanpera's Finland shunt was the only major blip in a remarkable championship assault, and allowed Evans to dream of mounting a challenge

Team-mate Evans had pushed Rovanpera hard before the incident and duly converted the inherited lead into an impressive second career Finland victory. A rejuvenated Takamoto Katsuta netted a deserved third behind Neuville, while Toyota team boss Jari-Matti Latvala took time off from his day job to finish fifth in a one-off championship return. Evans’s win matched Finnish greats Ari Vatanen and Timo Salonen on two victories at the fabled rally. In the title race, Rovanpera now began to look over his shoulder, with his lead cut to 25 points with four rounds remaining.

“It’s quite a cool thing to have [being the most successful British driver in Finland], but it doesn’t change anything either in a way,” mused a modest Evans. “I’m sure one day I’ll look back and be proud.”

Rovanpera issued the perfect response and there was something quite special about his third win of the season. Following days of torrential rain from Storm Daniel, the Acropolis Rally was particularly attritional, with Rovanpera and Dani Sordo the only drivers to avoid any trouble or mechanical issues.

"His approach made me think of Juha Kankkunen, who was always calculating how to take points. He is a 23-year-old and it’s a really amazing performance, and to be this mature" Jari-Matti Latvala

Starting first on the road, Rovanpera was able to deliver a fast yet measured pace to protect his car to defeat Evans, who recovered from a broken radiator, by more than a minute and a half. He assumed the rally lead after first Neuville exited with broken suspension sustained in a compression, handing the position to Ogier, who then suffered a double puncture and suspension damage. 

“It’s always quite clear that you need to finish and take care of the car and the tyres also, so that was our plan, to push hard from the first place [on the road], but I still felt that I took care,” concluded Rovanpera. “I didn’t take all the risks.”

After conceding two points to Evans in Chile – Toyota’s incorrect call to run soft tyres on abrasive gravel handed Tanak and M-Sport an impressive second win – Rovanpera converted a first match point to seal a second world title at the inaugural Central European Rally. Knowing that the title would arrive if he outscored Evans, Rovanpera once again displayed maturity to ensure he left the three-country asphalt rally completing his intended objective. A rare overshoot at a hairpin meant his lead was slashed before title rival Evans crashed out of third on stage 11. With his rival absent, Rovanpera was smart to back off and cruise to finish second behind Neuville to complete the job.

“I’m quite proud of the year and I think the performance was more important,” stated Rovanpera after joining Sebastiens Loeb and Ogier, Miki Biasion, Juha Kankkunen and Tommi Makinen as those who have won back-to-back WRC crowns. “The competition was stronger and there wasn’t many easy points to get like last year when there was much more [reliability] trouble between everybody. This year it was important all the time to take the points and stay in good positions. Sometimes you just have to settle for the points, but as we’ve seen this is quite clever.”

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Rovanpera and co-driver Jonne Halttunen were crowned with one event to spare after Evans' mishap on the Central European Rally

Reflecting on the achievement, Toyota team principal Latvala labelled Rovanpera’s campaign “incredible” and reminiscent of the approach of a four-time world champion.

“His approach made me think of Juha Kankkunen, who was always calculating how to take points,” gushed Latvala. “He is a 23-year-old and it’s a really amazing performance, and to be this mature. We could see at the beginning of the year it was not so easy to defend the title.”

As for Rovanpera’s defeated rival Evans, the Welshman matched Rovanpera’s and Ogier’s win tally for the year by leading home a Toyota 1-2-3 in the Japan finale. The victory outlined that Evans is back to his best and will be a hot prospect for next year’s title. “It’s nice to have some good momentum now and at least things are moving in the right direction,” he opined.

Toyota’s nine wins from 13 events comfortably secured the Japanese marque its seventh WRC manufacturers’ title. Arch-rivals Hyundai – now led by Abiteboul and new, and renowned, technical director Francois Xavier Demaison – were much closer on pace to their opposition. But its more refined i20 N is still fragile in areas and scored three fewer wins than in 2022.

Neuville led Hyundai’s charge with victories in Sardinia and Central Europe, and could have added more but for a crash while leading in Croatia and suspension failure in Greece. New signing Lappi, from Toyota, conducted much of the development work on the i20 N, produced flashes of brilliance and challenged for rally wins in Mexico and Sardinia on his full-time WRC return. Four podiums backed up Neuville’s pace, but a poor second half of the year proved costly. The experienced Sordo contributed two podiums in two of the most brutal of rallies, Portugal and Greece, while Teemu Suninen quickly adapted to score points after being thrust into the third car for four rounds (Estonia, Finland, Chile, Central Europe).

“There are many lessons,” reflected Abiteboul on the year. “If I had to pick something it is strategy over the course of a season as that can pay the most dividends. In many occasions this year we’ve been one against many with Kalle, Ogier and Evans, and it was very difficult and we feel it was a tough job and tough ask on Thierry. We need to do more steps in order to give the guys the car they need to fight for the championship.”

Amid a gulf in budgets compared to factory giant Hyundai, M-Sport-Ford managed to match the South Korean manufacturer’s tally of victories thanks to Tanak’s triumphs in Sweden and Chile. The Puma wasn’t as heavily developed as its rivals but was capable on all surfaces. But reliability issues – turbo in Mexico, water pump in Sardinia and engine failures in Estonia and Finland – ended the prospect of a fairytale Tanak/M-Sport reunion by mid-season.

Tanak was rarely 100% comfortable behind the wheel and before the end of the season he revealed plans to return to Hyundai for 2024. Team-mate Pierre-Louis Loubet was also unable to replicate the success of 2022, and the Frenchman struggled for form and suffered his fair share of reliability issues, scoring only five top-10 results.

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Toyota had the edge on Hyundai in 2023, but will the result be repeated as Rovanpera moves part-time for 2024?