The former WRC star playing the unsung hero role for Rovanpera

Kalle Rovanpera’s 2022 World Rally Championship displays have been spectacular, with the Toyota driver benefitting from a secret weapon in his crew to win two of the opening three rallies. But while the former challenger to Sebastien Loeb won’t take credit for his fellow Finn's performances, a key bond has been formed which could prove key to Rovanpera’s title charge

When it comes to experience, few can rival Mikko Hirvonen in the World Rally Championship’s modern era. A 15-time rally winner and a four-time title runner-up, Hirvonen was a force to be reckoned with in his WRC pomp and regularly pushed Sebastien Loeb to the brink.

He was one of only two drivers - the other being former mentor and Ford team-mate Marcus Gronholm in 2006 - to come within a couple of points of interrupting Loeb’s run of nine consecutive WRC titles between 2004 and 2012, finishing just a point shy in 2009 after a season when the pair shared 11 wins from 12 rounds.

Share Or Save This Story

Author Tom Howard

Tom Howard is a News Editor working across both Autosport.com and Motorsport.com websites. Starting out as a sports reporter in local newspapers, Tom focussed on motorsport covering several national championships in the UK, including the BTCC.

After a period working as a freelance journalist, Tom moved to Australia in 2013 landing a job at leading Australian motorsport news outlet speedcafe.com, covering international motorsport events including F1, WRC and Supercars. Progressing to Editor in 2017, Tom was named Motorsport Australia Journalist of the Year for his work. He is also a two-time winner of Supercars Journalist of The Year (2017,2019) and a Supercars Championship Media Award winner in 2019.

Tom moved back to his native UK in 2020, firstly working in BTCC, before joining Autosport and motorsport.com in 2021.