A thrilled Kalle Rovanperä has expressed his relief on becoming the youngest ever winner of an FIA World Rally Championship title at the age of just 22 years old, after the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team driver and his co-driver Jonne Halttunen secured their maiden crowns in style with victory at Rally New Zealand.
“The biggest feeling right now is that it’s quite a big relief,” commented Rovanperä. “We have had such a good season, then a few difficult rallies and now finally we could do it.
“I want to say a big thanks to the team who made such a fast and reliable car for this season which meant we could just enjoy the driving. Also, in the more difficult moments they were always believing in us and supporting us.”
Taking the title in only his third season competing at rallying’s highest level, Rovanperä is more than five years younger than the previous record holder Colin McRae was when he won the championship in 1995.
“I don’t think about the age too much but it’s still special to know we could achieve this. It means a lot, to become champion is the only goal we ever had in this sport. I was actually a bit more nervous on Friday than I was today: Then we needed to push hard to stay in the fight, but today we could just enjoy it.”
Rovanperä has been the benchmark driver in the first year of the WRC’s new hybrid Rally1 regulations, and his victory in New Zealand is his sixth of the season in the GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID. Having led the standings since winning round two in Sweden in February, he has now clinched the title with two rallies remaining.
His is the eighth WRC title to be won by a Toyota driver and the fourth in as many years. Rovanperä is the first Finnish driver to win the championship for 20 years and the first to do so driving a car built in Finland.
Outstanding speed in difficult weather conditions has been a key attribute to Rovanperä’s driving in 2022 and was also central to his victory in New Zealand, where the smooth gravel roads were hosting the WRC for the first time in a decade.
PROVISIONAL FINAL CLASSIFICATION, RALLY NEW ZEALAND
1/ Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) 2h48m01.4s
2/ Sébastien Ogier/Benjamin Veillas (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +34.6s
3/ Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +48.5s
4/ Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +1m58.8s
5/ Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +3m55.3s
6/ Hayden Paddon/John Kennard (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) +10m03.7s
7/ Lorenzo Bertelli/Lorenzo Granai (Ford Puma Rally1 HYBRID) +10m39.0s
8/ Kajetan Kajetanowicz/Maciej Szczepaniak (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +12m36.8s
9/ Shane van Gisbergen/Glen Weston (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +13m28.8s
10/ Harry Bates/John McCarthy (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +16m51.6s
Retired Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID)
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