On Monday I lamented the loss of Scott McLaughlin from the Repco Australia Supercars championship and the apparent lack of new talent stepping up to fill the void and contest, on equal footing, Shane van Gisbergen. It is the opposite in the FIA World Rally championship with a couple of young guns not just knocking on the door of the space filled by the incumbent WRC players, but almost giving them a nudge and saying, ‘Time to move on.’
Having finished second overall in the 2021 Arctic Rally Finland, Finnish driver Kalle Rovanperä has now become the youngest ever driver to lead the FIA WRC, securing the position with the fastest time on the rally-ending Power Stage in his Toyota Yaris WRC.
Twenty-year-old Rovanperä and his co-driver Jonne Halttunen, in the repeat pass on the Power Stage, achieved the best time by 0.3s, securing second overall by 2.3s – the best result of his FIA World Rally Championship career to-date.
With the Power Stage win, he also claimed the maximum of five bonus points on offer towards both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ standings, and now leads the championship for the first time in his career by four points over his nearest rival.
Then there is teenage rally sensation, Oliver Solberg (main photo). Yes, that is former WRC champion Petter Solberg’s son, who seems destined for fame in the WRC.
Solberg delivered a top drive to seventh place on his WRC debut aboard a Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC at Arctic Rally Finland. Keep an eye on this young talent who will just get better and better each time he goes out in a WRC car. He’s not only got talent, he is also excited about it!
“The Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC was fantastic to drive, so much grip, so much power and just so incredible to drive,” commented Solberg after the Arctic Rally Finland. “When I was in the car and really in the middle of the event, I was just driving and not thinking so much to what everything really meant. But when I was between the stages and we were stopping behind [Sébastien] Ogier to change wheels and work on the car before the stage, I did stop a little bit and think: “Wow! This is just incredible – I’m here and I’m fighting with the world champion!”
Keep an eye on both these two as there is plenty more to come.
Final Classification – Arctic Rally Finland
1/ Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) 2h03m49.6s
2/ Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota Yaris WRC) +17.5s
3/ Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +19.8s
4/ Craig Breen/Paul Nagle (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +52.6s
5/ Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota Yaris WRC) +1m01.5s
6/ Takamoto Katsuta/Dan Barritt (Toyota Yaris WRC) +1m37.8s
7/ Oliver Solberg/Seb Marshall (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +1m39.0s
8/ Teemu Suninen/Mikko Markkula (Ford Fiesta WRC) +2m09.0s
9/ Gus Greensmith/Elliott Edmondson (Ford Fiesta WRC) +3m39.4s
10/ Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Volkswagen Polo GTI R5) +6m07.0s
20/ Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Toyota Yaris WRC) +11m06.2s
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