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Kalle Rovanpera is a three-time Rally Estonia winner as he translated his unrelenting pace into a dominant victory for the factory Toyota team.
Rovanpera became the sport’s youngest winner when he won in Estonia in 2021 and his third triumph in the Baltic country – by a margin of 52.7s – puts him firmly on course to become the youngest double world champion.
With five rounds remaining, starting with his home event next month, the 22-year-old Finn is 55 points in front in the provisional standings.
Based on his staggering tally of stage wins – he was fastest 13 times in a row for a total of 15 stage bests. The form suggests that it’s fast becoming a case of when, not if, Rovanpera will take the world crown for the second year running.
Having battled through Friday morning’s four-stage loop opening the road, Rovanpera was second overall, 6.8s behind Thierry Neuville after five stages.
He took the lead from Neuville on stage six and never looked back, finishing Friday a mere 3.0s in front of his Hyundai-driving rival before he went on an astonishing unbroken run of stage wins on Saturday.
Rovanpera’s pace put him 34.9s clear at the overnight halt after Neuville dropped time with a slow rear puncture on stage 12.
Essentially out of reach with the four Sunday stages remaining, Rovanpera could have been forgiven for lifting his pace to save his car and tyres for the bonus points-paying Power Stage – or just to secure a 10th WRC career win.
Instead he picked up where he left off on Saturday evening by clocking the fastest time on the first three stages this morning to reach the Power Stage start 46.5s ahead of Neuville.
Rovanpera went on the attack again to win the Power Stage as a hybrid issue slowed Neuville, not that the Belgian was ever a threat once Rovanpera had got into his stride.
“For the championship it’s a really important place to get good points, that was the plan,” said Rovanpera, who was co-driven by compatriot Jonne Halttunen.
“It’s my favourite event on the calendar, I knew I had to push and it went well. Big thanks to the team, the car was very fast. I really love this rally.”
Despite failing to match Rovanpera’s pace from Friday afternoon onwards, Neuville completed one of his best drives on fast gravel stages in second place, one position ahead of team-mate Esapekka Lappi, whose loss of hybrid power after a heaving landing on Friday morning ultimately ended the Finn’s claiming the runner-up spot.
Elfyn Evans remained a constant thorn in Lappi’s side had to settle for fourth, comfortably clear of Teemu Suninen, who was back in the sport’s top level after almost two seasons away.
With new Toyota president Koji Sato watching on for the first time, Takamoto Katsuta demoted M-Sport’s Pierre-Louis Loubet for sixth on the penultimate day having endured a troubled Saturday afternoon, which began with his factory Yaris refusing to fire up as he attempted to leave the SS14 stopline.
Yet Loubet had other ideas and overcame a five-second penalty for a hybrid overboost on stage seven to snatch sixth by 0.3s.
Ford’s Ott Tanak was among the favourites to win his home round of the WRC but a five-minute penalty for an engine change after a failure on Thursday morning’s shakedown stage put paid to those hopes.
He was fastest six times on leg one and came through from 48th to eighth in the final order. He was eventually 6m25.5s down on Rovanpera having opened the road on Saturday and Sunday.
Andreas Mikkelsen beat Sami Pajari to the WRC2 victory in ninth overall with Pajari completing the top 10.
The WRC’s high-speed double-header continues in Finland from August 3-6 when Jari-Matti Latvala will put his Toyota team principal job on hold for a one-off return to the cockpit on a rally he’s won three times in the past.
