Kalle Rovanperä has plans to participate in about half of this season’s WRC events. He stated his reason for this is his desire to focus on other things this year and enjoy more leisure time like other young adults his age.
Despite a lighter rally schedule, Rovanperä will have a packed agenda of race weekends from May onwards. Rovanperä will compete in up to four different motorsports series: WRC, the Porsche Carrera Cup in the Benelux countries, the Formula Drift series in Japan, and he will also make an appearance at the Fuji 24 Hours endurance event in late May.
Rovanperä’s busy race schedule has raised some eyebrows: why is his calendar already full of events when he was supposed to take it easy this year?
Rovanperä has a logical explanation for this.
“The idea behind having a free year was definitely about having more time to engage in other interesting activities for myself. Circuit racing is definitely one of those,” Rovanperä explains to RallyJournal.com.
“Even though there are many race weekends, the week is much shorter when you only go to circuit races for the weekend. Additionally, it’s new and interesting, so I feel a bit different about it,” the rally champion adds.
Competing in the Porsche Carrera Cup was a somewhat unexpected addition to Rovanperä’s schedule this year. He plans to race in four events throughout the season.
“The Porsche Carrera Cup and the team came to my attention through a few connections, and I heard it would be a good opportunity to race. That’s why we chose that series,” Rovanperä said.
The series features races with Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars, which Rovanperä has not yet tried.
“We might have to do our own tests at some point because of the schedule. But we should probably get a first taste of the car soon.”
The Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux series includes events in Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as in Italy and Austria. The season’s opening race is scheduled before mid-May in Spa, Belgium. This race coincides with the same weekend as the Rally Portugal.
Which event is marked in Rovanperä’s calendar – the Carrera Cup in Spa or the gravel rally in the Porto area?
“I’m not telling yet,” smiles Rovanperä, who has won the last two Portugal WRC events.
