Rovanperä started in the top tier of the WRC series in the pandemic year of 2020 and has since amassed an impressive number of fastest stage times. Team principal Jari-Matti Latvala once again praised his protégé’s amazing performances.
The team boss himself competed in the highest class of the WRC for 13 years. During that time, Latvala accumulated 539 fastest stage times, which ranks him tenth in the all-time statistics.
“Kalle’s achievement is incredible. He’s not even 24 years old yet, but he’s already reached such a significant milestone. I myself have driven, if I remember correctly, 210 WRC rallies and won over 500 stages, but my career was quite long,” Latvala quipped.
“The statistic is absolutely insane. He did that practically in three seasons. If Kalle wants to continue, he could still break many records. However, I don’t think he’s so keen on this job that he’d want to continue for another ten years.”
Rovanperä is undoubtedly a great asset to Toyota. However, it is known that the young two-time champion wants to pursue other things in his driving career and life in general. Latvala threw out a bold offer.
“Maybe I should ask Kalle if he would like to sign a 15-year contract all at once,” the team boss laughed.
In addition to Rovanperä, Sebastien Ogier has also done great work for the team. Both Rovanperä and the eight-time world champion Ogier are driving only selected rallies this year, with their main job being to collect points for the team. After Saturday’s long competition, Rovanperä was the dominant leader, with Ogier in second place.
“We expected Kalle to be very fast. Seb has been a positive surprise. I knew he could drive in the top five, but the fact that he has been this fast has been amazing,” Latvala praised.
“Ogier hasn’t driven fast rallies for a long time. This, however, proves one thing. Seb is really good at making notes and driving exactly according to them. That is surely one of the secrets of his success.”
