Rovanperä and Halttunen won two World Rally Championships together. The first came in 2022, followed by another immediately in 2023.
The world championship title had been the pair’s dream ever since they began working together years earlier.
Halttunen reminisced with Rallit.fi about their shared journey with Rovanperä. One memory stood out above all others.
“If I have to pick one specific memory, it’s definitely that final stage in New Zealand, when I realised that we were probably about to win the world championship,” Halttunen says.
Halttunen knew immediately after crossing the finish line what had just happened — and it showed on the television broadcast. His reaction at the finish was extremely emotional.
“I had timed Ott’s (Tänak) run and knew that if we got under his time, we’d win. When we jumped over the finish, I knew it was enough,” Halttunen recalls.
It goes without saying that, at that moment, Halttunen was overwhelmed by a feeling he had never experienced before — and one he might never feel again.
“It was the most powerful emotion I’ve ever felt in my life. I’ve never been through anything like that before,” Halttunen says.
Rovanperä had set winning the world championship as his goal from a very young age, but for Halttunen, that wasn’t the case. He had never really dared to dream of such a thing.
“Being a co-driver was never a dream job for me — all of this happened by accident. As a child, I never could have imagined becoming a WRC co-driver. Rally drivers were more like heroes to me, the ones I admired,” Halttunen reveals.
“So when that championship was secured, of course it was an incredibly powerful feeling. If I ever have children one day, their birth might be something comparable,” he continues.
Halttunen began co-driving for Rovanperä in 2017. Their journey together has been long, and full of memories.
“Kalle and I have, of course, experienced a lot together — through good times and bad. We’ve lived these years side by side and have spent probably thousands of days together. There’s been all sorts of moments along the way,” he says.
