Rovanperä drove what is, at least for now, his final season in the World Rally Championship, as he will move to compete in Japan’s Super Formula series next year. This season, Rovanperä finished third in the drivers’ championship.
In theory, Rovanperä still had a chance of the title in the final round of the season in Saudi Arabia, but in the end his team-mate Sébastien Ogier won his ninth championship and Elfyn Evans finished second.
Rovanperä’s season included many different phases. The Finnish driver in particular had major difficulties early in the season adapting to Hankook’s tyres. Rovanperä won Rally Islas Canarias in dominant fashion, but especially on gravel events he struggled with his driving style.
However, towards the end of the season Rovanperä was able to improve his pace on gravel as well, and in August the Finn genuinely re-entered the title fight after winning Rally Finland for the first time in his career. But the championship ultimately remained out of reach.
“I have a very simple reason for why we didn’t win the championship, and I want to stress that this is not an excuse,” co-driver Jonne Halttunen now tells RallyJournal.com.
“The reason was purely the change of tyre brand for this year. It suited many drivers much better than, for example, Kalle. If you have a natural driving style and then a new product comes along, it is quite difficult to change that natural style. That is the single biggest reason why we didn’t win the championship,” Halttunen says bluntly.
Rovanperä effectively dropped out of the title fight for good in South America. The Finn suffered punctures both in Chile and Paraguay.
“Another clear reason is that we suffered 16 or 17 punctures during the season, which is an absolutely unreasonable amount. That kind of number should never happen,” Halttunen emphasises.
Halttunen also wanted to underline that Rovanperä’s driving skills have not gone anywhere.
“Last year we took part in seven rallies and I think we led every single one of them or won them. If we didn’t win, we retired from the lead. We retired from the lead at Rally Finland and from the lead at Rally Portugal. All the others we won,” Halttunen sums up.
During the finished season, there were also assessments suggesting that Rovanperä had somehow lost his motivation for rallying. And in many people’s opinion, the fact that Rovanperä left the World Rally Championship after this season was confirmation of those suspicions.
“Some people talked such nonsense that Kalle’s motivation or speed had disappeared. They don’t just disappear with a guy like that. On the contrary, the motivation was at its absolute peak, because Kalle probably knew for quite a long time that this would be his final season,” Halttunen fires back.
“You can always speculate”
Hankook’s tyres were, in any case, the single biggest topic most talked about in Rovanperä’s case during the 2025 season.
“The tyre was simply so different. You can always speculate, of course. Some can learn the tyre faster, and that is certainly true. But we really struggled, especially early in the season. We couldn’t find any pace at all. Then we came to the Canary Islands and suddenly the tyre suited Kalle’s driving style in those asphalt conditions. And then he was absolutely crushingly dominant,” Halttunen reminds.
“Then again, for example Rally Estonia, which Kalle has previously been able to win, in my opinion, quite easily – this year we weren’t even on the podium there,” Halttunen continues.
Halttunen nevertheless wants to stress separately that he does not want to explain anything away. You can always – and perhaps should – also look in the mirror.
“It did surprise me how much a new tyre like that can affect things. Maybe we ourselves should also have been better at setting up the car and understanding earlier which direction we needed to go with the car,” Halttunen says.
Halttunen gives the example of Oliver Solberg, who stepped into Toyota’s Rally1 car in Estonia and won immediately in almost exhibition-like fashion.
“A completely new set-up was made for Oliver’s car. This is just my opinion, but maybe Kalle and I stayed too long with the kind of car we had always used before. Oliver went fast straight away and we got data from him. Then we changed the car for Rally Finland based on that, and then we went on to win that rally,” Halttunen explains.
After Rally Finland, it looked like Rovanperä was on his way to a third championship. Then, however, luck turned its back on the Finnish duo.
“Of course we went to South America aiming for two wins, but both rallies were ruined by punctures. At this level, punctures always happen to some extent, but with the amount we had, I’m actually surprised that we were third in the championship,” Halttunen says plainly.
Halttunen emphasises that Rovanperä is still an extremely fast driver, and that his skills have not gone anywhere.
“Previously, Kalle could always win the Power Stage if he wanted to, but this year that wouldn’t even have been possible with that tyre. In Kenya, we also had a zero result due to a technical problem. And with results like that, of course you don’t deserve to win the championship. But I don’t believe that either of us has got any worse in these few months,” Halttunen concludes.
