Rovanperä and Halttunen claimed two World Rally Championship titles together. Last autumn, however, the 25-year-old Rovanperä announced that he would step away from the WRC and focus on pursuing a career in single-seaters in the coming years.
Halttunen did not leave rallying behind. This year, he is competing in Finland’s domestic F-Cup rally series with his own Toyota Corolla.
“There hasn’t been much training at full pace recently, as I managed to injure my hand a bit in December. But in that sense, it does give a fairly genuine beginner’s experience, even though we’re competing in the pace-note category in a smaller class,” Halttunen said.
“I deliberately wanted to come to the F-Cup after the World Championship, because that’s where my own rally career began back in 2007, and now I finally get to do the driving myself,” he added.
Halttunen, who turned 40 in December, contested his first official rally as a driver last autumn. Before that, he had taken his Corolla out a few times as a course-opening car.
This year, there will be more driving on the agenda.
“The plan is to contest the full F-Cup with co-driver Tuukka Shemeikka, and quite likely a few other rallies during the season as well. For me, this is a nice personal challenge – to see whether a co-driver can develop into a driver. Over the years, I’ve certainly picked up a lot of things that I can now use to improve myself,” Halttunen said.
At the same time, Halttunen made an intriguing revelation: a wider audience will also be able to follow his progress behind the wheel.
“We’ll have a camera crew with us at the rallies filming a TV series, the details of which will be announced later in the spring. Competitors certainly shouldn’t be scared of the cameras – there will be opportunities to get involved and share stories,” Halttunen hinted.
The 2026 F-Cup Rally Championship gets underway on 7 February with the Laukaa–Uurainen Winter Rally. In addition to the traditional Central Finland stages, the winter season will also visit the neighbouring region of South Savo, with the Kangasniemi Rally scheduled for 7 March.
“I’m really looking forward to the winter rallies, as they’re basically in my home area. And of course, the Laukaa–Uurainen area has also featured in WRC events, so it’ll be great to get out there myself and drive some stages that might feel familiar,” Halttunen said.
