Kalle Rovanperä plans to make a big change

Kalle Rovanperä begins his quest for a third world championship this week in Monte Carlo.
Kalle Rovanperä
Kalle Rovanperä. Photo by: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
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Last year, Rovanperä participated in only seven WRC events and focused on enjoying life. Despite that, he had a busy schedule. Now, the focus is fully on rallying, and nothing short of the title will suffice.

“Of course our goal is to be back fighting for the title. I think the competition is going to be again tighter than ever before. It’s going to be interesting. But of course, that’s our only goal in the season. I try to do the best I can to be back in the fight,” Rovanperä stated.

In 2024, Rovanperä secured four victories but also suffered three retirements. While his retirement from the lead in the Finnish rally was unfortunate, his mistakes in Sweden and Portugal were his own.

“You need to have that as your goal if you want to achieve it. Last year we were fast. I didn’t have so many clean rallies as I would have wanted to, but this year it’s again different goal. We need to be more consistent. You need to be consistent through the whole year to to be in the title fight.” Rovanperä explained.

“So maybe we need to take a bit less risks, but be in the fight all the time.”

The legendary Rally Monte Carlo once again kicks off the season this week. It’s not among Rovanperä’s favourite events.

“Monte is always super difficult start for the year. We have new tyres for everybody so I think that’s actually going to be a quite a big thing. Everybody has to learn a new tire i all kind of conditions. It’s going to be interesting,” Rovanperä said.

“Monte has never been my my strongest race. We have had actually a few good results, but I’m just happy if we can have a clean race in Monte. Good points to start the season and that’s the main goal.”

Clearly, Rovanperä will once again be competing against Hyundai’s Ott Tänak and defending champion Thierry Neuville. Surely, his teammate Elfyn Evans will also want to join the fight.

“To be honest, it’s difficult to say this year when the car is again a bit changed and new tyres. It depends who learns the new things the quickest. But of course, since last year, Thierry has to be one of the the top guys to beat. Everybody is after him now,”Rovanperä reflected.

“It is also a different situation for us also because are we are after him. Let’s see how it goes and who will be in the fight.”

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