Rovanperä’s long-awaited victory came at the fifth attempt. He controlled the rally from start to finish, and this time the car also stayed on the road.
Last year, the mood was quite different. Rovanperä’s Toyota flew into the forest at the end of the penultimate stage, and he was forced to retire after having led the rally by a large margin before his off.
Rovanperä had an incredible amount of bad luck last year. His home rally was ruined by a loose rock that accidentally landed directly on his line.
The fateful rock eventually ended up in the possession of a rally fan, and at this year’s Rally Finland, it finally returned to its rightful owner.
In Rovanperä’s latest vlog, there is a clip where the fan hands the rock back to him.
“It’s a suitably sized rock,” Rovanperä says in the video as he inspects it.
The rock certainly brought back painful memories, but Rovanperä still intends to keep the cursed stone.
“This will go on the museum wall,” Rovanperä chuckles.
So Rovanperä gained possession of his unlucky rock, but the fan did not have to leave empty-handed either. In exchange, Rovanperä gave the enthusiastic rally follower two KR69 T-shirts.
You can watch Kalle Rovanperä’s latest vlog in the YouTube embed below.
