Only two rounds remain in the World Rally Championship, with Rovanperä tied for second place with team-mate Sébastien Ogier. Leading the standings is Toyota’s Elfyn Evans, 13 points ahead of his two team-mates.
Rovanperä is among the favourites in the Japanese asphalt event, which began on Thursday with a short opening stage. Rovanperä set the fastest time on the opening stage, beating Ott Tänak by just one-tenth of a second.
The rally gets properly underway on Friday with six stages, and with the title on the line, there’s no room left for caution. Rovanperä has promised to go flat out.
“Obviously the Japanese roads are not in my comfort zone, with the kind of stages we have here. But it doesn’t matter much. We still need to try to deliver a strong result. The fight is big, so we really need good points. The first plan is to score more than Elfyn and Seb,” said Rovanperä.
“There are just two more rounds to go, so there’s no need to hold back with anything.”
Rovanperä skipped last year’s Rally Japan but finished third in Toyota’s home event two years ago. Now he faces a tougher challenge against his team-mates Evans and Ogier, both of whom have strong form in Japan – Evans having won the event in 2023 and 2024, while Ogier took second place in both years.
Rovanperä admits he might be slightly on the back foot compared to the pair, as he missed last year’s event.
“This year we have seen that there are many stages where I had to make completely new notes, while they drove them last year. Especially on tarmac, when you’ve already driven all the corners at least twice, you have a much clearer idea of how it is.”
“But that’s how it is, and we need to go with that. Obviously, it can be a bit tricky around some stages, but it’s fine.”
Japanese rally fans have truly taken Rovanperä to heart over the past few years. Having represented Toyota since 2020, the Finn will say farewell to the WRC at the end of this season, making this weekend’s rally particularly special for him.
“They make a lot of effort to come and see us. They give a lot of presents and spend a lot of time on each driver. If you do something special in your life, they really know about it. They even give gifts to my dog! They’re really specific and incredibly supportive,” Rovanperä smiled.
