Akio Toyoda, the chairman of car manufacturer Toyota, revealed last weekend that Rovanperä is scheduled to participate in the Fuji 24 Hours endurance race in May. The rally champion is expected to compete in a Toyota GR86 CNF concept car for the ROOKIE Racing team.
Jari-Matti Latvala, the boss of Toyota’s WRC team, is also planned to race in the same event, which is part of the Japanese Super Taikyu Series. Latvala has now elaborated on how Rovanperä became interested in this new venture.
“This (endurance racing) is where Kalle has a huge interest. Before Rally Japan last year, we visited one of these events in the Super Taikyu series and when Kalle came into the pits and saw all the cars and the ROOKIE Racing team he got quite excited, and he asked Akio if he could join, and Akio said yes,” Latvala recounted to Motorsport.com.
“It is 90% there but there is still a question mark over his timetable. Akio would be very happy to see Kalle over there,” Latvala added.
Rovanperä is competing in only a selection of WRC events this year. The Fuji race takes place two weeks after the Portuguese WRC event and just under a week before the Sardinian WRC rally. Rally Portugal may be part of Rovanperä’s schedule, but he is likely to skip Sardinia, so the timing of the Fuji endurance race would fit well for the Finnish star.
Latvala has participated in the Fuji 24 Hours race twice before, driving Toyota’s hydrogen-powered car in the same team as Toyoda. Rovanperä’s team, on the other hand, will use a car powered by carbon-neutral fuel.
“Endurance racing is something I personally like a lot and I think Kalle will as well. This car, the GR86, is already a fast car. But with Kalle being good on tarmac, and he can do drifting, so I’m sure he will do really well on the race circuit,” Latvala expressed his confidence.
The WRC season kicks off next week with the Monte Carlo event. Rovanperä will skip this rally, but he plans to start his WRC season in mid-February in Sweden.
