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Who would have imagined before the season that Kalle Rovanperä would win the championship this year? It has been eight years since Kalle, whose father is WRC winner Harri Rovanperä, made his rally debut at an exceptionally young age of 14. After becoming the youngest works driver at the age of 19, he took the honour of the youngest winner in WRC history last year. A year has passed since then. His meteoric rise from the first half of the season saw him win the title at the tender age of 22 years and one day, making him the youngest ever WRC champion, far surpassing Colin McRae’s 27 years and 109 days.
New Zealand ― a driver’s paradise
There have been only three events outside Europe in the WRC in 2022, the second of which is in New Zealand. The country’s number one sport is needless to say, rugby, represented by the All Blacks. Following rugby is rallying, which is as popular as the America’s Cup is for yachting.
Rally New Zealand has a long history, having been held as part of the WRC since the 1970s. However, the WRC ceased to visit the country after 2012, and the planned return in 2020 was cancelled due to the COVID pandemic. Two years later, the WRC is back after a decade of absence.
This comeback to the WRC was eagerly awaited by many drivers. The New Zealand stages are on the best gravel roads in the world. With hard, flowing surfaces and a host of challenging cambered corners at low to high speeds, drivers can push their machines as much as they want without worrying about damaging them or punctures. The stages that great champions such as Walter Röhrl and Hannu Mikkola once described as “a driver’s paradise” has come back to the WRC.
Desperate Tänak in maximum attack
After running the super special stage at Pukekawa Auckland Domain, the rally party took on Day 1 in the Waikato District, which covers 60% of the total SS distance. The day has a series of long stages, including the famous Whaanga Coast stage, but there are no services, and only tyre changes are allowed, presenting difficult conditions for competitors.
In wet weather, Hyundai’s Ott Tänak, the only close challenger to Rovanperä’s title, Ford’s Gus Greensmith and Craig Breen, fought for an early lead, posting good times. Although starting at the front is not too much of a disadvantage in New Zealand, Rovanperä was partially affected by mud on the roads and was in 6th place early on. In the structure of this rally, Day 1 accounts for a large proportion of the total distance. For Rovanperä, who has been forced to persevere through the first day and recover from Day 2 onwards, this is not desirable.
As the rain intensified on the second loop of Day 1, Breen went off the road while he was fighting for the lead. Meanwhile Sébastien Ogier in his one-off drive quickly emerged in the top spot from 5th, with his teammate Elfyn Evans taking 2nd place, forming a Toyota 1-2, a completely different story from the first loop. On the other hand, Tänak dropped to 3rd from the lead.
However, in the final stage of Day 1, the Estonian driver struck back with the fastest time to regain the lead. After Day 1 the Toyota squad was hanging on to the top with Evans in 2nd, Ogier in 3rd and Rovanperä who improved his times in the second loop in 4th.
Rovanperä storms into the lead to put his hand on the title
Day 1 saw the top four cars running in just over seven seconds and contenders for a win began to be narrowed down, but a fierce battle in the top group continued onto Day 2. On that day the rally took place north of Auckland in constant rain, and there were a series of accidents on the slippery surfaces.
Before the start of Day 2, a five-second penalty was handed to Hyundai’s Tänak and Neuville as well as Toyota’s Rovanperä for exceeding the hybrid boost permitted on the super special stage on the first day, causing a change in the order, which alternated even more dramatically on the actual stages.
Evans crashed in the first loop in the downpour. Greensmith followed suit, crashing and retiring, which allowed Rovanperä, who pushed himself in a chaotic situation to jump to top position. Then a 10-second penalty was handed to the three Hyundai drivers because of a hybrid boost infringement on SS7 of Day 1 again. With this, Tänak gave up his 2nd position to Ogier and dropped to 3rd. Furthermore, Tänak’s times took a turn for the worse and the gap to 2nd was gradually widened.
At the end of Day 2, Ogier followed the over-night leader Rovanperä by 29 seconds with Tänak behind with a further 17-second gap. With every second counted, a total penalty of 15 seconds weighed heavily, and given the short final day, the battle for the title was coming down to the wire.
No blind spot for Rovanperä with a power stage win
The third and final day of the rally was a short run of just two loops of two stages. Tänak’s only hope was for something to happen to the two cars in front, but the gap remained virtually unchanged going into the final special stage, Jacks Ridge. Tänak had no choice but to set the fastest time here to hold on to the little hope he had, and when he finished the stage, he had done just that. However, driving after Tänak, Rovanperä did not play it safe and in a maximum attack to ensure he wouldn’t miss the chance to clinch the title, the Finn posted a new fastest time. He secured the crown in the best possible way by finishing the rally on top.
With the retirement of an absolute champion Sébastien Ogier, the WRC seemed to go into a turbulent age, but the 2022 season proved that the talent of Rovanperä was outstanding. How far will he extend his record in the two remaining events this season and next year onwards? Born on 1, October 2000, he is only 22 years old and has unlimited possibilities in front of him.
