Rovanpera stuns the WRC in dramatic showdown
Written on Kalle Rovanpera’s crash helmet are the words ‘full send’, and it was seemingly this approach that allowed the World Rally Championship’s new star to somehow conjure up an against-the-odds victory in a Rally Croatia thriller.
Rally fans are being spoiled this season; Croatia’s unique asphalt roads served up a second final-stage showdown in three events, following January’s Sebastien Loeb versus Sebastien Ogier Monte Carlo blockbuster. Perhaps Croatia’s dramatic WRC debut 12 months ago, when Ogier defeated Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans by 0.6 seconds – the third-closest winning margin in WRC history – was an omen. But nobody could have predicted the climax that unfolded.
Mother Nature played a starring role in this latest piece of top-notch sporting theatre as treacherous wet and foggy conditions plagued the three days. Few would have listed eventual winner Rovanpera as a favourite given his limited knowledge of the roads after last year’s Zagreb dalliance lasted all of five kilometres before a huge accident prompted a swift exit. Since then, the 21-year-old has been on a journey ripping up the record books, becoming the youngest WRC winner last year courtesy of dominant triumphs in
