Rewriting the record books to win a maiden World Rally Championship title is difficult, but to find the resolve to repeat the feat the following year is even harder. It’s a task only six drivers in WRC history have achieved – an exclusive club that now includes the mercurial Kalle Rovanpera.
The WRC’s new superstar underlined his once-in-a-generation talent with his 2022 domination and, with the competition raising the bar, Rovanpera was arguably even more impressive in 2023. The Finn added relentless consistency and mature, clever driving of his Toyota to his already impressive repertoire to win the championship, as the WRC delivered an unforgettable season of incredible highs and the most shattering of lows.
Before the season began, Rovanpera identified that 2023 was going to be tougher. Hyundai had eaten into the advantage Toyota possessed following the bulletproof roll-out of its all-new GR Yaris Rally1, while M-Sport had lured his title rival Ott Tanak to lead its Ford squad. Tanak’s move from Hyundai to M-Sport meant all three teams now possessed a rally winner in their ranks, but ultimately this failed to live up to the off-season hype.
“Of course, it’s going to be quite tricky to defend the championship,” Rovanpera said prior to the Monte Carlo curtain raiser. “Hyundai was levelling up quite a lot during the end of the season last year. And now with Ott at M-Sport it will be interesting to see their pace.”
These words would ring true to the point where eyebrows were raised by his somewhat slow start to the
