Toyota's double world champion adjusts his expectations after harsh reality of Estonia pace
Photography by Toyota
Words by Mark Paulson & David Evans
Barring a single bright spot on the asphalt stages of Rally Islas Canarias, Kalle Rovanperä’s 2025 has largely been – by his own high standards – a season to forget. And the Finnish hero isn’t expecting things to get any better on his home event next week.
Try as he might, the double world champion just hasn’t gelled with the gravel rubber provided by Hankook, the World Rally Championship’s new-for-2025 control tire supplier. If it were going to come good on gravel anywhere for Rovanperä, it surely would have done so on Rally Estonia.
The Finn has always felt as much at home on the other side of the Gulf of Finland as in the land of 1000 lakes. At just 10 years of age, he was taking part in Estonian rallysprints aboard his now famous Toyota Starlet. And much of his formative years were spent on the country’s gravel roads and those of its Baltic neighbor Latvia.
Prior to last week, Rovanperä had won the previous three WRC editions of Rally Estonia, including his maiden victory in the sport’s top flight. He admits it’s his favorite event in the championship – more so than Rally Finland, where he has yet to win and has recorded only a single podium finish after crashing from the lead in the past two years.
But, despite that affinity with the Estonian roads, and having won 15 of 21 stages on the country’s previous WRC counter, there was no breakthrough for Rovanperä last week.
Rovanperä managed only one stage win – the powerstage – en route to fourth overall. On a fast gravel rally, he finished nearly a minute behind his rally-winning team-mate Oliver Solberg – a driver making his debut aboard the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1.
After Rovanperä admitted on the stopline that “if we cannot do it here in Estonia we cannot do it anywhere else either”, DirtFish probed further. Where does he go from here?
“To the next race,” was Rovanperä’s short response.
Asked what it was possible to do between Estonia and Finland to find pace, Rovanperä expanded: “Well obviously we can see where we have not been strong. Try to improve that. Try some new things in the test.
“Obviously there is nothing too crazy to find. I think we have tried many things this year. We can try some new ideas which we haven’t tried yet. See if they work and see how it goes.
“You always try when you don’t have the pace, you try to adapt and try to change what is needed to be faster, but obviously we haven’t done it so well yet, so we have to see if we can do it.”
Still missing a Rally Finland victory from his otherwise stellar CV, Rovanperä had rueful resignation in his voice as contemplated the odds for his home event next week.
Rovanperä struggled to fourth overall on an event he has previously made his own
“I think we had our best chances the last two years, obviously being in a good pace,” he reflected. “Before that, not the strongest event for us, and it doesn’t look like it will be our strongest event this year either. Of course we will go there and try our maximum to get some good results.
“Ott [Tänak] has been always strong there, Elfyn also a few times super-quick. So I think at least those two will be fast.”
Rovanperä is in almost uncharted territory, struggling to match the pace of others in equal machinery. But, along with the ultra-successful Toyota squad, he will continue striving to recapture the pace that made him seem almost unbeatable in previous years.
He said: “We have always done a good job. This is just now the first time in a long time since we haven’t really done anything great, so I think we all try to find something.”
Words:Mark Paulson
Tags: Hankook, Kalle Rovanperä, Rally Estonia, Rally Estonia 2025, Rally Finland, Rally Finland 2025, WRC, WRC 2025
Publish Date July 24, 2025 DirtFish
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