Youngster Kalle Rovanpera Cruises To 2022 WRC Safari Rally Victory

27th June 2022

He also boasts being the youngest driver to ever win a WRC event after triumphing in the 2021 Rally Estonia at the age of 20 years

ROVANPERA Kalle (fin), Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, Toyota GR Yaris Rally1, portrait during the Safari Rally Kenya 2022, 6th round of the 2022 WRC World Rally Car Championship, from June 23 to 26, 2022 at Nairobi, Kenya. PHOTO | AFP
ROVANPERA Kalle (fin), Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, Toyota GR Yaris Rally1, portrait during the Safari Rally Kenya 2022, 6th round of the 2022 WRC World Rally Car Championship, from June 23 to 26, 2022 at Nairobi, Kenya. PHOTO | AFP
SUMMARY
  • FIA World Rally Championship leader Kalle Rovanperä clinched the 2022 WRC Safari Rally title as he led a Toyota 1-2-3-4 finish on Sunday in Naivasha, Kenya
  • He became a fully-fledged WRC driver from the beginning of 2020 season, when he switched to an all-new driver line-up at Toyota Gazoo Racing and became the youngest ever podium finisher at Rally Sweden
  • Elfyn Evans finished second, 49.9sec clear of Takamoto Katsuta, with Sébastien Ogier fourth. It was Toyota’s first 1-2-3-4 since Kenya 1993 and the first in the WRC for 12 years

FIA World Rally Championship leader Kalle Rovanperä clinched the 2022 WRC Safari Rally title as he led a Toyota 1-2-3-4 finish on Sunday in Naivasha, Kenya.

His father Rovanperä senior finished second in the 2002 edition of Safari Rally, behind the late Colin McRae thus failing to conquer the fable Kenyan fixture.

But his son, the 21-year old Finn, sublimely cleared the challenging Kenyan gravel as he romped to victory in 3:40:24.9 after four days of proper 363.5kms rally that traversed grueling 19 stages in the lakeside town.

The win meant that Rovanperä charged to his fourth FIA World Rally Championship victory in five rounds s Toyota Gazoo Racing locked out the top four places.

He became a fully-fledged WRC driver from the beginning of 2020 season, when he switched to an all-new driver line-up at Toyota Gazoo Racing and became the youngest ever podium finisher at Rally Sweden.

He also boasts being the youngest driver to ever win a WRC event after triumphing in the 2021 Rally Estonia at the age of 20 years.

The Finn overcame sickness, glue-like mud and rocky gravel tracks in the Great Rift Valley to win the legendary African fixture by 52.8sec in a GR Yaris Rally1. Victory extended his lead in the drivers’ standings to 65 points.

Elfyn Evans finished second, 49.9sec clear of Takamoto Katsuta, with Sébastien Ogier fourth. It was Toyota’s first 1-2-3-4 since Kenya 1993 and the first in the WRC for 12 years.

Thierry Neuville won the Wolf Power Stage to claim five bonus points in a Hyundai i20 N.

Sébastien Loeb scored four in second in a Ford Puma with Ogier taking three in third. Gus Greensmith secured two points in fourth in another Puma with team-mate Adrien Fourmaux netting one.