WRC Finland: Local hero

For the rally fanatics of Finland, 20 years was far too long. Their relatively small nation had dominated the previous two-and-a-half decades of the World Rally Championship with legendary drivers like Markku Alen, Juha Kankkunen, Tommi Makinen and Marcus Gronholm. But now they had to sit and watch a pair of Frenchmen called Sebastien (Loeb and Ogier) sweep all before them, while the likes of Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala had to settle for second.

But now, Finland has a new hero, and he's a bit special. The world first became aware of Kalle Rovanperä's driving skills thanks to a YouTube video of him getting behind the wheel of a Toyota Starlet rally car when he was just eight years old. Fast forward 11 years and Rovanpera – whose father Harri was a Peugeot team-mate of Gronholm – stepped up to the top level of the WRC.

He became the championship's youngest-ever podium finisher in just his second rally, at Rally Sweden 2020, its youngest-ever rally winner at Rally Estonia 2021, and at Rally New Zealand in 2022 he became its youngest-ever world champion at 22 years and one day old: beating the previous record set by a 25-year-old Colin McRae in 1995. Both those championship record had Pirelli tyres in common…

Rovanperä was born in Rally Finland's home city Jyväskylä, as was his co-driver Jonne Halttunen, and his Toyota team is based a stone's throw across the Jyvasjarvi lake from the service park. But he has yet to win his home event. If he does, he might spark the biggest celebrations for a generation in this rally-mad city…