It has been quite the fortnight for Kalle Rovanpera. Just under two weeks ago he announced plans to leave the World Rally Championship to embark on a bold switch to single-seater racing, with the ultimate goal reaching Formula 1. It’s a story that generated headlines across the motorsport world, and at the Central European Rally Rovanpera created even more headlines as he proved he’s not done with the WRC just yet.
You could be forgiven that after such a monumental announcement the focus could have been on the future rather than the present. However, Rovanpera is not that kind of driver. Sitting 21 points adrift of the championship lead the Finn had a clear plan and executed in typical Rovanpera ‘Full Send’ fashion, claiming a dominant win alongside co-driver Jonne Halttunen. It is a victory that has ensured a fairytale third world title in his final season is now a real possibility.
“We really had the plan to go for the win and there is not much to lose to be honest for us,” said Rovanpera, after claiming victory in what is likely to be the final edition of the Central European Rally.
At times this year the Finn had seemingly lost his spark and was at a loss to find answers to his struggles adapting his driving style to the new Hankook tyres. The imperious Rovanpera roared back on asphalt obliterating the field in the Canary Islands in April and in Finland he summoned everything he had to finally win his home rally despite not feeling totally comfortable. Last weekend Rovanpera again showed that the very surface he is heading to in his future career is fast becoming a happy hunting ground.
Rovanpera went toe to toe with Toyota team-mate Sebastien Ogier, who started the weekend with a two-point championship lead, across Thursday and Friday’s stages as they pair proved to be in a league of their own. Ogier’s advantage grew to as large as 3.9s before Rovanpera closed that gap to 0.6s heading into Saturday’s stages.
Rovanpera’s charge was duly rewarded by overhauling Ogier for the lead on stage nine. The Finn’s victory target became easier when Ogier’s near-perfect partial season suffered its first setback. A slow puncture that went undetected by his GR Yaris’ tyre pressure monitor system rendered Ogier a passenger as he veered off the road and into a tree, ending his 100% podium run in 2025.
An undetected slow puncture sent Ogier into a tree and out of contention
Photo by: Toyota Racing
From there Rovanpera made sure of the victory by a margin of 43.7s from Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans, who stole valuable championship points from Hyundai’s Ott Tanak by snatching second on the final stage. Evans had fallen as far as 8.4s behind Tanak and appeared to be struggling for pace, but somehow the Welshman issued a superb response that could prove crucial come the end of the season.
“It is a huge swing from where we were yesterday afternoon and obviously I’m very happy to turn that around and the points are very important,” said Evans. “I’m very happy to bag them. I decided to push a little bit less and we changed some things that helped the feeling in the car and a couple of things came together, We know in this sport that a few little tweaks here and there can make a big difference. The details matter.”
Remarkably prior to this season, Rovanpera had scored only one victory on asphalt in his top-flight WRC career [Croatia in 2022]. Now he has doubled that tally in the space of just 12 events. So how has this turnaround happened? The answer lies in the direction his career will take next year.
The title race now seems set to be a three-way contest between the Toyota drivers. One thing that is for certain is that a hungry Rovanpera with nothing to lose is a driver that should be feared
“I just like it [tarmac],” said Rovanpera, when asked to explain why he is now much faster on asphalt. “The style of driving what you need and especially with the tyres [Hankook] it suits me well. Since last year when I have been doing more of this kind of work and with the Porsche Carrera Cup car [in circuit racing] you really get into the details. Now I understand it [asphalt driving] better here, it is more enjoyable. You can push more and enjoy it more.”
Ogier however delivered a perfect Sunday to claim the full 10 Super Sunday points to sit alongside Rovanpera, 13 points adrift of Evans, who regained the championship lead with two rounds remaining in Japan and Saudi Arabia.
“The Sunday was fun. Of course the position is not what we wanted to be but it is part of the game in motorsport sometimes. You have to deal with things that are not in your control,” said Ogier.
The title race now seems set to be a three-way contest between the Toyota drivers. One thing that is for certain is that a hungry Rovanpera with nothing to lose is a driver that should be feared.
Toyota closing in on WRC constructors’ title record
Toyota celebrate the 2025 WRC constructors’ title
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
On many levels 2025 will rank among Toyota’s greatest seasons. The brand has dominated the championship with its fast and reliable GR Yaris, winning 11 of the 12 rallies to date. This run of results has seen Toyota surpass Citroen as the manufacturer with the most wins in WRC history, with that milestone now moving on to 104 victories.
To cap off what has already been a season to remember for the Japanese car maker, it secured its fifth consecutive manufacturers’ crown with two rounds to spare. But it is not just this year where Toyota has been supremely dominant; in the Rally1 era, 51 rallies have been contested with Toyota winning 35 of those, Hyundai claiming 13 wins and M-Sport-Ford taking three victories.
A ninth constructors’ title now has Toyota poised to match the WRC’s most successful constructor Lancia, who racked up 10 titles, including six in a row in the Group A era from 1987-1992. Interestingly, on the same weekend Toyota achieved its latest manufacturer title, Lancia confirmed that it will rejoin the WRC from next year, albeit in the second tier WRC2 class with its new Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale.
“I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Juha [Kankkunen], who has supported the team as the deputy team principal, as well as to the drivers, co-drivers, engineers, mechanics, all the other team members, and of course, the fans. Thank you so much,” said Toyota Gazoo Racing chairman Akio Toyoda. “Including the time when Juha was driving the Celica, this marks our ninth title overall. However, we still haven’t reached Lancia’s record of 10 manufacturers’ titles and six consecutive championships. I saw a post saying that Lancia will return to WRC2 from next year, so I am very excited at the thought of rallying together with the Lancia team.”
The success this year has been largely overseen by rookie deputy team principal Juha Kankkunen, who believes the 2025 season will go down in history for the team.
“It has been a quite incredible season for us,” Kankkunen told Autosport. “Especially on asphalt we have been so much stronger than Hyundai. On gravel it was closer but still everything worked. The drivers have been doing an excellent job as have the whole team, what can I say. It was my rookie season as team principal but everything worked well. To win 11 rallies out of 12 happens might never happen [again], it is history.”
Hyundai still has work to do to close the gap to Toyota
Hyundai put on a better showing in Central Europe, but still couldn’t fully challenge Toyota
Photo by: Fabien Dufour / Hyundai Motorsport
Toyota’s domination of the season has outlined the gulf between the two full factory teams. In Central Europe that was again on show as Hyundai continued to struggle to unlock pace from its heavily upgraded i20 N on asphalt.
The one positive for Hyundai is that it has made some progress from the annihilation by Toyota when its evolution i20 N tackled asphalt for the first time at the Canary Islands in April. Hyundai used Central Europe to conduct a real-world comparison test between its older specification and its latest car. Ott Tanak effectively drove a car that hasn’t had any development for a year, while Thierry Neuville and Adrien Fourmaux piloted the evolution car that has benefitted from a number of homologation jokers.
The upgraded car has made ground on fast gravel rallies but has struggled in other conditions. It is pertinent to add that Hyundai had originally planned to homologate an entirely new car to correct many fundamental issues with its i20 N, but this plan was cancelled amid a potential upheaval of the technical regulations by the FIA that ultimately never came to fruition.
“We have seen Ott going faster with the old car, which has had no development for a year, and that proves the feeling last year was better” Thierry Neuville
On flat, smoother asphalt the new i20 N was a match for the Toyota, with Neuville winning stages three and 14, while Fourmaux ran as high as third overall before the rally moved to the bumpy and more slippery roads in the Czech Republic. It is clear that when the car is operating in trickier conditions the i20 N is lacking, with Neuville and Fourmaux both frustrated by the fact that no matter what set up change they tried, they were unable to find the confidence to push.
“We were really good in the first four stages of the rally but then we really lost the pace in the bumpy and slippery conditions,” said Fourmaux. “We made steps on the flat roads, and we know what to put on the car but we really lost out on the bumpy and slippery so we need to work on it. Unfortunately in myself I don’t know what to improve as I’m fighting the car. It was good to have the other spec with Ott and it is good to compare where we are on the pace and where we are not, but the gap is quite big. We need to make steps.”
The rally quickly turned into development test as both Neuville and Fourmaux tried multiple set up changes to gather data in the hope of finding much needed answers to the pace deficit. Fourmaux ultimately finished the rally in a distant fifth, while Neuville’s hopes were undone by running into a bank that caused a puncture in stage five. The reigning world champions’ rally came to an abrupt end on Sunday when he and Martijn Wydaeghe were fortunate to avoid injuries after crashing into a bridge on stage 15, which was subsequently cancelled.
Neuville failed to finish after hitting a bridge on stage 15
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
“The whole season has been a struggle to be honest, more on tarmac than on gravel, but if I compare this season to last, the feeling and the amount of speed and control I had, I don’t have this year. That is clear and I’m not the only one struggling with it. We know we have done some mistakes and we have to correct them, but the team has been working really hard, there has been incredibly hard work from everybody in the last weeks and months. But we just don’t get it right yet.
“We have seen Ott going faster with the old car, which has had no development for a year, and that proves the feeling last year was better. We need to get back to that level.”
Tanak was able to unlock more pace from the older car and was on course to finish second before Evans stole the position on the final Power Stage. The Estonian also had to fight the car throughout but felt he maximised the package – minus a hybrid system – that won this rally last year.
“In some ways it was also expected before the rally so we knew what is coming so that is why I think we need to be happy and we learned as much as we can,” said Tanak, who feels his slim title chances are now over.
Junior WRC title decided in final stage thriller
Johansson stunned Gill to take the Junior WRC title in a final stage showdown
As come from behind victories go what Mille Johansson pulled off to snatch the Junior WRC title by 1.6s will live long in the memory.
Last year’s Junior ERC champion headed into the final stage seven seconds behind FIA Rally Star driver and class leader Taylor Gill, knowing that whoever won the rally would take the title, given the final round offered double points.
It seemed the title was heading in the favour of championship leader Gill, who had won two rounds and finished second in the other two heading into the season finale.
But Johansson, who picked up a 14-second penalty for speeding in a virtual chicane earlier in the weekend, pulled off a herculean feat to beat Gill by 8.6s across the 26.52km Power Stage. Johansson claimed his first win of the season which was enough to take the title from within his Australian rival’s grasp.
“It’s quite an unbelievable finish to the season with one stage that is deciding the whole championship, but I’m super-happy to be able to push so hard when I really needed to, that I had the capacity to do so,” said Johansson. “Before the final stage we said it was all or nothing, I’d rather be stuck in the forest than to finish second, so I’m happy to be at the finish. It’s quite unique to win a championship the first year you do it.”
Gill added: “It is unreal to be honest. Basically 1.6s deciding the whole championship. It is a really crazy finish, it was a good fair fight this weekend.”
The WRC moves on to Rally Japan next month
Photo by: Toyota Racing
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– The Autosport.com Team
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