Kalle Rovanpera says he is “slowly getting back to everything” after being declared fit again to resume his motorsport career after a medical issue halted plans to go circuit racing this year.
The two-time world rally champion made a return to the World Rally Championship courtesy of a flying visit to Rally Estonia on Friday. Rovanpera just happened to be passing through the rally’s host city Tartu and decided to attend Thursday’s night’s ceremonial start before taking in Friday’s shakedown.
It is the first time Rovanpera has been present at a WRC event since last year’s Rally Saudi Arabia season finale, which marked the final event of his WRC career for the foreseeable future after announcing plans last year to move into circuit racing for 2026.
Rally Estonia is regarded as one of his favourite events having taken his first WRC win at the event in 2021, which made him the youngest ever outright winner in the championship’s history. The Finn went on to take event wins in his title-winning seasons in 2022 and 2023, the latter included a run of 13 consecutive stage wins.
While a medical issue forced the 25-year-old to postpone plans to contest this year’s Super Formula season in Japan, Rovanpera has kept a close eye on the WRC this year and has acted as mentor to his close friend and former Toyota team-mate Takamoto Katsuta.
“We were just passing by and I decided to come see the shakedown. It was not really planned to come here but it is nice to see the guys,” Rovanpera told WRC.com.
Kalle Rovanpera
Photo by: Masahide Kamio
“It is the first time this year I have been to any event basically. It is quite interesting and obviously nice to see all the team and rallying is always interesting.”
Toyota announced last month that Rovanpera had resumed physical training, and is now in a position to plan a “phased return to driving”. A return to competitive racing in 2027 is the objective. Last month Rovanpera was back behind the wheel of his Toyota GR Supra drift car.
“Obviously now I’m declared fit again to drive so that is nice and I’m slowly getting back to everything. I don’t know what the next plans are, but something interesting for sure,” he added.
“The wintertime was busy and we did a lot of driving and many interesting things but it was unfortunate that it ended how it ended, but let’s see what comes next.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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