The Jyväskylä World Rally Championship has now gone on for the longest period without a Finnish winner, but it has been longer without a new Finnish world rally champion. In that sense, Kalle Rovanperä was seen speaking like a champion in the home race, writes Roope Visuri of Urheilu.
JYVÄSKYLÄ. It still hasn’t arrived! Finnish rally people have now had to wait a record long time for a Finnish winner in the Jyväskylä World Rally Championship. It’s already been five years since the Finns got to celebrate Esapekka Laplanda sensational gain in many ways in 2017.
The Finnish driver’s victory celebration for this year was already very much anticipated. So much for a wild beat Kalle Rovanperä arrived at his home race. Five wins in seven races.
Ott Tänak however, spoiled the celebrations of the Finns, as he already did in 2018 and 2019. Compared to those years, however, Tänak had a lot to offer. Two victories came on the roads of central Finland with an optimally functioning Toyota, now Tänak had to radically change his driving style to win with a Hyundai.
Rovanperä was unable to close the gap created on the opening day, which had become the top name in the World Series while plowing the road. Tänak rose Sébastien Loeb together with first place among the foreign winners of the Jyväskylä World Rally Championship.
Now, however, we have to be patient before we start complaining about the historically long and dry Finnish streak in the Jyväskylä World Rally Championship.
The top spot in the World Series is essentially the biggest prize from this year’s World Rally Championship. Although the rally fans who arrived in large numbers on the gravel roads of Central Finland are not celebrating the Finnish victory again, the breaking of an even longer pipe is more important.
The traditional rally country has had to wait for a Finnish rally world champion for no less than 20 years. The previous Finnish rally world champion is Marcus Grönholm is from 2002.
Breaking a twenty-year streak sounds much better than breaking a five-year streak. It goes without saying, of course. Especially when the purpose of the World Series is to fight for the first place of the whole season, i.e. for the world championship.
The Jyväskylä World Rally Championship is only one part of this season’s 13 races, although it is of course important for the Finns. Now there are only bigger and more important parties on order at Rovanperä.
Even though there was no victory in the home race, Rovanperä also once again showed masterful gestures. When Tänak took and had to constantly take risks and succeeded, the Finnish driver considered his level of risk to be reasonable. His normal pace was now enough for a clear second place and that was important for the whole.
– You just have to drive sensibly, Rovanperä concluded his speech after the first drive to Ruuhimäki.
Rovanperä acted as “marketing manager” for many
As a whole, the importance of Kalle Rovanperä to the race itself and even to the entire World Series shone through the weekend of the Jyväskylä World Rally Championship. The race organization of the Jyväskylä World Rally Championship had already before the race playfully invited Rovanperä to be the race’s marketing manager.
For example, on Saturday evening, Rovanperä received great honors when he arrived at the service park at the end of a great day and six bottom hours. I also happen to be in front of the Rovanperä hotel in the evenings, waiting for eager fans for a group photo. The father’s beautiful request for a joint picture with Rovanperä and his son remained in my mind, at least for me, as a touching moment.
The importance of a young and bright star for the World Rally Championship is certainly enormous. Rovanperä’s driving skills and talent have been talked about for a long time, but the Finnish star also has another side that appeals to people.
Jyväskylä didn’t offer flying new statements and tricks, but the full send throws or padel flaps heard earlier this season have certainly remained in life.
Of course, these same issues also fall on Rovanperä’s employer, Toyota. In Jyväskylä, the red and white colors were of course strongly visible.
Tänak was furious, but made a touching gesture
On the other hand, Ott Tänak, who won the competition, showed a huge desire to win in Jyväskylä. It even appeared as an ugly advertisement for his employer. Tänak started his weekend on Thursday complaining about his car’s problems and was about to hand over the race to the Toyota drivers.
Even though Tänak was at the top speed throughout the race, the chant continued for a long time in the race. Special moments were seen, for example, on Saturday with Päijälä’s opening draw. Tänak salted his car by directly stating in the finish interview after the special test that “the car is a nightmare to drive”.
When a driver driving at the top of the competition robs his car in this way, it naturally raises big questions. In rallying, we are used to the fact that drivers are not terribly sensitive to criticizing their car, even if there are bubbles in the background. However, Tänak was a different country.
However, the Estonian was eventually able to adjust his driving and succeeded almost perfectly in the race. The victory was fully deserved, fueled by a strong will to fight and giving everything.
The final moments vividly reminded me of the events after Tänak’s victory in the previous Jyväskylä World Rally Championship.
At that time, Tänak was talked about Kimi Räikkönen as an athlete like
In 2019, Tänak warmly hugged his wife before the then Toyota team manager Tommi from Mäki. Worked as rally radio expert Riku Tahko reminded that Tänak reminded me of Kimi Räikkönen. We want to show a certain hardness to the media, but loved ones are really important and we show them our feelings.
Even now, after the victory, Tänak thanked his wife and even sent her a kiss.
– The only thing I want to say. In these difficult times, all thanks go to my wife. My wife really supported me. I’m really proud of him. I love him so much! Tänak thanked.
In any case, the race ended with a touching moment, although there were no Finnish victory celebrations.
You can find everything about the World Rally Championship in Jyväskylä at EPN.fi/mmralli. You can familiarize yourself with the twists and turns of the race from the live tracking here.