The World Rally Championship season starts today – here are the expert’s three picks | Sports in a nutshell

Kalle Rovanperä’s “home race” is not one of his rally favorites.

Monte Carlo opens the 2025 World Rally Championship season on Thursday evening. Urheilu’s rally expert Henri Haapamäki tells the three most essential things about the rally season.

1. Rovanperä drives a full season

– The biggest draw for Finns is that Kalle Rovanperä drives a full season. Then we have another Finnish pilot there, that is Sami Pajariwhich also gasses the full World Series.

Rovanperä points out to STT that even though they found speed last year, they were not able to drive enough intact rallies.

– We have to be consistent throughout the season in order to stay in the championship fight. It might mean that we have to take fewer risks, Rovanperä says on the eve of the rally season.

At Monte’s test-ek in Pajar, we saw a close-up situation.

– There, the animal seemed to run in front of the car. It was really close to not hitting a small deer. These are always dangerous situations when you go that hard. But there is no way to completely restrict animals outside of the clips, reminds Haapamäki.

2. Hybrid unit and new tires

– I myself will watch with interest when the hybrid unit is removed from the cars. Almost a hundred kilos of weight off and just a little less power. I believe cars are faster than ever before.

Haapamäki believes that the reform favors drivers who can quickly adopt the new aspects of the car.

– Kalle is a pretty tough guy here.

– There is also a new tire brand for this season. When this is a completely new element for everyone, I believe that Kalle is strong here as well.

According to the expert, the tire issue will play a really big role in Monte Carlo.

– No one knows how they work on asphalt. And in Monte you can find dirty asphalt, you can even find ice, snow, and the conditions are really special. It is a special rally.

Haapamäki reminds that Monte Carlo is always a World Cup competition at the beginning of the season, where all the proportions are not even revealed, because the conditions usually change so much on the French Riviera, at the foot of the Alps.

3. Power relationships in the big picture

Kalle Rovanperän while holding the World Cup title in the gap year, Hyundai celebrated last season Thierry Neuville. The Belgian is indeed a perfect point of comparison for the Finn, the 2022-2023 world champion, and other top drivers in the rally season that is about to begin.

Rovanperä’s teammate Toyota is also in the running for the World Rally Championship title Elfyn Evans and Hyundai Ott Tänak.

– Hyundai and Toyota are certainly equal, but Toyota’s driver group is incomparable. Even now, Toyota sets off with up to five cars to Monte Carlo. They have a pretty tough crowd.

The expert can already see of shakedown resultsthat in Monte the car of any of the top garages is by no means extremely bad.

– A fairly even fight can be expected, but of course it is clear that Ford’s driver group is not quite as high-quality as Hyundai’s and Toyota’s, Haapamäki says.