Kalle Rovanperä “close” to WRC perfection with 12 stage wins in a row

Kalle Rovanperä says he cannot remember the last time he felt so comfortable driving a World Rally Championship car after winning a stunning 12 consecutive stages at Rally Islas Canarias.

The two-time world champion has so far delivered a masterclass display on the Canary Islands smooth asphalt roads to open up a commanding 45.2s lead over Toyota team-mate Sébastien Ogier. Championship leader Elfyn Evans had to settle for third at the end of Saturday, 1m08.1s adrift.

Rovanperä set the fastest times on 12 of the 13 stages thus far. The only stage Rovanperä failed to top was Saturday’s final 1.80km super special stage, which featured a section using the Gran Canaria Basketball court.

The performance across Friday and Satruday almost mirrored his 13 consecutive stage winning streak from Estonia in 2023 when he was unbeaten through the Saturday and Sunday legs.

The Finn’s pace has come as a surprise having struggled to gel with the new Hankook tyres in the three previous rounds this season. However, in the Canary Islands, making its WRC debut, Rovanperä admitted he had found some “ideas” on how to adapt to the new rubber.

Canary Islands roads suit Rovanperä through Day 2

Rovanperä’s stage wins have seemingly come at ease, with the Finn revealing that he isn’t having to push or take crazy risks to achieve the times.

When asked if his performance was as close to perfection driving a rally car, he told Motorsport.com: “I think it is pretty close. In the morning it was not but in the afternoon I would say I was really happy with the driving and everything. I’m super happy.

“There is no need to push. I can choose myself when I want to push or not, it is quite enjoyable. 

“Of course on this kind of rally you need to be on it all of the time but there is no push for any crazy risks. If there is a tricky or bad place I can pretty much manage the risk and I don’t need to go crazy everywhere.

“It has been quite a long time since we have had the pace so good we can choose when to use it.”

Eight-time world champion Ogier, renowned for his pace on asphalt, declared Rovanperä’s performance as “pretty impressive” admitting there was “no shame” to be second behind his team-mate driving in such form. 

Five stages on Sunday await Rovanperä as the Finn seeks to score what would be a memorable first win of the 2025 season.

His Toyota team had been on course to lock out the top five positions such has been the Japanese brand’s dominance, before Sami Pajari ran wide into barriers on stage 12, retiring from fourth position.

“I guess I was a bit too fast into this one long corner, which I knew it tightened. But it tightened a bit more somehow and I don’t have any good explanation because in the morning there was no drama at this corner and in my opinion I did the same at this corner,” said Pajari.

Pajari’s demise handed the sister Toyota GR Yaris driven by Takamoto Katsuta fourth ahead of the ailing Hyundai trio of Adrien Fourmaux [+2m09.6s], Thierry Neuville [+2m15.2s] and Ott Tanak [+2m37.3s].

The top 10 was completed by leading WRC2 runner Yohan Rossel, local hero Alejandro Cachon and M-Sport-Ford’s Josh McErlean.

Photos Day 2 –  Rally Islas Canarias