Toyota driver Kalle Rovanperä plots WRC Safari Rally title defense
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Reading Time: 2min | Sat. 01.03.25. | 16:41
Despite the early-season challenges, Rovanperä can head to Naivasha brimming with confidence thanks to his impressive Safari record; two wins and a runner-up finish in the past three years
Kalle Rovanperä is ready to shift gears and put a steady start to the season behind him as he sets his sights on this month’s WRC Safari Rally.
The two-time WRC champion sits third in the standings after a fourth-place finish at Rallye Monte-Carlo and fifth in Sweden.
Adapting his GR Yaris Rally1 to the new Hankook tyres has proven trickier than expected, but the Finn remains optimistic as the WRC prepares for its first long-haul event of 2025.
“Now we need to focus on the next rally on gravel with a completely different tyre and work to be stronger there,” said Rovanperä in an interview with WRC.com.
“Sweden was a difficult weekend; we were trying to push hard but just didn’t have the pace or performance we wanted.”
The two-time Safari winner joins championship leader Elfyn Evans, who heads the list for Toyota GAZOO Racing, holding a 28-point advantage coming into the rally.
Takamoto Katsuta, who has finished on the podium in three of his four previous Safari starts, and Sami Pajari, also line up in a GR Yaris Rally1, the latter under Toyota’s second-string squad.
Rovanperä scored an imperious victory last year after his rivals repeatedly ran into trouble in the infamously tough event.
There was no stopping the reigning world champion: he took the lead first thing on Friday morning and went on to win every stage that day, building a comfortable advantage over the chasing pack, which he then carefully managed to the finish.
The World Champions are here!@thierryneuville, @KalleRovanpera, @ElfynEvans, @TakamotoKatsuta and more.
— Safari Rally (@SafariRallyWRC) February 26, 2025
21 days to go to the @OfficialWRC Safari Rally Kenya!#WRCSafariRallyKenya 🇰🇪 pic.twitter.com/nNVk32nPTQ
“We have one day of testing before Safari. I don’t know about the specification for the tyre, which one it will be. It’s another new thing to be running on the gravel-spec Hankook and we have to see how it goes.
There’s not really much we can do to prepare before the test. I just hope it’s going to be working more in a way that works for me,” the driver added
Despite the early-season challenges, Rovanperä can head to Naivasha brimming with confidence thanks to his impressive Safari record: two wins and a runner-up finish in the past three years.
