Juha Kankkunen takes a stand on Kalle Rovanperä’s situation.
Kalle Rovanperä, 22, leads the World Rally Championship after six races. Defending world champion Rovanperä has won only one World Cup competition this season, but otherwise steady performances have propelled the young man to the top of the points table.
This season, a couple of rallies from Rovanpera have gone lower than expected, such as the Swedish competition in February. Even so, he has been able to grab, so to speak, breakthrough victories in those rallies that it has been difficult for him to win or even get into the race for victory, for example because of his starting place.
He has had to be the first in the driving order in gravel rallies to clear the roads of slippery loose gravel for those coming from behind.
In any case, Toyota driver Rovanperä now leads the World Series by 25 points ahead of Hyundai’s Belgian star who is second Thierry Neuville.
Kalle Rovanperä was in a hurry in the World Rally Championship in Sardinia at the beginning of June.
Quadruple world champion Juha Kankkunen was known in his own active career for the fact that he wisely drove the overall picture of the World Series in his mind. Kankkunen did not take any unnecessary risks in his driving if he felt that the pursuit of a single World Cup competition was too much or foolish from the point of view of the championship hunt.
Kankkunen often knew how to take it easy, contenting himself with only qualifying for the points pot, if the win would have required “crazy” driving.
But Kankkunen was no mere tactician. He showed his raw speed many times – for example, in the Finnish World Rally Championship and other fast-paced races.
Rovanperen this season, there has been a bit of the same nuance in what Kankkunen did in his time – in order to reach the championship, you don’t have to forcefully try to win “every competition”.
Kankkunen says that he watched Rovanperä’s performances this season with admiration.
“In my opinion, Kalle’s tactics have been on point this year. That’s just the way it is now,” says Kankkunen.
“You can’t always win, sometimes something breaks. You don’t always have to win, but when the boy pulls off a steady, handsome season, the rest of the season is pretty strong, otherwise,” says Kankkunen, who has won 23 World Championship races and a total of 75 World Championship podium finishes in his career.
Juha Kankkunen spoke passionately about the rally in the Belgian World Championship last year.
Expiring the next World Cup competition of the season will be held in Kenya around Midsummer. Kankkunen, 64, says that he will go on site for, among other things, Toyota’s PR work.
Rally maestro Kankkunen won the famous Safari rally no less than three times in his glamorous career. Kankkunen’s complete victories in Africa came in 1985, 1991 and 1993. Kankkunen took his first and last Safari victory in a Toyota, the middle one broke at the wheel of a Lancia.
The 1985 Safari victory was Kankkunen’s first at the World Championship level, so it was an exceptionally special experience for him in a long and handsome career.
Kankkunen has spent a lot of time in Kenya over the years, also enjoying nature in his free time.
“Really great memories are from Kenya. It’s always wonderful to go back there.”
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