WRC
World Rally Championship leader Kalle Rovanperä knows his home nation expects nothing less than a victory at next week's Secto Rally Finland. Can he deliver?
Finland expects at Rally Finland. It just does. Always has done. Always will do. For a population built on quiet humility, Jyväskylä on a sunny summer Sunday can be a revealing and intoxicating place.
Providing, that is, the siniristilippu flies highest and the words of the Maamme ring out around the city. A flag and a national anthem signal a local hero has restored or maintained pride, honour and glory.
It's that important.
In the first 20 years of Finland’s biggest motorsport event, only twice was it won by a non-Finn. In the last six years, only once has Rally Finland been won by a local. That was Esapekka Lappi in 2017.
The last five years have brought no shortage of pain to the local population. Toyota team principal and three-time Finland winner Jari-Matti Latvala knows the score better than most.
"When you win this event as a Finn, there’s no feeling like it," he said. "When you stand in front of all of the fans on the top step of the podium, it's incredible. You hear the anthem and hear the singing and cheering. You feel like a king.
“When you don’t win, it’s…”
Latvala searches the words. And then searches some more: "It's horrible. It's quiet. Of course, the fans are respectful for the winner, but if it's not a Finn, the city is not the same.”
Finland doesn't ask for much, but it's asking next week. Step forward Kalle Rovanperä.
The weight of expectation
For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of meeting Rovanperä, he's quite a phenomenon. He lands back in his homeland with a massive 83-point lead over his nearest rival in the WRC's Drivers' Championship. He’s won five of the seven rallies run so far and maximum scored (won the event and grabbed all five Wolf Power Stage bonus points) at three of those races. For Finnish fans, victory is as good as in the bank a week Sunday.
Point that out to the 21-year-old and he smiles. He’s been there and done that. Last year, he arrived in Jyväskylä having won two of the previous three WRC rounds. The anticipation was just the same, but last autumn, he fell off the wave and crashed nose-first into a sandbank. He was running fourth at the time and hardly setting his homeland alight.
"I was actually quite enjoying the rally last year,” he said. “The feeling with the car wasn’t there, I didn’t have the right confidence to push and then we went off. It wasn’t so special. This year, I'm really hoping to have that feeling and that confidence. We had a good test and a good result at the last rally in Estonia. Now, let's see."
But what about the waving flags? The thousands and thousands of fluttering siniristilippu that will line the route. He knows about that. Not so long ago, he was standing at the side of the road waving that flag with gusto for his father Harri, a former podium finisher at Rally Finland.
"I know what this rally means," continued Kalle. "It's special for me as well as everybody else. But I don’t feel any more pressure. We won some rallies already this season, so I don't think I have anything to prove to anybody. The support from the people, the fans, it's amazing and I want to try to win this rally for them. Of course, for the team as well and for me and Jonne [Halttunen, co-driver], but for the people in Finland it would be special."
And yes, you did read it right. He's 21.
Don't forget Lappi
As the last Finn to win, Rovanperä's Toyota team-mate Esapekka Lappi is the man best placed to remember that feeling.
"It is nice to win at home," he said. "Of course, it's special. But to do that this year, to beat Kalle, I don't know about that. I think he's unbeatable at the moment."
One man who doesn't share that sentiment is the man who beat all the Finns last year. Again, another Toyota driver: Elfyn Evans.
"I don't think he's unbeatable," said Evans. "He's on incredible form right now, he’s performing well everywhere, but if you look at Estonia, the last round: I finished a hell of a lot closer to him this year than I did last year. But every event is a new one and winning Finland last year, it doesn't mean so much coming into this year.
"Finland is one of my favourite events, it's a rally that's all about the feeling. If you have that feeling, anything is possible."
A nation of Finns will be hoping to have that feeling a week on Sunday.
