Rovanperä was born in Jyväskylä, Central Finland.[2] He is the son of former WRC driver Harri Rovanperä, who was a factory driver for several teams and won a WRC round in Sweden in 2001.[3] He garnered international attention at the age of eight, when footage of him driving a rally car was uploaded to the Internet, and participated his first rally at just ten years old.[4] Prior to his participation in the professional championships, he was coached by many compatriots, including Esapekka Lappi, who commented that a young Rovanperä already knew as much as him.[5]
Rally Career
2015–2017: Success in Latvia, two other national series, ERC and WRC debut
In 2015, at the age of 14, Rovanperä competed in Latvia where having a driver's license is not a requirement to take part in rallying.[6][7] He won the Latvian rally championship with his Citroën C2 R2 Max car in the R2 class.[8][9]
For the first three rallies of the 2016 Latvian rally series, Rovanperä drove a 220 kW (300 hp) four-wheel-driveŠkoda Fabia S2000, which was a completely new WRC-2 class rally car with a two-litre naturally aspirated engine.[10] He won the first rally, setting the fastest time at every stage.[11] He finished as the runner-up the second rally despite a power steering issue.[12] Rovanperä switched to a new Škoda Fabia R5 following another second-place finish in the Kurzeme rally.[13] He scored four more podiums, including two victories for the rest of the season.[14] Rovanperä eventually won the championship and became the youngest driver ever to win a national open class rally championship in any country at the age of 16.[15]
In January 2017, the Finnish motorsport association AKK-Motorsport granted a 16-year-old Rovanperä special permission to take part in Finnish rally races and the Ralli SM national championship series.[16] In addition to entering the rallies in the Finnish Rally Championship, he also participated in two other national championships: Latvia and Italy.[17] Rovanperä also made his European Rally Championship debut in 2017 by entering the Rally Liepāja, where he finished second overall.[18] He also successfully defended his title in Latvia by finishing every rally on the podium.[19]
In November 2019, Toyota announced that Rovanperä would drive for the Japanese manufacturer in 2020, alongside world champion Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans.[33]
2020–2021: Top tier debut and youngest WRC event winner
Rovanperä chose 69 as his car number.[34] He scored his first podium at his second outing in the top class at the 2020 Rally Sweden by finishing third.[35] At 19 years, 4 months and 16 days, Rovanperä became the youngest WRC podium finisher.[36] Rovanperä eventually finished fifth at the end of season.[37]
Rovanperä's 2021 campaign started with a fourth at the 2021 Monte Carlo Rally and a second at the 2021 Arctic Rally Finland, which was enough to lead the WRC championship for the first time in his career.[38] Following a series of troublesome events, Rovanperä took his first WRC career victory at the 2021 Rally Estonia.[39] The victory saw him become the youngest driver to win a World Rally Championship event at 21 years and 289 days, breaking the previous record of 22 years and 313 days held by his team boss Jari-Matti Latvala.[40] Later in 2021, he also won the 2021 Acropolis Rally.[41] Rovanperä eventually finished fourth at the conclusion of the championship.[42]
2022–2023: Youngest World Rally Champion
Rovanperä started 2022 with a fourth place at the 2022 Monte Carlo Rally, before he went on to win a hat-trick events.[43] Following a fifth place at the 2022 Rally Italia Sardegna, he secured back-to-back victories to build a commanding lead in the championship.[44][39] Despite a number of eventful rallies, he returned to form to claim his sixth rally of the season at the 2022 Rally New Zealand.[45] The performance was enough to secure the first world title of his career.[46] At the age of 22 years and 1 day, Rovanperä became the youngest World Rally Champion, breaking the previous record set by Colin McRae at the age of 27 years and 89 days in 1995.[47] He also became the first Finnish World Rally Champion since Marcus Grönholm in 2002.[48]
Rovanperä did not win a rally until the fifth round of the championship, the 2023 Rally de Portugal, which helped him to lead the championship.[49] He won two more events later in the year, consolidating his championship lead.[50][51] At the 2023 Central European Rally, major title rival Elfyn Evans was out of contention, whist Rovanperä finished second, which was enough to seal a back-to-back world title.[52]
Rovanperä signed a multi-year contract with Toyota following the end of 2023 season.[53] However, it was announced that Rovanperä would only contest a partial season in 2024 before returning full time in 2025.[54]
Other activities
In 2022, Rovanperä competed at the Mondello Park round of the Drift Masters European Championship with a Toyota Supra, where he reached the round of 16.[55] In 2023, he entered two rounds of the Formula Drift Japan with a Toyota GR Corolla, claiming a win at Ebisu and a second place at Okayama.[56][57] He also entered three rounds of the Drift Masters European Championship with a Toyota Supra.
The Finn announced to enter four rounds of the 2024 Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux.[58] He finished his first race weekend in Zandvoort in 4th and 5th place, and afterwards took his first circuit victory in Imola, finishing 2nd and 1st.[59]
Personal life
In June 2017, the Finnish transport safety agency Trafi granted Rovanperä special permission to apply for a driver's license when he turned 17.[60] On 2 October 2017, a day after his 17th birthday, Rovanperä successfully completed the mandatory driving test after having completed the theory part beforehand.[61]
In 2020, Rovanperä moved to Estonia.[62] He has lived in Monaco since 2022.[63]
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