How Rally New Zealand encapsulated record-breaking Rovanpera’s WRC title charge
Kalle Rovanpera’s coronation as the new World Rally Championship king had been a long time coming, only to be postponed by hiccups in Belgium and Greece. But at Rally New Zealand the “Full Send” Finn demonstrated exactly how he's been able to rewrite the rallying record book as he stormed to victory to become the youngest ever world champion
There couldn't have been a more fitting way for Kalle Rovanpera to rewrite history as the World Rally Championship's youngest ever champion at Rally New Zealand. After uncharacteristic errors in the preceding rounds in Belgium and Greece, rallying's new flying Finn reproduced a 'Greatest Hits' of his stunning 2022 campaign to claim the world title on his 22nd birthday weekend, in the land of the long white cloud.
It's a feat unlikely to be beaten as Rovanpera eclipsed the late 1995 world champion Colin McRae's benchmark as the WRC's youngest champion by five years. Not only did Rovanpera write himself into the history books, his success ended a 20-year wait for a Finnish world champion.
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