Kalle Rovanperä gave a driving lesson at the Rally Islas Canarias, the fourth round of the World Rally Championship, winning 15 of the 18 stages. The Vodafone Rally de Portugal is the next event.
The 2022 and 2023 world champion dominated his opponents like never before in the World Rally Championship, even those driving a car just like his. After a difficult start to the season, Kalle Rovanperä reappeared in great form in Gran Canaria, setting a diabolical pace and winning points that put him in contention for the world title. The fast and very technical asphalt roads represented a unique and unknown challenge for most of the drivers - only Thierry Neuville and Adrien Fourmaux had taken part in the race - but Rovanperä immediately set a pace that no one else could match.
Toyota had a near-perfect rally, taking the top four places, and only just missed out on the overall honours because Sami Pajari ripped a wheel off the GR Yaris Rally1. On the Hyundai side, it was clear that the i20N Rally1 didn't work with the hard Hankook tyres on the abrasive Canary Islands asphalt, but the team only discovered this when the rally was already on the road. The drivers changed the car's settings throughout the rally, at times managing to mitigate the damage, but it became clear that the chassis and tyres weren't a perfect match.
Kalle Rovanperä's dominance began on the opening stage, with the Finn winning all six stages and finishing 26.8 seconds ahead of team-mate Sébastian Ogier. It was Toyota's day, with five cars in the top five. At the end of the stage, Rovanperä said he could have done better, while Ogier, one of the fastest drivers on tarmac, recognised that he couldn't keep up with the Finn. But he wasn't the only one. It was also clear that the Hyundai drivers were a long way off the Toyota's infernal pace, and Thierry Neuville was in sixth place, 1m.13 behind the leader at the end of just 118 kilometres on the clock. The situation was very complicated and Ott Tänak confirmed as much when he said: ‘We're slow and we're not sure what to do.’ The drivers of the Ford Puma Rally1 were light years behind the Toyota in yet another demonstration of their lack of drive. Josh McErlean was even behind Yohan Rossel, who was driving a Citroën C3 in the WRC2 category.
The story of the Rally Islas Canarias was written on the first day, the other two were to fulfil the programme. The scenario continued on the second stage, with Rovanperä ‘flying’ on Gran Canaria and winning six of the seven stages. ‘It's going very well and the grip has become more consistent and very good,’ he said. Sébastian Ogier couldn't keep up with the race leader, finishing the second day 45.2 seconds behind, and identified the problem: "He flew! We lacked speed compared to Kalle".
The final stage started as the previous one had ended, with Rovanperä attacking and winning Super Sunday and the Power Stage, scoring additional points for the championship. "It was an incredible rally, definitely one of the best I've done. We haven't had the best start to the season, but we're definitely back. The car was always very fast. I really enjoyed it and it was a great result for the whole team,‘ said the winner, who intends to repeat the honour in Portugal ’It's good to be back on home soil. We're going to have an evolution of the tyres for this surface, and we certainly want to do the same as here," he said. Sébastien Ogier was second at 53.5 s, and admitted to a lack of pace ‘after three months without competing, it's difficult to be in top form,’ said the Toyota driver. Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta took the next two places, further emphasising the Japanese brand's dominance.
Adrien Fourmaux was the best Hyundai driver in fifth place, 2.31 metres behind the winner, followed by Ott Tänak and Thierry Neuville. Grégoire Munster took the only Ford Puma Rally1 to the end, but finished in a modest 11th place.
History repeated itself in WRC2 with Yohan Rossel, in a Citroën C3, leading from the first stage. Alejandro Cachón, driving a GR Toyota Yaris, and Nikolay Gryazin, in a Skoda Fabia RS, completed the podium in the category.
After this event, Elfyn Evans leads the drivers' championship with 109 points, followed by Kalle Rovanperä with 66 and Thierry Neuville with 59. In the constructors' championship, Toyota has won all the events and is in first place with 208 points, ahead of Hyundai with 157 and M-Sport Ford with 58. The next World Championship event is the Vodafone Rally de Portugal, which takes place between 15 and 18 May.