WRC: Youngest WRC leader ever 🎥
TÄNAK BEFORE YOUNGSTER ROVANPERÄ Hyundai driver Ott Tänak dominated the Arctic Rally in Finland, which was held for the first time as a WRC round. In second place, Kalle Rovanperä, just 20 years old on Toyota, takes the lead in the standings. The official WRC highlights show the deviant speeds and drift angles on ice and snow. Ott Tänak and co-driver Martin Järveoja dominated the rally action in the Arctic Circle. The Estonian [...]
The official WRC highlights show the deviant speeds and drift angles on ice and snow.
Ott Tänak and co-driver Martin Järveoja dominated the rally action in the Arctic Circle. The Estonian led the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC from the start.
After winning five of the first six special stages at high speed on ice and snow, Tänak slowed down a bit. After retiring from the Rally Monte Carlo, the 2019 world champion (with Toyota) was determined to score good points, which he did in the best possible way with the second victory for Hyundai Motorsport.
A remarkable young man
The secret star was Kalle Rovanperä. The Finn, who is only 20 years old, is very familiar with the Arctic terrain from 2020, when he won there. The junior in his Toyota Gazoo Racing Yaris WRC was never able to put the leader Tänak under serious pressure. However, he narrowly won the duel against the Belgian Thierry Neuville and thus celebrated his best result to date at the highest level.
Rovanperä also scored the maximum five additional points for setting the fastest time on the Power Stage, which was the last SS. Following fourth place at the Monte, Rovanperä thus took the lead of the standings (37 points) ahead of Neuville (35) and Sébastien Ogier (31).
Kalle Rovanperä is the youngest ever leader in the 49-year history of the World Rally Championship. Since 2017, including the Arctic Rally, he has contested 29 WRC rounds, only nine of which were in a World Rally Car (from Toyota), and before that in Skoda Fabia R5 (2019 WRC2 World Champion). From 2015 - as a 15-year-old - to 2017, the great talent won the championship title three times in Latvia, where youngsters from 14 are already allowed to drive in competition.
Ogier as snowman
After the maximum haul in Monte Carlo, the defending champion had to settle for one point for fifth place on the Power Stage in Scandinavia.
The Frenchman stuck his Toyota Yaris WRC into a wall of snow in the dark shortly before the finish of the last SS on Friday evening. Ogier was able to continue the rally in 22nd overall position on the following day with a time loss of more than eleven minutes.
The highlights of the second WRC round in 2021 from the perspective of the winning team Hyundai Motorsport.
