Rovanpera win sets up Finnish bid

Kalle Rovanpera took another Latvian Rally Championship win on last weekend’s Rally Sarma and switches to the opening of his native campaign in Finland this weekend.

The 16-year-old dominated Rally Sarma, winning every stage on his way to a 38-second victory in his Skoda Fabia R5.

Now he’ll head to this weekend’s SM Vaakuna Ralli where he’ll compete against homegrown competition for the first time.

Rovanpera was granted a waiver to compete in the Finnish Rally Championship this season and he heads to the Mikkeli-based event on the back of last weekend’s win.

“Competing at home makes me more motivated than ever,” said the son of one-time world rally winner Harri. “The rally in Latvia was simple and everything worked as planned, but I was driving at 100 per cent because there is no point to hold back.”

The Finn admitted he is looking forward to his home debut.

“This is a new thing for us and I’m waiting anxiously,” he said. “I will have a go even if it is difficult when I have not done any competition on those roads. You have to drive a lot to learn them.”

Rovanpera wasn’t the only WRC star son competing in Latvia last weekend. Oliver Solberg, the 15-year-old son of 2003 WRC champion Petter, drove a Peugeot 208 R2 on the rally, but retired after sliding off the road on the third stage of the event.