RIPPING UP THE RALLY RULEBOOK
Kalle Rovanpera’s march to this season’s World Rally Championship became something of a formality following his record-busting year. The 22-year-old had a flourish in the middle of the campaign where he took five wins from six events from February to July. That he sealed it with yet another win – the eighth of his career – was highly appropriate. This has, after all, been his year. There has been a lot written about the fact that he has taken five years off the record for the youngest man to win the World Rally Championship, and that truly is a remarkable feat. He easily eclipsed Colin McRae’s benchmark from 1995.
Rallying is a sport where knowledge and experience are required to conquer all that is put before a driver. Most competitors will not feel comfortable on an event until they have had a few years running on those particular stages. It is something that is trotted out regularly.
Rovenpera had no time for such talk. Although he has the advantage of having started his career as a young teenager, what he has been able to achieve in such a short space of time is nothing short of remarkable.
His team-mate Sebastien Ogier thinks that Rovanpera can now go on and dominate the sport for seasons to come, and who would bet against that? When he has the level of experience of some of his rivals, there is a chance that he could have another couple of titles in his back pocket. Is Ogier’s level of success beyond him? Probably not.
In this issue, we report on the Singapore Grand Prix where a delayed start almost threatened to derail the race. Thankfully it didn’t, but that didn’t help title chaser Max Verstappen, who had an error-strewn event and his personal title celebrations are on ice for now.
Tin-top king Steve Soper is the subject of our readers’ Q&A and, in his typical forthright style, he approaches the questions with vigour. It still smarts him that he never claimed the British Touring Car Championship overall, as you can read, but he went on to have a fabulous career in some of sportscar racing’s greatest machines.
Talking of touring cars, we look ahead to the three-race showdown at Brands Hatch this weekend where the British runners will go toe-to-toe. The finals day is always an epic and if you can’t get to Kent, make sure you tune in to the excellent ITV4 coverage. And then, don’t forget to read all about it in
Motorsport News next week.