World rally winning co-driver Paul Nagle is sitting in the corner, nursing a pint of Guinness and listening. He’s listening to Jason Black. Jason – and his brother Gareth – have a plan. The plan, it’s decided, can most definitely work. But first there’s time for another beer.
Last weekend, DirtFish delivered the outcome of that plan, hatched in Paddy Mac’s bar, Ballina, County Mayo. Kalle Rovanperä would be coming to the Killarney Historic Rally. And he would be driving Jason’s Toyota Starlet. The news stopped Ireland and the wider world in its tracks. The dream had been realized.
The story starts when the two-time world champion announced he would be standing down from his full-time driver role for the next season. When Rovanperä said he would be doing some of the events which appealed to him, Jason sent his brother a message, joking that they should offer Kalle one of their Toyotas for Killarney.
“I thought nothing more of it,” Jason told DirtFish. “Then a couple of days later Gareth sent me a screenshot from his phone. He’d sent Kalle a message on Instagram… and Kalle had replied. Basically, Gareth asked if he’d fancy driving a Starlet in Ireland and he said he would. The two of us were wondering if this was really him – was this really Kalle Rovanperä replying to us on social media?”
Jason Black's stunning Toyota Starlet will be Rovanperä's ride up Moll's Gap at the end of next month
It was.
Messages pinged to and from the Finn’s phone and it became apparent Killarney could be tricky. Was there an alternative?
“We looked at different events and made some suggestions,” said Black, “but we really didn’t hear much. This was around the time when Kalle was busy with the WRC events he was doing.
“I was having a pint on the Mayo Rally and I mentioned the whole thing to Paul [Nagle]. We were having a couple of beers and he said he was going out to a WRC event and to drop him a list of questions for Kalle and he’d talk to him and Jonne [Halttunen, co-driver].”
This is where Aaron Johnston comes in. Co-driver to Takamoto Katsuta, Johnston is friends and team-mates with Rovanperä and Halttunen and is rarely far from reminding folk of rallying’s popularity in Ireland. He was pushing against an open door to the extent that when Rovanperä saw Nagle for the first time in a while, his opening line was: “So, I hear I’m coming to Ireland for a rally!”
So, I hear I’m coming to Ireland for a rally!Kalle Rovanperä
From then on, it was about the details. Details like, which car?
“Gareth and I both have Toyota Starlets,” said Black. “So we sent Kalle a picture of the two cars and asked him to decide which one. He replied saying he’d like to drive the blue one. That’s mine.”
Both cars are stunners, but Jason’s comes with a touch more grunt – his is fitted with a 2.5-liter motor over Gareth’s two-liter. The blue one comes with 380bhp. It’s enough. And it’ll be like new.
“We’re basically tearing the car apart,” said Jason. “Gerry Buckley does all the work on our cars, he’s great. At the moment he’s working away at the day job and coming around to us in the evening to get the car sorted for Kalle. Everything will be back to zero miles, the last thing we want is to have Kalle and Jonne coming all the way over here only for them to retire with a mechanical problem. We’re very fortunate, we’ve got a good team of buddies over here helping out.”
While Rovanperä has drifted in Ireland, he’s never tackled a rally and a slippery run up Moll’s Gap is a very different proposition to going sideways on a sunny Saturday at Mondello Park. Does Jason have any advice for the man he’s handing his car over to?
Jason (left) and Gareth are delighted to be welcoming world champions Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen to their team
“Me?” he smiled. “Me give Kalle advice? I don’t think so. I think he’ll be the one giving us the tips! He’s coming pretty much straight from the final WRC round in Japan, so we’re hoping to get him over for a test – it would probably be a good idea. He mentioned he’s never been in a right-hand drive car before. It won’t be a problem.
“Maybe I can tell him a couple of things about Moll’s Gap, the Tar down there can get a wee bit shiny – it’s fairly fast and flowing, but there are a couple of corners where you need to really have the notes right or you’ll be a gear down coming onto the next straight. Look, I don’t need to be telling those boys anything, they’re world champions.”
World champions… in Jason Black’s Toyota Starlet in Killarney.
It still doesn’t sound quite right. But it is.
Black added: “When we were figuring out what we were doing this year, I had half an idea this Kalle thing could come off, but I didn’t know for sure. I was trying to be sneaky in the group chat telling them we were thinking of Killarney, so it might be a good plan to get a couple of houses organised…
“When the news came out, they all understood why I’d been telling them to get organised. I think the place is going to be packed.
“Honestly, it’s still fairly hard to comprehend: Kalle Rovanperä coming to drive my car. It’s incredible. It’s taken some amount of work to get here, and it wouldn’t be happening at all if Gareth hadn’t sent that message and without the help of Aaron [Johnston], Paul [Nagle] and our sponsors Bribar Construction, Kellihers, Bathshack.com, Mallow Road Motors, DFS Digital, KC Print and Carey Cleaning Machines.”
There’s nothing new in world champions coming to Ireland. Walter Röhrl, Ari Vatanen, Marcus Grönholm and Sébastien Loeb have all enjoyed the famous lanes – but none have come quite like this.
For all involved, Saturday November 30 will truly be a day to remember.
Kalle and Jonne are busy checking their socials for any more offers from Jason and Gareth
