Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala has conceded “it’s only a matter of time” until Kalle Rovanperä wins this year’s World Rally Championship title.
A fifth victory from his last six starts on this weekend’s Rally Estonia was another massive statement of intent from Rovanperä in what’s already been a dominant campaign so far from the 21-year-old.
Grabbing the lead from Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans on the final stage of Friday when the heavens opened and handed him a slight advantage, Rovanperä began to streak clear with a devastating run of seven stage wins from eight forest stages on Saturday.
The mission on the final day was just to preserve his first position but Rovanperä still had an ace up his sleeve on an extremely slippery powerstage, where he bested everyone by an incredible 22.5 seconds.
“I don’t have any more words to say the surprises Kalle is bringing to us. Once again when the conditions are getting difficult, when they are getting extreme, Kalle is phenomenal,” Latvala said.
“I don’t know where it’s coming from, he’s on another planet when the conditions are difficult.”
A full 30-point haul, with closest rival Thierry Neuville scoring just 12, has increased Rovanperä’s championship lead from 65 to 83 points with six rallies remaining.
“If he keeps going like this, it’s just a matter of time when he will win the championship,” Latvala added.
“But we have to remember that also in the past we have seen championships which have been lost at the very end when it’s been looking like they are won in the mid-season.
“We have only just past the mid-season, so we just need to be still realistic. But he doesn’t need to win the events anymore to secure the championship, so he has now all the tools in his hands.”
Rovanperä was typically understated about his situation when asked about his dominant championship advantage by DirtFish, but he did concede his position has taken some of the pressure off.
“It’s of course nice to be in this position, to get all the points,” Rovanperä said.
“It makes our life a bit easier maybe for the rest of the season. But yeah, still we need to work hard.”
Although he is always aware of what he needs to do on each rally, Rovanperä hasn’t been lulled into calculating any championship permutations about how early he could potentially claim his maiden world title.
“No, I haven’t really been thinking about it,” he said, “but if we count the points for sure if we do good rallies we can be in a good position early on, but let’s see.
“There are still many rallies to go.”
