The burst of revs as he pulled up at the stop line said it all. Kalle Rovanperä was home.
He’d been out, borrowed his mate’s car, the pair of them had hustled it through the streets of Jyväskylä and now they couldn’t stop laughing about it. Thursday night at the end of the Harju street stage was a special moment.
And an emotional one.
I’m not going to lie to you, when Rovanperä made his decision to walk away from rallying and head down the single-seater route, I was gutted. And when it came to saying goodbye in Saudi Arabia last November, I genuinely felt the sport had lost one of its absolute heroes. Kalle is a great character and one of the most entertaining drivers we’ve had the pleasure of reporting on in years.
And that’s what made Thursday evening so special. When I heard the pair of them were tackling Harju in Jonne Halttunen’s Toyota Corolla GT AE86, I thought it might be worth a watch. I had no idea of the impact it would have on the crowd waiting on the banks of the city street stage.
Rovanperä drove a very different Toyota on the streets of Harju this year
Finns are not renowned for showing their emotion, but standing watching the fans, 10 deep as they tried to catch a glimpse of the two-time world champions was touching. You could truly see how much the moment meant to them. And to Kalle and Jonne.
The intensity which had settled on the 25-year-old’s shoulders following his shift from stage to circuit had lifted. He was smiling his slightly bashful smile again. He was among his people once more.
But for one night only. Thursday night was Kalle’s shot in the car; Friday it’s Jonne who will take the wheel of his own motor for the second pass of Harju.
“And I’m going to try to beat his time,” Halttunen told DirtFish with a smile. “We made a deal…”
Here we go. There’s always an angle, always a line with these two.
“I told Kalle, he needs to make two donuts – one for each of the championships we won – in the stage. Tomorrow, I will drive the stage, but with no donuts and try to beat him.”
Rovanperä was happy with his run.
Will Halttunen be able to beat Rovanperä's time on Friday?
“It was more fun than I thought,” he grinned. “We did some good slides and a few donuts for the fans. Now it’s Jonne’s turn for the push.”
Confident of beating his co-driver?
“Quite confident…”
Jonne’s a man under pressure.
“I have to do everything what I have to beat him. Even though he made two donuts, he was pushing! It was so nice. We were smiling all the time. We should drive these cars nowadays. To be honest it felt like normal Harju stage with the same feeling the same push. Back at the office.”
This time last year, the boys were making their big push through this stage for a very different reason. While they hadn’t made their news public, the pair of them knew this would be the last Finland – at least for a while. They had to win. The pressure was on, and they duly delivered a stellar victory.”
What does the future hold? Who knows. Kalle’s dropped some drifting hints and watching his onboard, it’s impossible to overstate how comfortable he felt and how cool he looked as he sent the Corolla down the city streets he’s grown up on.
