It was one of the best performances of Kalle Rovanperä’s World Rally Championship career – but the Finn is not expecting Rally Islas Canarias to become a blueprint for the rest of his season.
Facing a run of seven successive gravel rallies off the back of the Tarmac of Canaries, Rovanperä simply cautioned: “Nothing is the same.”
He told DirtFish: “I think there is nothing related on this rally [Canaries] to going back on gravel, so there will be nothing the same. We continue where we left from Safari, which was not bad, so yeah for sure we just try to improve and try to get on the level where we should be.”
Why was Rovanperä so good in Canaries then?
Rovanperä's struggles became a strength last week
The answer ironically lies in what has been a big bugbear of 2025 so far – tires and driving style, as well as good work on the pacenotes in preparation for a brand-new rally.
“On smooth Tarmac it’s more about driving and feeling the tire,” the Toyota driver explained.
“Normally in rally we are quite much more, in a way, aggressive. We need to be more aggressive so then the driving style becomes a bit more difficult to adjust. Here you can feel what’s happening under the tire and then it’s more about, actually the driving is more about that. So yeah, you can just try to feel where the optimal grip is.”
The other factor to consider is Rovanperä better his understanding, and affinity, of the non-hybrid car.
There’s been plenty of talk about tires, but this is another area where he has had to adapt. Don’t forget, Rovanperä told DirtFish at the end of last year that he felt managing the hybrid was one of his strengths in recent years.
“It has been a big change, losing many kilos from the rear axle of the car,” Rovanperä said.
“So yeah, for sure, when the car is designed to have the kilos there, and suddenly they are not there, there is some balance things which we need to work on.
“I still feel we, especially on gravel… I don’t think we have got it exactly where I need it to be. But yeah, for sure now looking more into the first race of the season, seeing a bit more of the data and everything, yeah, for sure I think before I was using the hybrid really well, I was happier with the balance, weight balance of the car.
“So yeah, when going back to gravel, we still need to work on it and try to, of course, get to the same pace as here.”
Will we see a gravel improvement?
Early signs don’t seem so positive.
Just two days after his peerless victory on Gran Canaria, Rovanperä was testing the GR Yaris Rally1 on gravel in Portugal, ahead of the rally in two weeks.
Asked how his feeling was so far on the test, he worryingly replied: “Not the best, to be honest.
“We still are working quite hard to find a bit, let’s say, find the way and the direction where we want to go more. So I think when we can find that, then we can start to be more precise with the things that we start to find.”
Rovanperä got valuable seat time on Tuesday this week
The optimal balance that Rovanperä was able to find on the bone-dry Tarmac roads around Las Palmas is still a work in progress on the loose.
He said: “Of course on gravel we have much less grip. We are driving the car differently, sliding much more. So I think this year with the different weight balance on the car and the new tires, I just think the combination is not the best at the moment for me. And I haven’t really found the happy place for me yet.”
It’s imperative Rovanperä finds that ‘happy place’ soon, because the season is working through the gears with the rounds now coming thick and fast.
“I think these next rallies are going to be really important,” the two-time world champion stated.
“It’s definitely… well, Portugal and Greece are pretty good rallies for me. Sardinia is always difficult, so I think we need to really find a good pace and consistent pace to keep scoring good points on these rallies. And then, yeah, it will just get, I think, tighter and tighter the more we go into the year.
“[Canaries] was exactly what we needed after the start of the season,” Rovanperä added. “It’s still a big gap to Elfyn [Evans], so yeah, we need to improve on gravel and try to do the same things.
“I know it’s probably going to be difficult, but we keep working on it.”
