It speaks volumes of the driver in question that they can be a net second in the world championship, and the narrative is almost exclusively negative.
But Kalle Rovanperä is no ordinary driver. Off-par performances just aren’t part of the double world champion’s repertoire. But so far, 2025 hasn’t been vintage Rovanperä.
Struggles to get on top of the WRC’s new Hankook tires, specifically adapting his driving style to them, have been clear on both of the opening rounds of the season: Monte Carlo and Sweden.
But Rovanperä hasn’t used all of his lifelines. Monte and Sweden are both widely recognized as unique events – and talking tires in particular, the Finn drove on compounds he won’t need to put on his Toyota again all-year.
Get on top of the gravel tire’s characteristics early on the majority surface of the year, suddenly there is no problem. But continue to struggle, and the world will keep talking.
That all makes the upcoming Safari Rally Kenya a fascinating acid test of Rovanperä’s current plight.
Encouraging early feedback
Rovanperä got to try Hankook's gravel tire this week
Rovanperä got to try Hankook’s gravel offering during his pre-event test in Portugal on Wednesday.
Testing restrictions consigning him to European roads means the test was not fully representative of what he’ll face in Africa, but Rovanperä’s initial feedback on the tire specifically was encouraging.
“Now we go on gravel, so a new tire again and something new to learn,” he said. “I think so far the feeling is pretty good. So yeah, now the testing is really important to get a good feeling and get everything together and have a good pace.”
It’s worth cautioning that these quotes are sourced from an interview with Toyota itself, but Rovanperä’s a straight-shooter. If he was struggling, he wouldn’t have hidden that struggle within PR-friendly answers.
“Yeah, it has not been the easiest start of the season,” he admitted, “but yeah still we are not too far from the fight.
“Of course now when we go on gravel we have a new chance to again start to push harder and try to get back into the fight.
“It’s always difficult to predict [what will happen], but you can expect us to push really hard and try our best.”
Hankook’s view
Hankook's Manfred Sandichler is not surprised not every driver is in love with the tire right now
Taking over from Pirelli, which held the WRC supply deal from 2021-2024, Hankook’s start to life in the WRC has been widely praised – with tires that have thus far proved very durable.
“Of course performance is important because you’re talking about a world championship. But priority wise, for us it’s always safety that’s priority number one,” Manfred Sandichler, Hankook motorsport director, told DirtFish.
“Our target is to be the most safe tires in the market, [so] you can expect the same [on gravel] as what you saw in Sweden and Monte Carlo: a tire which is really absolutely on the safe side, because it is very important for us that the tire is not the key for the result of the rally.
“For us it’s important to have a tire which satisfies the driver, especially in terms of safety.”
It’s clear what Hankook’s ethos is, but is Sandbichler surprised that Rovanperä has struggled to get his head around it?
“It’s quite simple to answer,” he said. “I already gave the answer once before.
“When the day comes when one driver comes to me and says, ‘Manfred, this is the best tire in the world which I ever got’, the day after I will be retired! It sounds funny, but it’s true.
“To satisfy the driver’s request, it’s almost impossible. Because they have an ultimate goal. The ultimate goal for these guys means winning the rally, and to be always better than their competitor.
“And this is our job, to give them the best tire in the world to give them the opportunity to win the race. At the end of the day, you have so many unknowns, you have so many ifs and what ifs; this is really part of the game.
“I’ve been in the motorsport business now for more than 30 years, and as I said before, if I reached one level that a driver comes to me and says, ‘Manfred, this is the best tire’, it’s really time to leave. It’s time to go home.”
Toyota’s view
Toyota technical director Tom Fowler recently joined David Evans on SPIN, The Rally Pod for an in-depth interview, in which he discussed Rovanperä’s sluggish start to 2025.
Some have quietly questioned Rovanperä’s motivation after taking what could be called a ‘gap year’ in 2024, which Fowler refutes.
And although he acknowledged that it’s been a difficult start to the year, Fowler argued the first two rounds of the season haven’t always been Rovanperä’s best.
“The start of the season has been very difficult technically with the car and perhaps being out of the car last season for some of the events, and then having so many changes on top, has made the start of the season more difficult for him,” Fowler told DirtFish.
“But I think we need to also consider that we’ve done a couple of events so far that aren’t necessarily Kalle Rovanperä’s main events – particularly Monte Carlo.
“Sweden, he’s had a good history of snow events so he should be able to be there for sure, but with the change of tire, definitely there’s a different driving style that’s needed with that particular tire.”
But throughout his career Rovanperä has looked like a driver capable of driving through problems, not constrained by them. So why has this become a struggle?
“It’s very difficult to answer without going too technically into [things],” Fowler responded.
“We understand quite a lot about what this tire needs in terms of the car setup and also in terms of the driver input, and there’s a very fine balance.
Rovanperä's not been at his best but is still ahead of Neuville and Tänak in the championship
“To put it into some sort of perspective, during the event we saw multiple drivers do very bad stages in all different cars, and then come back and say to the cameras ‘I just learned something’, and then do a much better stage – maybe not be at the top but at least improve massively by understanding something.
“And this is a combination of the driving but also the car setup and how everything works together. During an event when things are going in a difficult way, you have to make some decisions: do I continue to gather the points and come out of it one piece, or do I continue to push to find different things?
“This comes down to strategy, that in the start of the season things have been for sure difficult for him, but he has some rallies coming where we know he can be strong.
“I think Elfyn [Evans] said it the best, that Kalle’s not usually off the pace for very long.”
