Did it feel better? No.
But did it mean more? Yes.
Kalle Rovanperä rates his second World Rally Championship title higher than his first – and for very good reason.
“It was clear already before the season,” he teased DirtFish.
“I was sure it would be much more tight.”
Rovanperä checked out en route to his maiden world title in 2022. But he knew, with Hyundai strengthening and his own Toyota team-mate (Elfyn Evans) making gains, a second championship would be trickier to attain this time around.
And so it proved.
Rovanperä won the championship with two rounds to spare last year, although that statistic downplays the dominance and inevitability about the result.
This year it took Rovanperä until the penultimate event to seal the deal, and until round five to get his first victory.
So while he admits the feeling of a first championship can’t be topped, he places more value on how he’s achieved his second.
“I think this one I will rate a bit higher in terms of let’s say competition and what it took, let say,” said the new double champion.
“Of course, feeling wise you cannot compare to the first one ever because that feels the most amazing, but I would rate this one quite high.
“The season was more tight, it took more brains to do what we did and I’m proud of the season what we did.”
He wasn’t the only one.
“I’m delighted and really proud of Kalle and Jonne [Halttunen]: they really deserve this second championship,” said Rovanperä’s boss, Jari-Matti Latvala.
“Kalle has been amazingly consistent during the season. This title has been tougher for him to win than last year, and Elfyn has been doing a good job to keep the pressure on, but Kalle was able to get it done at the end.”
Latvala, always one to draw comparisons to rallying’s past, feels Rovanperä’s performance was akin to another multiple Finnish world champion.
“I would say his approach has been more like Juha Kankkunen, calculating and thinking about the points you need rather than going for every victory,” Latvala said.
I’m sure this will not be the last oneSébastien Ogier
“Elfyn has also done a very nice season. He needed to outscore Kalle here [at Central European Rally] to keep it alive. Unfortunately it didn’t work out for him, but he did all that he could in that situation.
“Now we have all three titles secured, we will go back to Rally Japan without any championship pressure and ask our drivers to push for the victory there.”
Fellow Toyota driver Sébastien Ogier knows a thing or two about winning championships. He’s sure this won’t be the last time Rovanperä etches his name on a trophy his name is printed on eight times over.
“Congratulations to Kalle and Jonne,” Ogier said, “they did another impressive season and I’m sure this will not be the last one.
“At the same time, I feel sorry for Elfyn because he made a good fight with Kalle this season.”
Evans labelled his team-mate the deserving champion.
“I want to say a huge congratulations to Kalle and Jonne,” Evans told DirtFish, “because I think they deserve the title, they’ve done an incredible job and him, Jonne and the team deserve it.
“Well done guys.”
Across the service park, the first quotes from Hyundai team principal Cyril Abiteboul in the squad’s post-event press release – about an event its driver Thierry Neuville won – were in recongition of Rovanperä and Toyota’s achievements.
“Firstly, congratulations to Kalle Rovanperä on securing his second FIA World Rally Championship drivers’ title today,” Abiteboul said.
“It has been an impressive season from him and Toyota Gazoo Racing; they are clearly the benchmark and one that serves as inspiration for what we want to do.”
Game recognizes game. Regardless of which championship Rovanperä feels was ‘better’, yet again this one is held in very high regard by his peers.
