Kalle Rovanperä starts the 2024 WRC season at the Rally Sweden: The Finn wants to contest his first 24-hour race in Japan in May
Rally Sweden (February 15 to 18), the second round of the 2024 World Rally Championship (WRC), will also see reigning world champion Kalle Rovanperä start the WRC season. This is according to the entry list published by the organizers on Friday. A total of 58 cars are entered for the only winter rally on the 2024 WRC calendar
Rovanperä had announced after his second title win at the end of 2023 that he would only contest individual WRC rounds this year. Rovanperä will share the Toyota works team’s third car with Sebastien Ogier, who will compete alongside the two full-time drivers Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta at the Rally Monte-Carlo next week.
Rovanperä will be joined by his compatriot Esapekka Lappi for his first start of the season in Sweden. The Finn will take over the works team’s third Hyundai, which will be driven by Andreas Mikkelsen in Monte Carlo. With privateer Lorenzo Bertelli (Toyota), the field of Rally1 cars in Sweden grows to nine participants.
According to Toyota team boss Jari-Matti Latvala, it has not yet been decided how the other WRC rounds will be split between Rovanperä and Ogier. The Finn only reveals that Rovanperä is very likely to start in the new WRC round in Latvia.
“I think it’s clear that Latvia is a rally that Kalle would like to drive,
“He has driven many rallies in Latvia in his youth, so it is clear that Kalle loves this event,” Latvala continued. The Toyota team boss also does not want to rule out the possibility of Toyota entering four cars in a rally during the course of the season, meaning that both Rovanperä and Ogier will be involved.
In addition to his part-time WRC season, Rovanperä is also pushing ahead with other motorsport activities. When announcing his partial retirement, the Finn had stated that he wanted to gain experience in GT cars.
Toyota boss Akio Toyoda revealed during a talk show at the Toyota Auto Salon that Rovanperä is to drive a Toyota GR86 Concept at the 24 Hours of Fuji (May 25-26), which will be entered by Toyoda’s own Rookie Racing team.
“Kalle is very interested in endurance racing,” confirms Latvala. “Before the Rally Japan last year, we visited one of these events and when Kalle came into the pits and saw all the cars and the team, he was very excited and asked Akio if he could drive. And Akio said yes. The opportunity is there if everything fits. “
