Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team driver Kalle Rovanperä has announced his decision to move on from rallying at the end of the 2025 season and pursue an exciting new challenge in motorsport.
“This decision has not been an easy one, but it’s one that I have been thinking about for a while. Having already achieved so much in rallying at this age, I started to think about what other possibilities I might have and what other challenges I would like to take on. It has been a tough decision, but it feels like the right one to pursue my next dreams and challenges. It’s special to have the support of Toyota Gazoo Racing from the start of this new challenge and to be able to race in Super Formula. I know that it’s jumping straight into the deep end, coming from rallying, but I’m really looking forward to it and together with TGR we have a good plan to prepare in the best way possible and to try and make the most of it. Since I started driving as a small kid, it was my dream to be a WRC driver, to win a rally, and to become world champion. To have achieved all that at such a young age has been an incredible feeling, and a big thanks goes to TGR-WRT: we have done some really great things together and it has been a pleasure to work with such an amazing team. I also can’t thank Jonne enough for his help since our first days working together. Very big thanks too to all the fans who have been supporting us through all the ups and downs. We still have three rallies to go and we will give it everything and keep pushing until the end,” said the double WRC Champion.
The two-time FIA World Rally Champion will remain part of the Toyota Gazoo Racing family as he takes on his ambitious new challenge targeting the highest levels of circuit racing. In 2026 he will compete in the Japanese Super Formula Championship with the support of TGR, testing himself behind the wheel of one of the world’s fastest single-seater racing cars in a transition the likes of which has never been seen before in motorsport.
Rovanperä has achieved unprecedented success for a young rally driver since being handed his chance at the top level of the sport by TGR in 2020 at the age of 19. Showing his ability to quickly learn and adapt, he became the WRC’s youngest ever podium finisher when he finished third on just his second start at Rally Sweden in 2020. The following year, his triumph at Rally Estonia made him the youngest driver to win a WRC event.
When the Rally1 hybrid regulations were introduced for the 2022 season, the combination of Rovanperä, co-driver Jonne Halttunen and their GR Yaris Rally1 car proved hard to beat. Rovanperä won five of the first seven rallies, and a sixth victory on Rally New Zealand was enough for him to be crowned the youngest ever World Rally Champion at just 22 years and one day old.
Rovanperä and Halttunen successfully defended their crown with an even more consistent campaign in 2023, finishing all but one of the 13 events inside the top four. In 2024, they won four times from seven starts, helping TGR-WRT to secure a fourth consecutive manufacturers’ championship.
With three rallies remaining in 2025, Rovanperä remains in the hunt for a third drivers’ title in four years. A dominant win on the unfamiliar asphalt roads of Rally Islas Canarias and a long-awaited first home victory at Rally Finland – with the fastest drive in WRC history – have also contributed to a near unassailable lead for TGR in the manufacturers’ standings.
An announcement about the TGR-WRT driver line-up for 2026 will be made in due course.
Our money is on Oliver Solberg…
Discussion about this post