News
The article is more than 3 years old

Rovanperä makes history as youngest-ever world rally event winner

Kalle Rovanperä is the second generation of a Finnish rally-driving dynasty.

Kalle Rovanperä kuvassa
Kalle Rovanperä skids round a corner at the Estonian rally in 2021. Image: Massimo Bettiol / Getty Images
  • Yle News

Kalle Rovanperä won the Estonian leg of the World Rally Championship on Sunday, becoming the youngest-ever driver to win a World Rally Championship (WRC) rally.

Rovanperä, who is 20 years and 290 days old, led for most of the event, eventually winning by a margin of 59.9 seconds from Irish driver Craig Breen.

The previous holder of the record was fellow Finn Jari-Matti Latvala, who was 22 years and 313 days old when he won his first WRC event in 2008. Latvala is now Rovanperä's team principal at Toyota Gazoo Racing.

Latvala was also the last Finnish driver to win a WRC event, having taken top spot in the Australian rally in 2018.

Rovanperä's father Harri was also a WRC driver, and Kalle was granted a special license at the age of 16 so that he could drive four-wheel drive cars in national rally competitions.

He quickly took his first national title in spring 2017, turning professional later the same year.

EDIT This story originally said Rovanperä was 22 when he got his historic win. He was actually 20.