Rovanpera secures dominant Canary Islands WRC victory

Kalle Rovanpera reignited his quest for a third FIA World Rally Championship title by claiming a dominant and near-perfect victory at Rally Islas Canarias on Sunday.

The 24-year-old Finn (above), who headed into the WRC’s fourth round 57 points adrift of the championship lead after a relatively slow start to his 2025 campaign, cut that deficit to 43 after a commanding start-to-finish performance vaulted him and co-driver Jonne Halttunen from sixth to second in the standings.

Hosting the WRC for the first time, Gran Canaria’s technical all-asphalt roads and sweeping mountain passes posed a unique and unfamiliar challenge for cars, crews and teams. But Rovanpera immediately found a rhythm and flow that nobody else could match, winning 15 of the 18 special stages in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1.

He departed the Spanish island off Africa’s northwest coast with a maximum 35 points, thanks to an unrelenting pace that earned him all the bonus points on offer across Super Sunday and the Wolf Power Stage, as well as the overall win.

Rovanpera’s victory – only his second WRC win on asphalt – was secured by 53.5s over Toyota Gazoo Racing teammate, eight-time WRC champ Sebastien Ogier. It marked his return to the top step of the podium for the first time since the gravel stages of Rally Chile seven months ago.

Elfyn Evans, winner of two of the opening three WRC rounds alongside co-driver Scott Martin, completed an all-Toyota podium, albeit some 23.6s adrift of Ogier. While never looking like a contender for the win, the Welshman’s steady drive further extended his drivers’ championship lead in the process. Evans is targeting a first WRC crown after four runner-up finishes in the last five seasons and is yet to finish outside the top three positions in 2025.

Takamoto Katsuta rounded out a top-four lockout for Toyota, finishing 45.8s behind Evans in his factory Yaris.

“It’s quite amazing,” said Rovanpera after sealing the win. “It has not been the best start of the season, but we are definitely – at least in these kinds of condition – back now. Big congratulations to the whole team at the workshop, everywhere. The cars were so fast. I enjoyed it – a super result for the whole team.”

Toyota’s dominance on the Canary Islands saw its lead in the WRC manufacturers’ championship stretch to 49 points over Hyundai Motorsport, the Korean marque suffering a frustrating few days on the first pure asphalt rally of the season.

All three factory i20 N Rally1 drivers struggled to challenge the flying Toyotas after suffering handling issues believed to be related to differential settings. Adrien Fourmaux was Hyundai’s top finisher in fifth, although the Frenchman trailed Rovanpera by more than 2m30s at the finish. His teammates, Ott Tanak and reigning WRC champ Thierry Neuville, followed in sixth and seventh respectively.

Neuville and Tanak had held second and third in the WRC drivers’ standings prior to this rally, but now slip to third and fifth. Tanak’s weekend was further complicated when his car required an engine change on Saturday night – a task completed in a remarkable 46 minutes, exceeding the penalty-free time by just one minute.

It was an even worse event for the third of the Rally1 teams, M-Sport Ford. Gregoire Munster recovered to 11th in his Puma Rally1 following a time-consuming off-road excursion on Saturday, but his teammate, Rally 1 rookie Josh McErlean, failed to make the finish after crashing into a roadside barrier on Sunday’s opening stage.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, France’s Yohan Rossel has taken over the lead of the championship standings after he and co-driver Arnaud Dunand took a dominant victory on his favored asphalt. The Citroen C3 driver led the class from start to finish, taking fastest times on 13 of the rally’s 18 special stages.

Rossel maintained his pace through Sunday’s final leg to further extend his advantage over Spanard Alejandro Cachon’s Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, with the duo ultimately split by 29.5s at the finish.

The win puts Rossel 15 points clear at the top of the standings, with previous WRC2 championship leader Oliver Solberg not nominating the event as one of his seven point-scoring rounds.

The championship returns to gravel next month for Rally Portugal, one of the classic events on the WRC calendar. Based in the northwest city of Matosinhos, May 14-19, its fast and technical stages vary from soft and sandy to rocky and rutty and should see Hyundai somewhat closer to Toyota’s pace.

WRC Rally Islas Canarias, final positions after Sunday/Leg Three, SS18
1 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 2h54m39.8s
2 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +53.5s
3 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m17.1s
4 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2m02.9s
5 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2m31.0s
6 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +3m11.4s
7 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +3m40.7s
8 Yohan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand (Citroen C3 – WRC2 winner) +7m10.7s
9 Alejandro Cachon/Borja Rosada (Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2 – WRC2) +7m40.2s
10 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +7m58.4s

WRC Drivers’ Championship after 4 of 14 rounds
1 Evans 109 points
2 Rovanpera 66
3 Neuville 59
4 Ogier 58
5 Tanak 57
6 Fourmaux 44

WRC Manufacturers’ Championship after 4 of 14 rounds
1 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT 208 points
2 Hyundai Word Rally Team 157
3 M-Sport Ford 58
4 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT2 25

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