"In a different league": WRC legends praise Rovanperä after Canary Islands gala
(Motorsport-Total.com) - Kalle Rovanperä impressed with an exceptional performance at the Canary Islands Rally, round four of the 2025 World Rally Championship (WRC), and received high praise from rally racing's greats. Eight-time world champion Sebastien Ogier spoke of a dominance "in a different league," something rarely seen in the WRC.
Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen drove the competition into the ground Zoom
Rovanperä and his co-driver Jonne Halttunen won 15 of the 18 special stages, securing their first victory of the season . The duo also won the Power Stage and the Sunday classification, taking home the maximum 35 points from Gran Canaria.
After a difficult start to the season, which was mainly characterized by difficulties in adapting to the new Hankook tires, Rovanperä managed to get the full potential out of the Toyota GR Yaris, which performed perfectly on the smooth asphalt of the Canary Islands.
Even Ogier, known for his asphalt strength, couldn't match the Finn's pace, finishing the rally 53.5 seconds behind. "There are many positives to this weekend. We achieved almost a perfect team result, which is my priority right now," Ogier told Autosport , a sister publication of Motorsport-Total.com on the Motorsport Network.
"My own performance was okay, but Kalle was simply in a different league. You don't often see such clear dominance from a single driver in this sport," Ogier said, paying tribute to his teammate.
Toyota deputy team boss Juha Kankkunen, a four-time World Rally Champion, was also impressed and rated Rovanperä's performance with a "10 out of 10".
Rovanperä himself spoke of having experienced one of his best rally weekends ever: "It's not that common these days to have a weekend where you're consistently faster than everyone else," explained the Finn.
And he did so on asphalt, on which the two-time world champion had never before excelled in this form in his WRC career. With this victory, Rovanperä is now back in the race for the world championship title. He reduced the gap to his teammate Elfyn Evans, who finished third in the Canary Islands, to 43 points after four of the season's 14 races.
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