Kalle Rovanperä

Finnish rally driver who became the youngest ever World Rally Championship winner at age 21, capturing back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023 with Toyota.

Kalle Alex Rovanperä was born on 1 October 2000 in Jyväskylä, Central Finland, the son of Harri Rovanperä, a factory rally driver who won Rally Sweden in 2001. Rallying ran in Kalle's blood from an early age, and a video of him drifting a rally car through snowy Finnish forests at just eight years old went viral, offering an early glimpse of his prodigious talent. To sidestep Finland's age restrictions on competitive driving, Rovanperä began competing in Latvia at just 12, and made his full World Rally Championship debut with Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT in 2020, immediately setting records as the youngest driver ever to enter the series and to stand on a WRC podium. Rovanperä won the 2021 Rally Estonia, becoming the youngest driver ever to win a WRC event, before delivering the defining moment of his career in 2022: winning the World Rally Championship at just 22 years and one day old, shattering the previous record held by Colin McRae since 1995 and ending Finland's 20-year wait for a world champion. Rovanperä defended his title successfully in 2023, becoming the youngest two-time champion in the sport's history, and has continued competing for Toyota alongside co-driver Jonne Halttunen, also pursuing an interest in drift racing through the Drift Masters European Championship.

Aggressive yet calculated driving style with exceptional car control

Revolutionary young talent who transformed rally driving expectations

• WRC World Rally Champion 2022
• WRC World Rally Champion 2023
• WRC Rally Finland Winner 2021
• WRC Rally Finland Winner 2022
• WRC Rally Estonia Winner 2021
• WRC Rally Estonia Winner 2022
• WRC Rally Estonia Winner 2023
• WRC Rally Japan Winner 2022
• WRC Rally Chile Winner 2022
• WRC Rally Portugal Winner 2023
• WRC Rally Kenya (Safari Rally) Winner 2023
• WRC Young Driver of the Year 2021