Kalle Rovanpera will be a notable absentee from the final event of the 2024 World Rally Championship in Japan.
The Finn is the two-time defending WRC champion, having secured his 2022 and 2023 titles in convincing fashion, winning nine rallies in that time.
In 2024, Rovanpera has been competing part time in the WRC, having made seven appearances for Toyota this season. The 24-year-old won four of those rallies and crashed out in the other three.
Rovanpera recently tested a Red Bull F1 car as he enjoys his time away from rallying. The Finn is set to return to a full-time seat in 2025.
Kalle Rovanpera should have told Toyota he was coming back for Rally Japan to prevent Hyundai winning the WRC titles
Jari-Matti Latvala outlined that Rovanpera’s contract prevents him from competing in further events in 2024, as he has already driven the amount of events he agreed to at the start of the season.
Rally Japan is a crucial event for Toyota, as they sit just 15 points behind Hyundai in the manufacturers’ championship. But the Japanese outfit will have to fight their rivals without Rovanpera.
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This did not sit well with Collin Clark, who was left feeling that Rovanpera should have told Toyota he was coming back for Japan to prevent a ‘disastrous situation’ of Hyundai winning both WRC titles at their home event.
Clark said via the DirtFish YouTube channel: “He has had his year off, because Japan ended a week earlier last year, so he’s had his year off.
“He’s had his year off, he knows he’s coming back, why wouldn’t he? Why wouldn’t he say ‘yeah, I’ll tell you what? It’s been a tough year without me, you needed me, I get you needed me.
“You need me now more than you’ve ever needed me, so I’m coming back to help you out’, to retrieve potentially what is a disastrous situation; Hyundai taking the manufacturers’ and drivers’ title in the same year, worse than that from Toyota’s perspective, in Toyota City.”
Can Toyota beat Hyundai in the manufacturers’ championship at Rally Japan?
With Rovanpera out, Toyota will run Evans, Sebastien Ogier and Takamoto Katsuta at Rally Japan as they look to take the fight to Hyundai.
Toyota come into their home event off the back of registering a one-two-three finish in 2023, with Evans winning from Ogier and Rovanpera.
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Katsuta has also previously run well at his home race and he will be eager to end the season strong as he hopes to secure a seat with the team for 2025.
Thierry Neuville will be hoping to wrap up the drivers’ title over teammate Tanak to focus his attention on the manufacturers’ title, as they hold a slim advantage over their rivals heading into the final rally of the year.