Double WRC champ Rovanpera to do part-time campaign for 2024

Reigning world rally champion Kalle Rovanpera has successfully defended his crown this year. However, we'll be seeing him less behind the wheel of the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid in 2024.

Rovanpera has inked a new multi-year deal with Toyota Gazoo Racing, but will contest a part-time program for 2024. The 23-year-old double world champion says the decision to do half the rallies is to allow him to “recharge his batteries” before doing the whole WRC season again in 2025.

While still at a very young age, Rovanpera has been driving rally cars ever since he was 8. The Finn has already spent multiple full seasons in the junior categories before joining top-level WRC with Toyota back in 2020.

As of now, Toyota Gazoo Racing is yet to reveal which rallies will Rovanpera take part of, and it's likely that Rovanpera's way of “recharging his batteries” is to compete in other motorsports events, particularly drifting. If we recall earlier this year, Rovanpera participated in Formula Drift Japan where he won the event driving a drift-spec 2JZ-swapped Toyota GR Corolla.

For the Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team, however, they will have an unchanged driver lineup in 2024 with Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta contesting the full WRC schedule with the GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid, while Rovanpera and 8-time world champion Sebastien Ogier will both have part-time WRC campaigns.

"Let's see what comes next year and what else I will do but I think everybody knows I love all kinds of motorsport," said Rovanpera.