Kalle Rovanperä said he “learned many things” as he completed his first event in a top-level WRC car on Rallye Monte Carlo.
19-year-old Rovanperä signed for Toyota in the off-season along with Sebastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans and had a trouble-free start to his WRC career, ending the event fifth and beating nine-time champion Sebastien Loeb late on in the overall standings.
He said on his weekend: “It has been nice. It was really tricky learning a new car in these conditions – and I think the conditions were really tricky this year, as they were changing a lot.”
“It was getting better all the time and when there were conditions I was more familiar with, I could do a bit better. There were so many things I learned during the weekend. It really helps to have a clean rally at the start of the season and also some good points.”
Despite only being 19, Rovanperä, the defending WRC2 PRO champion, was making his third Monte Carlo appearance last weekend, having finished second in the class 12 months ago while in 2018 he was the second R5 finisher behind Skoda teammate Jan Kopecký.
Round two of the 2020 FIA World Rally Championship is Rally Sweden, which takes place next month.
