The current FIA World Rally Championship points leader Kalle Rovanperä will switch from piloting a four-wheel-drive Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 car over to sliding a rear-wheal-drive Toyota Supra Gazoo Racing drift machine as he takes time to enjoy himself after the successful season start in rallying.
Rovanperä will be a wildcard driver at the 2022 Drift Masters European Championship season-opener at Mondello Park in Ireland this weekend (7-8 May) where the 21-year-old will take the wheel of his own Toyota Supra drift car, which has been built by the legendary Japanese drifter Daigo Saito.
He has also committed to enter another round later this summer in the DMEC series, in Sweden which takes place at the Drivecenter Arena on 1-2 July.
However this is not the first time the young Finn has competed in drifting and has done two domestic rounds back in 2021, he won the Venetsia Drifting event on the Venetsia Eve celebration weekend in Kokkola, Finland in his Toyota and that sparked an interest to continue with drifting to enjoy himself during the off weekends in WRC.
“I’ve been doing some drifting over the years, and it’s always been the plan to do some international events if possible,” Rovanperä said.
“I think what I like most about drifting is, for me, it’s more free. It’s still really hard and on the limit, just in a different way. Of course when you put the helmet on you always try to push as much possible and have the best possible results, but that is not the only goal for us. The car is quite new for me, so we’re also here to have fun, train and hopefully give a good fight to the drivers who do this as their main sport.”
