The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver Kalle Rovanperä from Finland has a theoretical chance to secure the 2022 FIA World Rally Championship title this weekend in Ypres Rally, Belgium. After this weekend there are four more rounds left of the season, but Rovanperä needs to win the tarmac rally and also get some help from his championship rivals who have to do terrible results.
Heading to the rally, the 21-year-old Finn leads the championship with 94 points over Hyundai´s Ott Tänak and 95 points over the third place Thierry Neuville. Rovanperä is now looking to be the first Finn in 20 years to become a world champion, last time it happened was in 2002 when Marcus Grönholm won it driving for Peugeot.
However, the task will not be the easiest one, after the Wolff Power Stage on Sunday, Rovanperä needs to secure enough points to have at least a 121 points gap over Tänak to be able to be crowned the champion and must have at least 27 points taken from the weekend in order to do so while Tänak and Neuville get zero points from the rally.
Probably after the rally Rovanperä and the Hyundai duo will still be in the championship fight. Instead, with a good performance, Rovanperä has the chance to crush the title dreams of M-Sport’s Craig Breen. Breen would need 15 more points from Belgium than Rovanperä to keep his chances alive. Takamoto Katsuta also desperately needs more points, because if Rovanperä gets three more points than Katsuta, the Japanese’s title dreams will also be gone.
Elfyn Evans, who sits in fourth on the leaderboard, is 104 points behind Rovanperä, so even with a mediocre performance in Belgium, the Welshman still keeps his title chances alive. If on the other hand, Rovanperä defeats Evans by 16 points, the teammate is also dropped from the championship fight.
The Ypres Rally will be a very exciting rally indeed and could Rovanperä become the youngest ever WRC championship this weekend? We at The Checkered Flag will keep you updated with all of the latest news throughout the weekend.
