Kalle Rovanperä announces retirement from World Safari Rally
Double World Safari Rally Champion Kalle Rovanperä has announced his retirement at the end of the 2025 season.
The Toyota Gazoo racing Word Rally team driver made the announcement on his socials adding that he would be pursuing a new challenge in motorsport.
“This decision has not been an easy one, but it’s one that I have been thinking about for a while. Having already achieved so much in rallying at this age, I started to think about what other possibilities I might have and what other challenges I would like to take on,” he stated.
Even as he retires, the two-time FIA World Rally Champion will remain part of the Toyota Gazoo Racing family as he takes on his ambitious new challenge targeting the highest levels of circuit racing.
In 2026 he will compete in the Japanese Super Formula Championship with the support of TGR, testing himself behind the wheel of one of the world’s fastest single-seater racing cars in a transition the likes of which has never been seen before in motorsport.
Rovanperä has achieved unprecedented success for a young rally driver since being handed his chance at the top level of the sport by TGR in 2020 at the age of 19.
Showing his ability to quickly learn and adapt, he became the WRC’s youngest ever podium finisher when he finished third on just his second start at Rally Sweden in 2020.
The following year, his triumph at Rally Estonia made him the youngest driver to win a WRC event.
When the Rally1 hybrid regulations were introduced for the 2022 season, the combination of Rovanperä, co-driver Jonne Halttunen and their GR Yaris Rally1 car proved hard to beat.
Rovanperä won five of the first seven rallies, and a sixth victory on Rally New Zealand was enough for him to be crowned the youngest ever World Rally Champion at just 22 years and one day old.
