WRC News: Is Rovanpera good enough to make it to Formula 1?

(GMM) World Rally Racing star Kalle Rovanpera’s (pictured) first full race weekend in formula cars ended abruptly in New Zealand, but senior figures close to the Finnish star are playing down suggestions of early trouble.

Rovanpera’s Oceanian Formula Regional weekend at Hampton Downs concluded with a first-lap retirement on Sunday after contact in a multi-car incident, sending his Hitech-run car into the barriers. The crash looked heavy, but no drivers were injured, and the race was temporarily red-flagged.

The incident capped a learning-heavy weekend for the two-time world rally champion, who is targeting a future move into Formula 1. After qualifying more than a second off the pace early on, Rovanpera climbed to ninth in Sunday’s qualifying and had finished 17th, 11th and 15th in the earlier races, according to Finnish reports from Ilta-Sanomat.

The New Zealand outing followed a disrupted build-up, with Rovanpera having recently missed Super Formula testing in Japan after reporting dizziness – a factor that has fuelled speculation about his adaptation to circuit racing.

Kalle Rovanpera. Image provided by Toyota Gazoo Racing New Zealand

Former Ferrari GT driver Toni Vilander dismissed concerns over the time gaps, speaking to Iltalehti.

“A time difference of one second is not surprising. It sounds exactly as expected,” Vilander said.

“If you keep the gas on the straights and brake in the right place in the corners, you can achieve a certain time difference. You can easily gain another half a second from that, but then when you start grinding away those last tenths, things get difficult.”

Vilander said he had been in brief contact with Rovanpera but was keen not to add pressure. “I sent a message and wished him good luck with the race,” he added.

Rovanpera’s manager Timo Jouhki struck a similarly measured tone, stressing that the Oceania series is preparation rather than a results-driven campaign.

“It’s almost impossible to say what kind of result you should expect. This is pure training for Kalle. He doesn’t know a single track before,” Jouhki told Iltalehti.

“There will definitely be no wins or pole positions from there. If he stays in the top ten, that’s also quite reasonable.”

Jouhki underlined that the primary target remains Japan’s Super Formula championship, which begins in April. “The New Zealand series is good training,” he said. “After that, it’s much easier to go to Super Formula than to go there completely cold,” he said, adding that the “trend is definitely upward”.

Rovanpera’s Oceania campaign now continues at Taupo.