Kalle Rovanpera was dominant in FIA WRC win in Rally Islas Canarias leading a Toyota 1-2-3-4, with Sebastien Ogier in P2 and Elfyn Evans in P3.
Friday –
Kalle Rovanperä was in a league of his own as he led a stunning Toyota clean sweep through Friday’s opening leg of Rally Islas Canarias. The Finn, alongside co-driver Jonne Halttunen, topped the timesheets on all six of the day’s speed tests to build a commanding lead of 26.8sec. All five of Toyota’s GR Yaris Rally1 cars ended the day ahead of their rivals from Hyundai Motorsport and M-Sport Ford, completing a dominant showing for the Japanese marque.
Rovanperä’s return to form could not have been better timed. A subdued start to the season had left the two-time world champion 57 points adrift of the championship lead coming into this fourth round – but that gap could start to shrink if his domination continues into the weekend.
While others battled with car set-up and tyre management, Rovanperä appeared right at home on the technical asphalt roads that wound high into Gran Canaria’s mountains – roads that were lined with fans eager to witness the island’s first-ever WRC appearance. An interrupted rhythm caused by understeer in SS3 – which he still won – was the only blemish on an otherwise perfect day for the 24-year-old.
He was followed onto the provisional podium by eight-time champion Sébastien Ogier and current points leader Elfyn Evans, with Sami Pajari and Takamoto Katsuta completing Toyota’s clean sweep in fourth and fifth respectively. Ogier and Evans were closely matched in the battle for second, but once Ogier dialled in his tyre pressures after the opening stage, he gained the upper hand – reaching the overnight halt in Las Palmas 9.6sec clear of his Welsh colleague.
Pajari, making only his second pure asphalt outing in a Rally1 car, delivered a string of top-four stage times to end Friday just 18.9sec behind Evans. Katsuta, whose confidence and commitment visibly grew as the day wore on, was a further 10.7sec back after overtaking Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux on the penultimate stage to snatch fifth.
It was a frustrating day for Fourmaux and wider Hyundai team – with the Frenchman falling to eighth on the final stage behind his colleagues Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak. All three struggled to extract performance from the hard compound Hankook Ventus Z215 tyres, with set-up issues leaving them over a minute adrift of the lead and searching for solutions overnight. M-Sport Ford drivers Grégoire Munster and Josh McErlean faced similar challenges.
The duo worked together on road sections between stages to make adjustments, but progress was limited. Munster ended the day ninth overall, 56.3sec behind Fourmaux, while McErlean languished further back in 11th place. In WRC2, France’s Yohan Rossel opened up an 18.7sec lead and completed the top 10 overall. The Citroën C3 Rally2 driver headed Alejandro Cachón with Nikolay Gryazin holding third, 20.2sec further adrift.
Saturday –
Kalle Rovanperä strengthened his pursuit of a first FIA World Rally Championship victory of the 2025 season with another flawless drive on Saturday at Rally Islas Canarias. The Toyota GAZOO Racing star remains firmly on course to become the first-ever winner of a WRC round held on Gran Canarian soil. He will carry a commanding 45.2sec advantage into Sunday’s five-stage final leg, leading an all-GR Yaris Rally1 top four.
Arriving at this fourth round 57 points adrift of the championship lead, Rovanperä has found a rhythm that nobody else has been able to match. He won six of Saturday’s asphalt stages to almost double his overnight advantage — which stood at 26.8sec on Friday — before Elfyn Evans prevented a clean sweep by topping the evening’s super special inside the Gran Canaria Arena. Even so, Rovanperä has claimed victory on 12 of the 13 stages run so far.
Evans holds third place, 22.9sec down on Ogier, with Takamoto Katsuta a further 35.8sec adrift. Toyota looked set to lock out the top five before Sami Pajari crashed into a wooden barrier on the penultimate stage, retiring after having held fourth overall. Ogier, who virtually conceded his hopes of victory on Friday, has since focused on consolidating second place.
The Frenchman managed to pull further clear of Evans on Saturday, doubling his buffer after beating his Welsh team-mate across five stages. As it stands, Evans is on course to extend his championship lead beyond 40 points, with nearest rivals Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak enduring fraught weekends. Both Hyundai drivers sit sixth and seventh respectively, behind their team-mate Adrien Fourmaux, after struggling with set-up issues believed to be linked to differential settings.
Benefiting from Pajari’s retirement, Fourmaux now occupies fifth despite stalling in the last stage, and trails Katsuta by 25.7sec, while Neuville and Tänak remain within touching distance of the Frenchman. Elsewhere, Grégoire Munster’s hopes took a hit when he required spectator assistance after running wide and beaching his M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 on SS10.
The incident cost him three minutes and dropped him to 13th overall, promoting WRC2 frontrunners Yohan Rossel and Alejandro Cachón, as well as Munster’s team-mate Josh McErlean, into eighth, ninth, and 10th respectively.
Sunday –
Kalle Rovanperä reignited his campaign for a third FIA World Rally Championship title by claiming a dominant victory at Rally Islas Canarias on Sunday. The Finn, who arrived at this fourth round — host to the WRC for the first time — almost 60 points adrift of the championship lead, slashed that deficit to 43 after a commanding start-to-finish performance vaulted him and co-driver Jonne Halttunen from sixth to second in the standings.
Gran Canaria’s technical asphalt roads and sweeping mountain passes posed a unique and unfamiliar challenge for cars, crews and teams. But Rovanperä immediately found a rhythm that nobody else could match, winning 15 of the 18 stages on the 300-kilometre route. He departs the island with the maximum 35 points on offer, thanks to his pace across Super Sunday and the Wolf Power Stage.
Rovanperä’s triumph – only his second on asphalt – was secured by 53.5 over Toyota GAZOO Racing team-mate Sébastien Ogier and marked his return to the top step for the first time since Rally Chile Bío Bío seven months ago. Elfyn Evans completed the podium, 23.6sec adrift of Ogier, further extending his championship lead, while Takamoto Katsuta rounded out a top-four lockout for the GR Yaris Rally1 squad, finishing 45.8sec behind Evans.
Evans’ consistency this season continued, with the Welshman and co-driver Scott Martin yet to finish off the podium in 2025. Added to Rovanperä and Ogier’s performances, Toyota’s dominance this week saw its lead in the manufacturers’ championship stretch to 49 points over Hyundai Motorsport.
It proved to be a frustrating week for Hyundai, with all three of its i20 N Rally1 drivers struggling to challenge for the podium after encountering handling issues believed to be related to differential settings. Adrien Fourmaux was the Korean marque’s top finisher in fifth, although the Frenchman trailed Rovanperä by over 2min 30sec at the end. Team-mates Ott Tänak and Thierry Neuville followed in sixth and seventh respectively.
Neuville and Tänak had occupied second and third in the drivers’ standings prior to this rally but now slip to third and fifth respectively. Tänak’s weekend was further complicated when his car required an engine change on Saturday night — a task completed in a remarkable 46 minutes – overrunning the penalty-free time by just one minute.
WRC2 frontrunners Yohan Rossel, Alejandro Cachón and Nikolay Gryazin completed the top 10, while M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 driver Grégoire Munster recovered to 11th following an off-road excursion on Saturday. Munster’s team-mate, Josh McErlean, failed to make the finish after crashing into an Armco barrier on Sunday’s opening stage.
Result: https://www.wrc.com/en/events/wrc-rally-islas-canarias-2025/wrc-rally-canarias-2025-results
[The story is as per press release]
