At the age of 20, Rovanperä won the world rally as the youngest driver, Ogier leads the World Championships

Rovanperä led in Estonia from the first stage and eventually won by 54 seconds ahead of Irishman Craig Breen. Third place went to another Hyundaie driver, Belgian Thierry Neuville. The leading man of the world championship, the Frenchman Sébastien Ogier, had to settle for fourth place with a gap of one and a half minutes to the winner.

“I felt I had to win a rally, but I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself. I just wanted to race and try to get the best position, the victory. Let it come when the time is right,” said Rovanperä , who triumphed at the age of 20, nine months and 17 days. “It’s something special, but I don’t think much about records. But I have to admit, it was amazing when Jari-Matti (Latvala) told me that he wanted me to break his record. It means a lot to me,” he said.

By winning in Estonia, he followed in the footsteps of his father Harri, who in 2001 scored his only victory in the WRC in Sweden. “It was surprisingly calm today, no pressure. Then came the great relief that I finally won. I didn’t even cry, my dad took good care of it,” he added with a laugh.

Rovanperä, who won the WRC2 championship the year before last, was so far second among the elite in the February rally in Finland. In the standings after the seventh of the twelve companies, he moved two places to fourth place ahead of the Estonian Otto Tänak, who had won the previous three years of the domestic competition. This time he lost his chance to succeed in the very beginning after a series of defects. He continued the rally with a big loss and won at least five points for winning the final power stage.

Ogier leads the series by 37 points ahead of Toyota colleague Brit Elfyn Evans, third is Neuville.

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