Harri "Rovis" Rovanperä (; born 8 April 1966) is a Finnish
rally driver who competed in the
World Rally Championship
The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the oldest FIA world championship after Formula One. E ...
from
1993
The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as:
* International Year for the World's Indigenous People
The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...
to
2006
2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification.
Events
January
* January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute.
* January 12 – A stampede during t ...
. He drove for
SEAT
A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation.
Types of seat
The ...
(
1997
Events January
* January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States.
* January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis.
* January 1 ...
–
00),
Peugeot
Peugeot (, , ) is a French automobile brand owned by Stellantis.
The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was established in 1810, making it the oldest car company in the world. On 20 November 1858, Émile Peugeot applie ...
(
2001
The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
–
04),
Mitsubishi
The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries.
Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group traces its origins to the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company that existed from 1870 to 194 ...
(
2005
2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
) and
Red Bull Škoda Team (2006). Rovanperä was known as a loose surface specialist. He is the father of 2022 and 2023 World Rally Drivers' Champion
Kalle Rovanperä. He was married to Tiina Rovanperä.
Career
Rovanperä won the small
Group A
Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived touring cars for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles wer ...
Finnish Rally Championship title in 1995 at the wheel of an
Opel Astra
The Opel Astra is a compact car/ small family car ( C-segment) developed and produced by the German automaker Opel since 1991, currently at its sixth generation. It was first launched in September 1991 as a direct replacement to the Opel Kade ...
. After a few outings on his national World Rally Championship event
Rally Finland
Rally Finland (formerly known as the Neste Rally Finland, Neste Oil Rally Finland, 1000 Lakes Rally and Rally of the Thousand Lakes; , ) is a rallying, rally competition in the Finnish Lakeland in Central Finland. The rally is driven on wide an ...
, he was hired by
SEAT
A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation.
Types of seat
The ...
to drive the
SEAT Ibiza Kit Car, with which he won SEAT's third consecutive 2L World Rally Championship title in 1998. Next year in 1999, he took part in the top class World Rally Championship with the
SEAT Córdoba WRC E2 finishing in the third place in the last event of the season at the
55th Network Q Rally of Great Britain. In
2001
The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
, he was hired by
Peugeot
Peugeot (, , ) is a French automobile brand owned by Stellantis.
The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was established in 1810, making it the oldest car company in the world. On 20 November 1858, Émile Peugeot applie ...
. Driving a
Peugeot 206 WRC, he took his first WRC win at the
Swedish Rally.
The same year he finished fifth in the overall championship only eight points behind the winner,
Richard Burns, despite missing two rallies.
On 9 December
2001
The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
Rovanperä also competed at the
Race of Champions
The Race of Champions (ROC) is an international motorsport event held at the start or end of each year, featuring some of the world's best racing and rally drivers from Formula One, World Rally Championship, IndyCar, NASCAR, sports car racin ...
at
Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, a Spain, Spanish archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa. the island had a population of that constitut ...
, and by winning the individual event and taking home the ''
Henri Toivonen Memorial Trophy'', he earned the title of ''Champion of Champions'', he beat in the final stage the German driver
Armin Schwarz.
2002
The 2002 season began as usual with the
Monte Carlo Rally
The Monte Carlo Rally or Rallye Monte-Carlo (officially Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo) is a rallying event organized each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco. From its inception in 1911 by Albert I, Prince of Monaco, Prince Albert I, the rally ...
, and Rovanperä competed in a privateer
Bozian Racing run Peugeot 206 WRC. He retired on the 7th stage with broken steering after an off;
Tommi Mäkinen won the race in front of a penalised
Sébastien Loeb, while
Carlos Sainz finished third.
The second rally was in Sweden, where Rovanperä returned in the official factory-entered Peugeot 206 WRC, and he finished the rally in second place, 1'24" behind team mate
Marcus Grönholm
Marcus Ulf Johan "Bosse" Grönholm (born February 5, 1968) is a Finland, Finnish former rallying, rally and rallycross driver, being part of a family of the Swedish-speaking population of Finland lineage. His son, Niclas Grönholm, is an upcoming ...
, despite winning two stages and leading the rally from Stages 3 to 14.
The next two rallies were Tour de Corse and Rally de Cataluñya, both on tarmac, where Rovanperä competed for the Bozian-run team; on both rallies, he failed to score, finishing 11th in Corsica and 7th in Spain, on a surface he traditionally struggled on.
The next rally took place on the island of Cyprus, where heavy rain made conditions treacherous. Rovanperä drove the official Peugeot works car, finishing 4th and winning 1 stage. The rally was won again by his teammate Grönholm.
The WRC circus moved then to Argentina, where Peugeot had a dismal rally, Rovanperä retired after engine problems on S.S.10, Gronhölm and Burns took first and second, but were both disqualified a few days later due to an illegal flywheel and illegal servicing respectively; so Sainz won the rally from
Petter Solberg
Petter Solberg (born 18 November 1974), nicknamed "Mr. Hollywood" is a Norwegian former professional rallying, rally and rallycross driver.
Solberg debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1998 and was signed by the Ford World Rally Team, For ...
.
In Greece, on a very hot and rough surface, Rovanperä finished 4th, winning 1 stage. The rally winner was
Colin McRae
Colin Steele McRae, (5 August 1968 – 15 September 2007), was a British rally driver. He was the 1991 and 1992 British Rally Champion, and in 1995 became the first British driver to win the World Rally Championship Drivers' title.
At 27, ...
.
The "World's toughest Rally", the Safari Rally, gifted Rovanperä with a second place, 2'50" behind the winner Colin McRae, in a rally that forced many of the drivers to retire.
In his home race at Finland, Harri had what was possibly his strongest rally of the season, seizing the lead on the 12th stage, but on the next stage he crashed and a front suspension part was badly damaged, forcing him to retire. The rally was won by teammate and compatriot Grönholm for the third year running.
In Germany, a new rally event in the WRC, Rovanperä drove an official car, as regular tarmac expert
Gilles Panizzi was withdrawn from the event due to a shoulder injury he sustained while carrying out DIY at his home. However, Rovanperä was forced to retire after a very difficult rally, which saw the first victory of
Sébastien Loeb in a Citroën Xsara.
In San Remo, Rovanperä returned to the Bozian team, but on asphalt the Finnish driver struggled and finished ninth, whilst Gilles Panizzi took a stunning win after his shoulder injury just three weeks before.
Rovanperä drove a near-faultless rally in New Zealand despite a hydraulic problem, finishing second, 3'50" behind Gronholm, who clinched his second WRC title.
The championship continued in the southern hemisphere with Rally Australia, and Rovanperä finished in second place again behind his team mate Grönholm, but this time only 57" behind, and winning 8 stages of the rally.
The season came to an end in the forests of Wales, where Rovanperä finished 7th after a race full of mistakes.
Rovanperä ended 2002 in 7th overall with 30 points, 47 behind teammate Gronholm, but only 7 behind runner-up Petter Solberg.
Next seasons
Rovanperä continued to drive for Peugeot on loose surface events during the
2003
2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater.
In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War.
Demographic ...
and
2004 seasons, obtaining a further three podium places, one in 2003, and two in 2004. In 2005, Rovanperä moved to
Mitsubishi
The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries.
Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group traces its origins to the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company that existed from 1870 to 194 ...
and completed a full WRC programme, finishing seventh in the drivers' world championship, claiming one podium finish in Australia, where he was second behind
François Duval. After Mitsubishi left the series at the end of 2005, Rovanperä signed on to drive for the semi-works
Red Bull Škoda Team for six events during the
2006 season, his best result being 9th on the final event in Wales.
In 2007, Rovanperä was a regular competitor of the SRC Finnish
Rallycross
Rallycross is a form of sprint style motorsport held on a mixed-surface circuit (racing), racing circuit using modified production touring automobile, cars or prototype racing cars. It began in the 1960s as a cross between rallying and autocross ...
Championship with a
rear-wheel drive
Rear-wheel drive (RWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the rear wheels only. Until the late 20th century, rear-wheel drive was the most common configuration for cars.
Most rear-whee ...
n
Ford Focus as well as a
Volvo S40, but finished only 11th overall. He had many technical problems with both cars.
In October 2010 Rovanperä and his
co-driver
A co-driver is the navigator of a rally car in the sport of rallying, who sits in the front passenger seat. The co-driver's job is to navigate, commonly by reading off a set of pacenotes to the driver (what lies ahead, where to turn, the severity ...
Jouni Närhi got the first overall in
La Carrera Panamericana in a
Studebaker
Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers Man ...
1953 just 12.9 seconds ahead from the Mexican driver
Michel Jourdain Jr.
WRC victories
:
Career results
WRC results
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rovanpera, Harri
1966 births
Living people
World Rally Championship drivers
Finnish rally drivers
Finnish racing drivers
Sportspeople from Jyväskylä
Carrera Panamericana drivers
Peugeot Sport drivers
20th-century Finnish sportsmen
Cupra Racing drivers
Škoda Motorsport drivers