Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) won the Canary Islands Rally on Sunday, the fourth round of the 2025 season, which was held for the first time as part of the World Rally Championship (WRC), after an absolutely spectacular performance. The Finn was in a league of his own on the asphalt roads of Gran Canaria and didn’t give his rivals a chance.
Rovanperä won 15 of the 18 special stages, the Power Stage, the Sunday classification and finished 53.5 seconds ahead of his teammate Sebastien Ogier. Elfyn Evans (+1:17.1 minutes) completed an all-Toyota podium in third place and remains in the lead in the World Championship standings.
Another Toyota driver, Takamoto Katsuta, followed in fourth place. Had Sami Pajari not retired after an accident on Saturday’s twelfth special stage, the Finnish-Japanese factory team could even have celebrated a five-fold victory in Gran Canaria.
Rivals pay tribute to Rovanperä’s gala performance
Hyundai had no chance against Toyota and once again suffered a bitter defeat in its WRC debut at a rally. Adrien Fourmaux, Ott Tänak, and Thierry Neuville had to settle for fifth to seventh place.
Yohan Rossel (Citroen) finished eighth and won the WRC2 classification. Alejandro Cachon (Toyota) and Nikolai Gryasin (Skoda) completed the top 10 as two more WRC2 drivers. M-Sport came away empty-handed at the Canary Islands Rally. Gregoire Munster finished eleventh after an accident on Saturday, while Joshua McErlean had to retire after a slip.
Rovanperä, who had struggled a little with the new Hankook tires in the first three races of the season, dominated the action in Gran Canaria from the start. He won all six special stages on Friday and continued this streak on Saturday. It was not until SS 13, a short spectator stage at the end of the day, that another driver, Evans, was able to set the fastest time.
Hyundai unable to find the right setup
“There’s someone here who’s in a league of his own,” said Sebastien Ogier, who normally feels much more comfortable on asphalt than Rovanperä, acknowledging his teammate’s dominance at this early stage. After Rovanperä also won the first two special stages on Sunday, he then focused on securing victory. He achieved this with the maximum 35 points.
“That’s great. It certainly wasn’t the easiest start to the season, but here we showed that we are back on track in these conditions,” said Rovanperä. ‘Many thanks to the whole team, both at home in the workshop and here on site.’
Hyundai was on the back foot from the start in Gran Canaria, despite what it described as successful testing and a victory for Neuville in a national rally in Spain. From the start, all the drivers complained about the handling of their i20 N Rally1 cars. “We have understeer, it [the car] is lacking everything, so you can’t drive fast and you can’t attack,” Neuville complained on Friday.
Various changes to the setup also failed to bring any progress. “We’re really trying to get the car as far as possible so that it works well, but I’m at the limit of what I can do,” Neuville finally admitted on Saturday. “I don’t have any other differentials available this weekend. I have to rely on what I have.”
As mentioned, Evans continues to lead the World Championship standings after four of 14 races this season, now with 109 points to his name. Rovanperä jumps to second place with 66 points, while Neuville (59) is third. In the manufacturers’ standings, Toyota (208) leads Hyundai (157) and M-Sport (58).
The WRC 2025 continues from May 15 to 18 with the Rally Portugal.