Harri Rovanperä

Harri Rovanperä
Harri Rovanperä
	Rovanperä in 2005.
Nationality	Finnish
Born	8 April 1966 (age 58); Jyväskylä, Finland
Related to	Kalle Rovanperä (son)
Active years
World Rally Championship record
Active years	1993 – 2006
Co-driver	Risto Pietiläinen; Voitto Silander; Juha Repo
Teams	SEAT, Peugeot, Mitsubishi, Red Bull Škoda
Rallies	111
Championships	0
Rally wins	1
Podiums	15
Stage wins	76
Total points	171
First rally	1993 1000 Lakes Rally
First win	2001 Swedish Rally
Last win	2001 Swedish Rally
Last rally	2006 Wales Rally GB

Harri "Rovis" Rovanperä (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈhɑrːi ˈroʋɑnˌperæ]; born 8 April 1966) is a Finnish rally driver who competed in the World Rally Championship from 1993 to 2006. He drove for SEAT (1997–00), Peugeot (2001–04), Mitsubishi (2005) 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 Finnish Rally Championship title in 1995 at the wheel of an Opel Astra. After a few outings on his national World Rally Championship event Rally Finland, he was hired by SEAT 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, he was hired by Peugeot. Driving a Peugeot 206 WRC, he took his first WRC win at the Swedish Rally.^[1] 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 Rovanperä also competed at the Race of Champions at Gran Canaria, 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, 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, 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.

In Greece, on a very hot and rough surface, Rovanperä finished 4th, winning 1 stage. The rally winner was Colin McRae.

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 and 2004 seasons, obtaining a further three podium places, one in 2003, and two in 2004. In 2005, Rovanperä moved to Mitsubishi 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 Championship with a rear-wheel driven 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 Jouni Närhi got the first overall in La Carrera Panamericana in a Studebaker 1953 just 12.9 seconds ahead from the Mexican driver Michel Jourdain Jr.

WRC victories

#	Event	Season	Co-driver	Car
1	50th International Swedish Rally	2001	Risto Pietiläinen	Peugeot 206 WRC

Career results

WRC results

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
1993	Harri Rovanperä	Opel Manta	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	ARG	NZL	FIN Ret	AUS	ITA	ESP	GBR				NC	0
1994	Harri Rovanperä	Mitsubishi Galant VR-4	MON	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	ARG	NZL	FIN 12	ITA	GBR							NC	0
1996	Promoracing Finland	Ford Escort RS Cosworth	SWE	KEN	IDN	GRE	ARG	FIN Ret	AUS	ITA	ESP								NC	0
1997	Seat Sport	Seat Ibiza GTi 16V	MON 14	SWE	KEN	POR Ret	ESP Ret	FRA	ARG 8	GRE	NZL Ret	FIN 10	IDN 7	ITA 10	AUS 10	GBR 9			NC	0
1998	Seat Sport	Seat Ibiza GTi 16V Evo2	MON 11	SWE Ret	KEN 5	POR Ret	ESP Ret	FRA	ARG Ret	GRE 15	NZL 13								15th	3
1998	Seat Sport	Seat Cordoba WRC										FIN 11	ITA Ret	AUS 11	GBR 6				15th	3
1999	Seat Sport	Seat Cordoba WRC	MON 7	SWE 16	KEN 6	POR Ret	ESP 14	FRA 13	ARG Ret	GRE Ret	NZL Ret								9th	10
1999	Seat Sport	Seat Cordoba WRC Evo2										FIN 5	CHN 5	ITA 16	AUS 6	GBR 3			9th	10
2000	Seat Sport	Seat Cordoba WRC Evo2	MON	SWE 12	KEN														9th	7
	Seat Sport	Seat Cordoba WRC Evo3														GBR 10
	Harri Rovanperä	Toyota Corolla WRC				POR 4	ESP	ARG	GRE	NZL	FIN 3	CYP	FRA	ITA	AUS
2001	Peugeot Total	Peugeot 206 WRC	MON	SWE 1	POR Ret	ESP	ARG Ret	CYP Ret	GRE 3	KEN 2	FIN 4	NZL 3			AUS 4	GBR 2			5th	36
2001	H.F. Grifone SRL	Peugeot 206 WRC											ITA 11	FRA 7					5th	36
2002	Bozian Racing	Peugeot 206 WRC	MON Ret		FRA 11	ESP 7							ITA 9						7th	30
2002	Peugeot Total	Peugeot 206 WRC		SWE 2			CYP 4	ARG Ret	GRE 4	KEN 2	FIN Ret	GER Ret		NZL 2	AUS 2	GBR 7			7th	30
2003	Marlboro Peugeot Total	Peugeot 206 WRC	MON	SWE Ret	TUR Ret	NZL Ret	ARG 4	GRE 6	CYP 2	GER	FIN Ret	AUS 7	ITA	FRA	ESP	GBR Ret			11th	18
2004	Marlboro Peugeot Total	Peugeot 307 WRC	MON	SWE	MEX 10	NZL 5	CYP DSQ	GRE 3	TUR Ret	ARG 5	FIN Ret	GER	JPN 6	GBR 6	ITA Ret	FRA	ESP	AUS 2	8th	28
2005	Mitsubishi Motors	Mitsubishi Lancer WRC05	MON 7	SWE 4	MEX 5	NZL Ret	ITA Ret	CYP 7	TUR 10	GRE 6	ARG 5	FIN 7	GER 10	GBR 4	JPN 5	FRA 10	ESP 10	AUS 2	7th	39
2006	Red Bull Škoda	Škoda Fabia WRC	MON	SWE	MEX	ESP	FRA 12	ARG	ITA 20	GRE 12	GER	FIN	JPN	CYP Ret	TUR 11	AUS	NZL	GBR 9	NC	0