Toyota GazooWrt driver Kalle Rovanperä during World Rally Championship Paraguay - Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Rally champ Kalle Rovanperä targets "highest level" in single seaters

13:18, 09 Oct

Updated: 14:07, 09 Oct

byShayni Solanki

World Rally Champion Kalle Rovanperä is set to join Japanese Super Formula with Toyota next season, making the switch to single-seater racing in hopes of competing at the "highest level."

"We definitely set our goals on the highest level and we will work towards it and see what we get out from it"

- Kalle Rovanperä

The Finnish rally driver expressed interest in jumping through the single-seater categories, starting with Super Formula, then working his way towards Formula 2 and hopefully Formula 1.

Rovanperä is a two-time World Champion with fellow Finn co-driver Jonne Halttunen, having won his titles back-to-back with Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT in 2022 and 2023.

He told DirtFish: "Well, obviously at this point, I just know my next few years’ plans. I know we will go Super Formula, and after this, we will work towards the next category step, which would be Formula 2, and we will see how everything goes.

"I cannot tell you now which will be my ultimate goal. I have told you it’s the highest level. Formula 1 is the highest level, but obviously there are so many cool series and events in circuit racing.

“If you ask me, do I want to do Le Mans one day? For sure. If I have the chance, I want to do Le Mans and I want to do all these big races. So yeah there are so many possibilities.”

Toyota Gazoo Wrt driver Kalle Rovanperä during World Rally Championship Chile - Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Toyota will support Rovanperä through his Super Formula debut next season, but the 25-year-old has undergone multiple testing sessions with Red Bull.

He sampled Formula 4 and Formula Renault machinery at the Red Bull Ring, and has tested the 2012 Red Bull Formula 1 car that gifted Sebastian Vettel his third world championship.

"You never know what's coming," Rovanperä continued. "You need to be in the right place at the right time and many things need to go your way.

"Time is definitely ticking out all the time but it’s still on my side and that’s the reason why the decision had to be made now.

"Like you know, also in circuit racing, all the young drivers have all these manufacturers backing them. And yeah, having Toyota trust me and trusting this project is definitely the biggest and let’s say coolest part of it all. So yeah, we are definitely aiming really high.

"It all depends on how everything goes and we definitely set our goals on the highest level and we will work towards it and see what we get out from it."

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