Autosport calls Kalle Rovanpera rallying prodigy

Southern Cross never had pace notes. They have been gradually introduced over the past 25 years or so.

Kim Luck said:
I agree that pace notes were Euro driven, but directors in Oz were not as quick to take them up. I think that the Southern Cross took on pace notes early, but the BP Rally always remained a serious navigational event. Club and several State Championship Rallies (Alpine, George Derrick, etc.) always seemed to be navigational here in Victoria, at least until I pulled the pin as a navigator/director in the mid to late seventies. My last ride was in the death seat of a very hot (200 bhp+) Datsun 1600 in Gippsland in 1981.
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GRAHAM WALLIS said:
Southern Cross never had pace notes. They have been gradually introduced over the past 25 years or so.
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My bad! I meant route charted as opposed to map navigation only............route charts were a doddle.....
 
alexander said:
awesome! after all your haughty claims to superior knowledge on the subject, you cant even use the term "pace note" correctly.
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Route charts were the next degraded step down from map based navigation. I directed mostly secret route navigation events difficult enough to slow down most crews, and a couple of trials with route charts towards the end of my career. (So the little darlings wouldn't get as lost.) Pace notes came later and were made using route charts of non-secret routes. They still are.
 
Kalle cleaned up the first two stages on Friday of the Mikkeli round of the Finnish Rally Championship with a lead of 12.7 seconds. A solid start for the youngster.
 
Third stage was run this morning. Kalle suffered a puncture and lost some 30 seconds, putting him in third place, about 18,3 seconds behind the lead. Six more stages to go, interesting to see if he can claw the time back.

Early reports indicate that Kelle's presence has attracted record crowds.

The rally has 146 cars competing in various classes and enthusiastically driven Audi Quatro ran the course ahead of the 0 car making music.
 
Kalle Rovanpera won his first round of the Finnish Rally Championship run in Mikkeli on Friday and Saturday over 9 psecial stages. The win margin was 10.7 seconds. He manged the win despite loosing 30 seconds on SS3 due to a puncture. This makes him the youngest winner the Finnish Rally Championship has had.

harri win.jpg
 
Very, very impressive; thanks for sharing. Having experienced special stage rallying in similar conditions in Canada and the Monte Carlo more than 30 years ago I can appreciate this kids talent. Keeping the foot down on those very fast sweepers on ice takes talent and courage.
 
I read an interview with his manager in Finnish media today. This is what he had to say (paraphrased)

Apparently he is committed to the Latvian series this year (I assume sponsorship arrangements), but he will do selected rallies in the Finnish Championship to build experience. The Mikkeli round is apparently technically quite difficult, which is the reason it was chosen. Whilst the exemption to contest at 16 in Finland has been issued, the conditions of the exemption do not permit the accumulation of points in the Finish Rally Championship:confused:, hence the reason for doing carefully selected rallies in Finland to maximize building his experience.
 
FIVEDOOR said:
Whilst the exemption to contest at 16 in Finland has been issued, the conditions of the exemption do not permit the accumulation of points in the Finish Rally Championship:confused:, .
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oh come now. even people open hearted enough to let a 16yo compete, dont necessarily want to be thrashed by one!
 
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i see there is a 16yo in V8Supercars (alex rullo), and he was racing last year as well.
not at the front of the grid, admittedly, but not a bad effort none the less.
 
Kalle in a Peugeot 208 in 2017

Kalle will be competing in a Rally series in Italy this year in class R5 Peugeot 208. The aim is to gain bitumen rally experience.
 
Kalle started his first bitumen rally on Friday. He is currently 7th, 5.8 seconds behind the leader but ahead of his team mate who is 9 times Italian Champion Paolo Andreucci. He is running some tar tops rallies in Italy for Tar top experience in a Peugeot 208 T16.
 
KR was top 10 for each of most of the early stages, but seems to have had a big shunt in stage 7 (time of ~13 mins vs 2+ mins for the rest). then not in the results till stage 14 where he was 7th. results for stage 15 just posted by he isnt in the list. meantime, his team mate seems to have been doing very well but has DNFd stage 15. that is all as best i can understand the results.

Rally il Ciocco e Valle del Serchio 2017 - Informazioni e risultati | ACI Sport
 
alexander said:
KR was top 10 for each of most of the early stages, but seems to have had a big shunt in stage 7 (time of ~13 mins vs 2+ mins for the rest). then not in the results till stage 14 where he was 7th. results for stage 15 just posted by he isnt in the list. meantime, his team mate seems to have been doing very well but has DNFd stage 15. that is all as best i can understand the results.

Rally il Ciocco e Valle del Serchio 2017 - Informazioni e risultati | ACI Sport
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Mrs had me busy on the weekend, that and poor memory so I hadn't checked the results until now.

On the 6th Stage Kalle hit stone wall and damaged the rear suspension. He could not continue to service point. After 5th stage he was 9th some 38.5 seconds behind the leader. Sunday he was able to continue under the special rules, but a puncture slowed progress. It's all experience.

His team mate had engine failure three stages from the end.

Simone Campedelli in Ford Fiesta R5 won the rally
 
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Young Rovanpera won another round of the Finnish Rally Championship in Kouvola by 27.7 seconds. He was driving Toni Gerdenmeister's teams Skoda Fabia R5.
 
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