Harri Rovanper [1] ( Finnish. Harri Rovanperä [2] ; born April 8, 1966 ) is a Finnish race car driver who participated in the World Rally Championship (1993-2006).
| Harry rovanper | |
|---|---|
 Harry Rovanper in 2005 | |
| Date of Birth | April 8, 1966 (53 years old) |
| Place of Birth | Jyväskylä , Finland |
| Citizenship |  Finland |
| World Rally Championship | |
| Years in the rally | 1993 - 2006 |
| Teams | SEAT Sport Peugeot total Mitsubishi motors Red Bull Škoda |
| Stages | 111 |
| Championship titles | 0 |
| Wins | one |
| Catwalks | 15 |
| Won Dopov | 77 |
| Points | 171 |
| First rally | 1993 Finland |
| First victory | 2001  Sweden |
Known for playing for the factory teams of SEAT (1997–2000), Peugeot (2001–2004) and Mitsubishi (2005).
Demonstrated good results in gravel and snow stages. At the asphalt rally, Rovanper could not stay in the group of leaders, which seriously complicated his chances in the fight for high places in the World Cup.
During his sports career, he performed with navigators such as Juha Repo and Voitto Silander. The most prolonged and fruitful was his collaboration with Risto Pietilainen .
Content
Career
Harry Rovanper became interested in rallying at the age of 6, and at the age of 10 he first got behind the wheel of a car. He began a racing career, however, at a rather late age - at 22 years old. In 1989, Harry took part in the Jyväskylän Talviralli , held in the vicinity of his hometown - Jyväskylä . Having paired with navigator Jouni Närkhe in a Sunbeam Avenger, Rovanpera took 6th place in the youth class “B”. In subsequent years, Rovanpera gained competitive experience by participating in the Finnish championship .
The Finnish athlete made his debut in the World Rally Championship in August 1993, when he started at his home stage, the Thousand Lakes rally . That race ended for him out of the race due to a technical malfunction that arose on his Opel Manta . A year later, Rovanper performed more successfully, bringing the Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 to the finish line in 12th place in the overall standings and 3rd in the group N.
The first big success came to Harry in 1995 - while driving an Opel Astra GSi 16V , he won the Finnish championship in small group “a”.
In 1996, Rovanper started at several stages of the British rally championship and won the Perth Scottish Rally , which was held May 31 — June 1 in the vicinity of Scottish Perth . In the fall of that year, he received an invitation to play for the SEAT Sport factory team.
Rally World Championship
1997-2000: SEAT
Having received the SEAT Ibiza GTi 16V at his disposal, Rovanpera helped the SEAT Sport factory team win the F2 world rally among automotive manufacturers in class (single-axle cars with atmospheric engines with a displacement of up to 2000 cm³) in 1996, 1997 and 1998. In the 1998 season, he also scored his first points at the WRC due to finishing in 5th place on the Safari Rally . In August 1998, Rovanper introduced the all-wheel drive turbocharged version of the SEAT Córdoba World Rally Car category at the start of the Finland Rally, which replaced the Ibiza model.
In 1999, the Finnish race car driver spent his first full season in the world rally championship. He finished several times in the points zone, and in the final race of the championship - Rally of Great Britain - for the first time in his career took the prize place, becoming the third. In general, the transition to the highest category of rally cars (World Rally Car) did not allow the SEAT team to remain in the leading positions - in comparison with the rivals, the Córdoba WRC model was not very reliable and competitive. At the end of the season, SEAT and Rovanper terminated their regular partnership, although the following year he played twice for the Spanish racing team. The Portuguese and Finnish stages of the 2000 season became much more successful for Harry. Speaking at the Toyota Corolla WRC for the private Grifone team, Rovanper takes 4th and 3rd places, respectively, demonstrating the ability to fight almost on equal terms with the leaders. Thanks to the high results, Rovanper manages to sign a contract with the top Peugeot team.
2001-2004: Peugeot
In the Peugeot factory team, which won championships in the individual and team events in the previous season, Rovanper was assigned a secondary role as a specialist in stages with snow and gravel. The debut race of the “French Lions” brought him a long-awaited and well-deserved triumph - in February 2001, the 34-year-old Rovanper and his regular navigator, Risto Pietilainen , won the snow-ice Rally of Sweden , having won their first (and only) stage victory World Championship [3] . During the season, Harry finished four more times in the top three and, gaining a total of 36 points (exactly the same as the team leader - Marcus Gronholm ), finished the championship on the 5th line of the individual standings - only eight points behind Briton Richard Burns , who won the title.
In December 2001, Rovanper won the traditional Champions Race held at that time on the island of Gran Canaria . In the final, he won against the German Armin Schwartz with a score of 2: 1 (two races took place on the rally cars SEAT Córdoba WRC, and one on the rally-cross version of the Saab 9-3 4x4 ). In the earlier stages of the competition, he defeated the Belgian Francois Duval (in the semi-finals) and his compatriot Marcus Gronholm (in the quarter-finals) [4] . For his victory in the individual competition, he was awarded the title “Champion of Champions” and the Henri Toivonen Memorial Trophy .
As a reward for his successful performances in the previous season in 2002, Rovanper was given the opportunity to spend a full season in the world championship (at the asphalt stages, which were always especially difficult for him, Harry also started behind the wheel of a Peugeot 206 WRC, but he already represented the private Bozian Racing team ) With 30 points, he finished the championship in 7th place.
With the exception of the Cyprus Rally , in which Rovanper took second place after Petter Solberg [5] , the 2003 season was full of failures - in five of the nine races held, he retired and ended the championship outside the top ten pilots. In November, the leadership of the “French Lions” announced the termination of the contract with the Finnish athlete [6] .
By the time the next championship began , Rovanper had no agreement with any of the teams. In February 2004, the Peugeot team, however, again called him under its banner, and he drove the Peugeot 307 WRC at 11 gravel stages. Despite the fact that the new car, created on the basis of the coupe - the 307 CC convertible , repeatedly had technical problems (the power steering and gearbox were especially malfunctioning), Harry managed to demonstrate a number of high results and end the season in 8th position. In December, Rovanper moved to the Mitsubishi factory team, where he was assigned the role of leader and was given the opportunity to go through all 16 stages [7] .
2005-2006: Mitsubishi and Škoda
Throughout the 2005 season, Rovanpera, being the first number of Three Diamonds, performed quite stably - in 14 of 16 races he reached the finish line, in ten of them he scored points and, following the results of the championship, he was placed on the 7th line of the individual standings. In mid-December, the Mitsubishi team left the World Cup [8] , and Rovanpera was temporarily unemployed.
Skipping the start of the 2006 season , Harry returned to world championship in late March. By signing a contract with the semi-factory team of Red Bull Škoda [9] , the Finnish driver drove six European stages. The season turned out to be frankly weak - on an absolutely uncompetitive Škoda Fabia WRC car, Rovanper usually finished in the top ten and was unable to score any points. After 2006, he no longer participated in the World Rally Championship.
After the World Rally Championship
In 2007, Harry Rovanper participated in the Finnish rally cross-country championship. During the season, he performed on two different cars - Ford Focus and Volvo S40 . Both machines often experienced technical failures that prevented them from showing a decent result.
Subsequently, Rovanpera also tested his strength in off-road racing, performing in several rally raids in Mexico and the United States [10] .
In 2013, at the invitation of the Latvian RE Autoclub team, Rovanper took part in the first stage of the Russian rally-raid championship - Bach " Northern Forest ", held on February 15-16 in the Leningrad Region [11] . Harry drove the Mitsubishi Pajero L2 and took 9th place overall. [12]
World Rally Championship Results
| Year | Team | Car | one | 2 | 3 | four | five | 6 | 7 | eight | 9 | ten | eleven | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | sixteen | A place | Glasses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | 1000 Lakes Rally | Opel Manta 2.0E | MON | SWE | POR | KEN | FRA | GRI | ARG | NOZ | FIN Gathering | ABC | ITA | COI | Led | - | 0 | |||
| 1994 | Harri rovanperä | Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 | MON | POR | KEN | FRA | GRI | ARG | NOZ | FIN 12 | ITA | Led | - | 0 | ||||||
| 1996 | Promoracing estb | Ford Escort RS Cosworth | SWE | KEN | INZ | GRI | ARG | FIN Gathering | ABC | ITA | COI | - | 0 | |||||||
| 1997 | SEAT Sport | SEAT Ibiza GTI 16V | MON 14 | SWE | KEN | POR Gathering | COI Gathering | FRA | ARG eight | GRI | NOZ Gathering | FIN ten | INZ 7 | ITA ten | ABC ten | Led 9 | - | 0 | ||
| 1998 | SEAT Sport | SEAT Ibiza GTI 16V | MON eleven | SWE Gathering | 15 | 3 | ||||||||||||||
| SEAT Ibiza GTI 16V Evo 2 | KEN five | POR Gathering | COI Gathering | FRA | ARG Gathering | GRI 15 | NOZ 13 | |||||||||||||
| Seat Córdoba WRC | FIN eleven | ITA Gathering | ABC eleven | Led 6 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1999 | SEAT Sport | SEAT Córdoba WRC | MON 7 | SWE sixteen | KEN 6 | POR Gathering | COI 14 | FRA 13 | ARG Gathering | GRI Gathering | NOZ Gathering | 9 | ten | |||||||
| SEAT Córdoba WRC Evo2 | FIN five | WHALE five | ITA sixteen | ABC 6 | Led 3 | |||||||||||||||
| 2000 | SEAT Sport | SEAT Córdoba WRC Evo2 | MON | SWE 12 | KEN | 9 | 7 | |||||||||||||
| SEAT Córdoba WRC Evo3 | Led ten | |||||||||||||||||||
| Harri rovanperä | Toyota Corolla WRC | POR four | COI | ARG | GRI | NOZ | FIN 3 | Instrumentation | FRA | ITA | ABC | |||||||||
| 2001 | Peugeot total | Peugeot 206 WRC | MON | SWE one | POR Gathering | COI | ARG Gathering | Instrumentation Gathering | GRI 3 | KEN 2 | FIN four | NOZ 3 | ABC four | Led 2 | five | 36 | ||||
| Hf grifone | ITA eleven | FRA 7 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2002 | Bozian racing | Peugeot 206 WRC | MON Gathering | FRA eleven | COI 7 | ITA 9 | 7 | thirty | ||||||||||||
| Peugeot total | SWE 2 | Instrumentation four | ARG Gathering | GRI four | KEN 2 | FIN Gathering | GER Gathering | NOZ 2 | ABC 2 | Led 7 | ||||||||||
| 2003 | Marlboro peugeot total | Peugeot 206 WRC | MON | SWE Gathering | Tuc Gathering | NOZ Gathering | ARG four | GRI 6 | Instrumentation 2 | GER | FIN Gathering | ABC 7 | ITA | FRA | COI | Led Gathering | eleven | 18 | ||
| 2004 | Marlboro peugeot total | Peugeot 307 WRC | MON | SWE | MEK ten | NOZ five | Instrumentation DSC | GRI 3 | Tuc Gathering | ARG five | FIN Gathering | GER | Jap 6 | Led 6 | ITA Gathering | FRA | COI | ABC 2 | eight | 28 |
| 2005 | Mitsubishi Motors Motor Sports | Mitsubishi Lancer WRC 05 | MON 7 | SWE four | MEK five | NOZ Gathering | ITA Gathering | Instrumentation 7 | Tuc ten | GRI 6 | ARG five | FIN 7 | GER ten | Led four | Jap five | FRA ten | COI ten | ABC 2 | 7 | 39 |
| 2006 | Red Bull Škoda | Škoda Fabia WRC | MON | SWE | MEK | COI | FRA 12 | ARG | ITA 20 | GRI 12 | GER | FIN | Jap | Instrumentation Gathering | Tuc eleven | NOZ | ABC | Led 9 | - | 0 |
Win List
| # | Season | Official name | Navigator | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| one | 2001 | 50th International Swedish Rally | Risto Pietilainen | Peugeot 206 WRC |
Notes
- ↑ Sometimes there is also another spelling of the surname, Rovanperya , which is more correct according to Finnish-Russian practical transcription
- ↑ Harri Rovanperä pronunciation . Forvo (August 14, 2009). Archived May 24, 2013.
- ↑ Armor, Alexey. The Swedish rally was not won by the Finn they were betting on . The newspaper Kommersant , No. 25 (2155) (February 13, 2001). Archived May 24, 2013.
- ↑ Race Of Champions - 2001 Canary Islands . Archived May 24, 2013.
- ↑ Solberg claims Cyprus win . BBC Sport (June 22, 2003). Archived May 24, 2013.
- ↑ Peugeot release Rovanpera (English) . BBC Sport (November 20, 2003). Archived May 24, 2013.
- ↑ Rovanpera to head Mitsubishi team . BBC Sport (December 7, 2004). Archived May 24, 2013.
- ↑ Mitsubishi is leaving! (December 15, 2005). Archived May 24, 2013.
- ↑ Rovanpera in for Panizzi at Skoda . BBC Sport (March 30, 2006). Archived May 24, 2013.
- ↑ Boyarskaya, Irina. Harry Rovanper: "I want to chase again!" . www.northern-forest.ru (February 6, 2013). Archived May 24, 2013.
- ↑ Finnish pilots Harri Rovanper and Joni Ampuya Neopr (February 11, 2013) will start for the first time in Baha Russia - Northern Forest 2013. Archived on May 28, 2013.
- ↑ Sportsmen of “RE Autoclub” Jouni Ampuya / Tapio Suominen (February 18, 2013) successfully made their debut in Russian Bach . Archived on May 28, 2013.