Rovanpera dominates opening day of WRC Rally Islas Canarias
26th April 2025Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera dominated the opening day, taking all stage victories at the World Rally Championship’s inaugural Rally Islas Canarias.
Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool
It was a dominant opening day for the two-time world champion Rovanpera, who secured a clean sweep of stage victories in Gran Canaria.
The Finn secured six out of six stage wins as he built up an impressive lead of 26.8 seconds over returning eight-time world champion, Sebastien Ogier, who returns to the sport after his break since his record-breaking Rally Monte Carlo win in January.
After the opening day, it wasn’t just Rovanpera that dominated; Toyota did too. Their cars seem to be hooked up better than the Hyundais and Fords, as all five Rally1 Yaris’ have locked out the top five.
The Championship leader, Elfyn Evans, finds himself amongst his peers in third, 36.4 seconds off the back of Rovanpera.
However, with a substantial lead in the championship, the Welshman just needs to consolidate his lead. Even if he were to finish pointless, he would remain the championship leader going into Portugal next month.
Who finished where after the opening day?
Rovanpera stands as the rally leader after a league-of-his-own performance with a total elapsed time of 1 hour, 10 minutes and 31.8 seconds. Ogier and Evans finished the day in second and third, respectively.
Sami Pajari and Takamoto Katsuta complete the Toyota entries in fourth and fifth, ahead of the leading Hyundai of Thierry Neuville in sixth.
Ott Tanak and Adrien Fourmaux complete the Hyundai line-up in eighth and ninth.
With no retirements of the Rally1 entries, it means Gregoire Munster and Joshua McErlean rounded out the top-tier category in ninth and 12th. This left Yohan Rossel, the WRC2 rally leader, to complete the top 10 in 10th place.
Read more WRC here:
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- WRC Rally Islas Canarias: 2025 Entry List
- Evans remains WRC Safari Rally Kenya leader after day three
- Evans takes WRC Safari Rally Kenya lead on day two
- Tanak takes early blood at WRC Rally Kenya 2025
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
