Kalle Rovanpera co-driver Jonne Halttunen lands Toyota rally management role

Toyota has named Jonne Halttunen, former co-driver to Kalle Rovanpera, as project manager for the brand’s move into the American Rally Association (ARA) National Championship this year.

The Japanese marque announced plans to contest the championship last year with its newly developed GR Corolla RC2 rally car, which will be piloted by Toyota’s World Rally Raid Championship star Seth Quintero and co-driver Topi Luhtinen.

This project will now be overseen by Halttunen, whose World Rally Championship co-driver career has been put on hold for now following Rovanpera's decision to leave the WRC in pursuit of a career in single seater racing. Halttunen claimed back-to-back WRC titles with Rovanpera in 2022 and 2023 in a partnership that yielded 18 WRC wins.

Halttunen is now looking forward to a move into team management with Toyota in the ARA, which will begin with the 100 Acre Wood Rally on 13-14 March. Toyota has opted to miss the Sno*Drift Rally ARA opener held in Michigan this weekend.

Kalle Rovanperä, Jonne Halttunen, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: TOYOTA GAZOO Racing

“My job is to manage the project and also to try to help the team in the best possible way, using all the knowledge I have gathered from my career in WRC, and to give my feedback,” said Halttunen, who will also take part as a driver in Finland's domestic F-Cup rally series this year.

“I haven’t had the chance to meet everyone involved yet, but we have had a lot of meetings, and there are a lot of people who have been involved in WRC too. I know that they’re all professionals and everything I’ve heard about the team is positive, so I’m looking forward to working with everyone.

“I don’t know if my WRC career will continue in the future or not, but for now at least I wanted to have a new challenge, and this is just what I wanted. I wanted to stay inside the sport, but also to have some kind of management role where I can influence things somehow. I always like to try to make things better or somehow develop things, so this is a good fit for me.”

Rovanpera, meanwhile, is continuing preparations for his Super Formula debut ahead of the season opener in Motegi on 4 April.