He was due to campaign the 2026 Super Formula series in Japan with Toyota backing, but suffered from vertigo during testing late last year and had to withdraw.<\/p>\n
He competed in the Formula Regional Ociana series in January, scoring a podium, and was back behind the wheel of a Super Formula car in testing earlier this year.<\/p>\n
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However, he has continued to battle health issues, with Toyota announcing on Saturday that it has been led \u201cto pause his participation in this year\u2019s Super Formula season\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to share some difficult news:\u00a0Kalle Rovanpera\u00a0will be stepping back from the upcoming races,\u201d a statement from Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda read.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has poured his heart into challenging himself in formula cars, driven by a deep and unwavering desire to grow.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time he got on track in private tests, his speed was clear to see.<\/p>\n
\u201cI watched him push harder, find something new within himself, and trim his lap times again and again.<\/p>\n
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\u201cYet despite that passion and progress, his body was struggling to keep up.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter receiving a medical evaluation, we reached the painful conclusion that continuing to compete would not be the right choice for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Morizo, this decision weighed heavily on me. I asked myself what it truly means to let him chase speed, and what it means to protect someone you believe in.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the end, balancing those responsibilities led me to pause his participation in this year\u2019s Super Formula season.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo everyone involved, and to all the fans who have supported him with such warmth, I am truly sorry that we could not meet your hopes.<\/p>\n
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\u201cBut please believe this: his circuit racing challenge is far from over. His love for cars and his drive to become faster will not fade.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Morizo, I will continue to stay by his side \u2014 not only as a fellow driver, but as a team-mate who believes in him with all my heart. Thank you for your continued and heartfelt support.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rovanpera issues statement on Super Formula setback<\/p>\n
Rovanpera took to his social media on Saturday morning to share his own statement, vowing to \u201ccome back stronger\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have difficult news to share. I will be stepping back from the upcoming races and my participation in this year\u2019s Super Formula season,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been working with medical issues for already a longer period, which have gotten worse this year.<\/p>\n
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\u201cMy health doesn\u2019t allow me to continue safely at the moment. Now my first priority is to fix that.<\/p>\n
\u201cFeedback and progress this year show that there\u2019s good potential in this project.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy chapter in circuit racing isn\u2019t finished. I\u2019m more than sorry for those who hoped to see\u00a0me on track.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to see you all soon as possible! I\u2019m grateful to Morizo, TGR and my partners for their care and for standing by me, and I\u2019ll keep working hard to come back stronger.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you for your understanding and your continued support.\u201d<\/p>\n
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![\"Bottas](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/xpb_1397665_hires.jpg\")
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Bottas backed Rovanpera as a “super talent”<\/p>\n
Valtteri Bottas backs \u201csuper talent\u201d Rovanpera<\/p>\n
During this year\u2019s Australian Grand Prix, Cadillac driver Valtteri Bottas branded fellow Finn Rovanpera as a \u201csuper talent\u201d and had \u201cno doubt\u201d of seeing \u201cbig improvements\u201d in his single-seater switch.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Kalle, it\u2019s going to be very interesting to follow somebody coming from World Rallying to single-seaters,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a big jump. And again, I think the next two years will really show in which direction that is going to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut no doubt we\u2019ll see big improvement in his journey in single-seaters.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt\u2019s going to be hard work, but again I think he\u2019s one of those super talents when it comes to driving that anything is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Subscribe to our F1 Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"World Rally champion Kalle Rovanpera\u2019s hopes of reaching Formula 1 have taken a heartbreaking knock, as health issues…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487824,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[59,101,8612,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-487823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-gb","tag-sports","tag-toyota","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}