Juha Kankkunen Tips Jaspar Vaher for WRC Breakthrough

Juha Kankkunen believes Jaspar Vaher has all the ingredients to develop into a top-level rally driver ahead of his FIA World Rally Championship debut at Rally Estonia.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing deputy team principal highlighted Vaher’s progress after the Estonian impressed in several events earlier this season. Vaher led the FIA European Rally Championship round at Rally Sweden before crashing out.

Vaher’s momentum continued at the start of June when he claimed the biggest victory of his career so far in the Finnish Rally Championship round in Jyväskylä. He finished ahead of Esapekka Lappi and Mikko Heikkilä, a result that further underlined his progress in a four-wheel-drive car.

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“He’s a very promising young driver, a really good lad. I went to watch one of his tests. They were testing near my farm in Finland, on my home stage at Lankamaa. I think he’s going to be just fine,” Kankkunen told reporters.

Kankkunen, a four-time World Rally champion, said he was not surprised that Vaher was able to beat Lappi in Jyväskylä. He believes Vaher has long shown significant talent and that the result demonstrated how quickly he is adapting in his first season with four-wheel-drive machinery.

“No surprise at all. He’s always been a very talented driver, and I have to say he did a really good job in Jyväskylä,” Kankkunen said. “When you consider that this is only his first season in a four-wheel-drive car, he’s a very promising driver. I’m sure he’ll become a top driver in the future.”

Vaher will make his WRC debut next week when he lines up for Rally Estonia in the WRC2 class. Although it is his home event, he is keeping expectations measured because he has no previous WRC rally experience.

“It’s my first WRC rally, so I can’t set my expectations too high. Of course, I want to compare myself with the other drivers, but we’ll see how it goes,” Vaher said. He added that the level of competition in the WRC is extremely high, while Rally Estonia differs from Sweden and Finland, making the priority to do his best across the event.