Mikko Hirvonen
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| Mikko Hirvonen | |
|---|---|
 Hirvonen at the Telstra Rally Australia 2006 |
|
| World Rally Championship record | |
| Nationality |  Finnish |
| Active years | 2001 – |
| Teams | Ford, Subaru, Škoda |
| World rallies | 78 |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 5 |
| Podium finishes | 24 |
| Stage wins | 79 |
| Points | 259 |
| First world rally | 2002 Neste Rally Finland |
| First win | 2006 Telstra Rally Australia |
Mikko Hirvonen (born July 31, 1980) is Finnish rally driver currently driving for the BP Ford World Rally Team in the World Rally Championship. His co-driver has been Jarmo Lehtinen since 2003.
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[edit] Career
Hirvonen won the under 2000 cc Group a Finnish Rally Championship in 2002. As one of the World Rally Championship's younger competitors he made his debut full-time in a third Ford World Rally Team entry in the 2003 season, scoring one points finish. He moved to be a team-mate to 2003 world champion Petter Solberg in 2004 for the Subaru World Rally Team, but failed to impress and was again on the move for 2005. He campaigned a two-year-old Ford Focus WRC and led one rally during the course of the year, and scored a career-best third place finish at the Rally Catalunya as a privateer.
It was Hirvonen's showings on such events that brought him back to the attention of Ford, whose factory arm retained his services for the 2006 season. Hirvonen drove the new Ford Focus WRC partnered with Marcus Grönholm. Hirvonen took his first World Rally Championship win at the Telstra Rally Australia. He placed second at the Rally D'Italia, the Rally of Turkey and the Rally New Zealand. By finishing on the podium for six rallies in a row, he secured a third place overall in the drivers' world championship.
In the 2007 season, Hirvonen started with a fifth place at the 75ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo and a third place at the 56th Uddeholm Swedish Rally. He took his second WRC victory in Norway and later also won the 2007 Rally Japan and the season-ending 2007 Wales Rally GB. He finished third in the driver's championship, 17 points behind Sébastien Loeb. With Grönholm, Hirvonen secured the manufacturers' title for Ford for the second year in running.
On December 17, Hirvonen was officially announced number one BP-Ford factory driver for the 2008 season, after Marcus Grönholm's retirement.[1] His young compatriot Jari-Matti Latvala was named Hirvonen's teammate in the second factory Focus.[1] Hirvonen started the season with a second place at the 2008 Monte Carlo Rally, which was Hirvonens and BP-Ford Team's target.[2][3] In Sweden he was considered favourite,[4] but had to settle for second being unable to keep up with his younger teammate's pace.[5]
[edit] WRC victories
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No. Event Season Co-driver Car 1 
19th Telstra Rally Australia2006 Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 06 2 
2nd Rally Norway2007 Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 06 3 
4th Rally Japan2007 Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 07 4 
63rd Wales Rally of Great Britain2007 Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 07 5 
26th Jordan Rally2008 Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 07
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Ford confirms line-up.", Crash.net, 2007-12-17. Retrieved on 2007-12-18.
- ^ "Ford: We couldn't have asked for more from Mikko.", Crash.net, 2008-01-29. Retrieved on 2008-02-20.
- ^ "Hirvonen: I've started season how I wanted.", Crash.net, 2008-01-27. Retrieved on 2008-02-20.
- ^ "Mikko: I really need to win in Sweden.", Crash.net, 2008-02-03. Retrieved on 2008-02-20.
- ^ "Mikko: I had no choice but to settle for second.", Crash.net, 2008-02-11. Retrieved on 2008-02-20.
[edit] External links
