Timo Salonen (born October 8, 1951) is a Finnish former

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Spor ...

driver who won the

1985 World Rally Championship season The 1985 World Rally Championship was the 13th season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) World Rally Championship (WRC). The season consisted of 12 rallies following the same schedule as the previous season. Peugeot Sport's ...

for

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and then ...

. It was commented of him that he stood out from other drivers, because he was overweight, wore thick glasses and smoked heavily, but still remained one of the fastest and most competitive drivers in the sport. He was also known for his relaxed attitude and for his habit of steering his rally car with one hand only. These factors led to the nickname ''Löysä'' ("Slack"). With his 7 rally wins he remained the most successful driver of

Group B Group B was a set of regulations for grand touring (GT) vehicles used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World Sportsc ...

era (1983–1986) of WRC.

Career

Salonen achieved his first podium place in the World Rally Championship by driving his Fiat 131 Abarth to second place at the 1977

1000 Lakes Rally Rally Finland (formerly known as the Neste Rally Finland, Neste Oil Rally Finland, 1000 Lakes Rally and Rally of the Thousand Lakes; fi, Suomen ralli, sv, Finska rallyt) is a rally competition in the Finnish Lakeland in Central Finland. The r ...

. He went on to win the next rally, the 1977 Critérium du Québec, which was only his fifth WRC event and his first outside his home country. Salonen's factory team career at World Championship level began with Nissan, mainly on long-distance events. In

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast As ...

, however, he achieved a string of top-ten finishes, resulting in

Jean Todt Jean Todt (; born 25 February 1946) is a French motor racing executive and former rally co-driver. He was previously director of Peugeot Talbot Sport and then Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 team principal, before being appointed chief executive off ...

inviting him to drive for

in the 1985 season. He began that year playing a supporting role to

Ari Vatanen Ari Pieti Uolevi Vatanen (; born 27 April 1952) is a Finnish rally driver turned politician and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1999 to 2009. Vatanen won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1981 and the Paris Dakar Ra ...

but quickly proved capable of being in a leading role, especially after Vatanen's near-fatal accident in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

. Salonen set a record by winning four world rallies in a row – unmatched and unbroken until

Sébastien Loeb Sébastien Loeb (; born 26 February 1974) is a French professional rally, racing and rallycross driver. He is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC), having won the world championship a record nine times in a row. He h ...

's six wins in a row in 2005 – and went on to win the World Championship with a record 52-point margin ahead of second-placed

Stig Blomqvist Stig Lennart Blomqvist (born 29 July 1946) is a retired Swedish rally driver. He made his international breakthrough in 1971. Driving an Audi Quattro for the Audi factory team, Blomqvist won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1984 an ...

. Salonen then remained at Peugeot for the 1986 season, and finished third in the drivers' championship, behind his new team-mate

Juha Kankkunen Juha Matti Pellervo Kankkunen (; born 2 April 1959) is a Finnish former rally driver. His factory team career in the World Rally Championship lasted from 1983 to 2002. He won 23 world rallies and four drivers' world championship titles, which ...

and

Lancia Lancia () is an Italian car manufacturer and a subsidiary of FCA Italy S.p.A., which is currently a Stellantis division. The present legal entity of Lancia was formed in January 2007 when its corporate parent reorganised its businesses, but it ...

driver

Markku Alén Markku Allan Alén (born 15 February 1951) is a Finnish former rally and race car driver. He drove for Fiat, Lancia, Subaru and Toyota in the World Rally Championship, and held the record for most stage wins (801) in the series, until Sébastie ...

. He has remained the most successful driver of Group B with his seven wins and one world champion title. In the turbulent world of post-

rallying, Salonen starred for

Mazda , commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima (town), Fuchū, Hiroshima Prefecture, Hiroshima, Japan. In 2015, M ...

, taking a popular win on the 1987

Swedish Rally The Rally Sweden ( sv, Svenska rallyt), formerly the International Swedish Rally, and later the Uddeholm Swedish Rally, is an automobile rally competition held in February in Värmland, Sweden and relocated to Umeå in 2022. First held in 1950, ...

. His last WRC event in action was the 1992 Rally Portugal in a

Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 The Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 (Viscous Realtime 4WD) was the range-topping version of Mitsubishi Motors' Galant model, available in the sixth (1987–93), seventh (1993–96) and eighth (1996–2002) generations of the vehicle. Originally introduced t ...

until he made a one-time comeback at the 2002

Neste Rally Finland Rally Finland (formerly known as the Neste Rally Finland, Neste Oil Rally Finland, 1000 Lakes Rally and Rally of the Thousand Lakes; fi, Suomen ralli, sv, Finska rallyt) is a rally competition in the Finnish Lakeland in Central Finland. The ra ...

. He managed his

Peugeot 206 WRC The Peugeot 206 WRC is a World Rally Car based on the Peugeot 206. It was used by Peugeot Sport, Peugeot's factory team, in the World Rally Championship from 1999 to 2003. The car brought Peugeot the manufacturers' world title three years in a ro ...

to 14th place overall. Salonen was mainly co-driven by Seppo Harjanne, who would later go on to achieve even more success with

Tommi Mäkinen Tommi Antero Mäkinen (; born 26 June 1964) is a Finnish racing executive and former driver. Mäkinen is one of the most successful WRC drivers of all time, ranking fifth in rally wins (24) and third in championships (4), tied with Juha Kankkune ...

(the pairing of Tommi Mäkinen and Seppo Harjanne achieved 2 championship titles from 1996 to 1997 by 1 point until Harjanne was replaced by

Risto Mannisenmäki Risto Mannisenmäki (born on 28 May 1959) is a former rally co-driver and two-times world champion with driver Tommi Mäkinen. Career Mannisenmäki begun his career in 1982 and was co-driving for various drivers such as Tommi Mäkinen, Se ...

from 1998 to 2001). After retiring from rallying, Salonen has worked as the CEO for his car sales company Autotalo Timo Salonen in Finland.

Complete WRC results

WRC victories

References

External links

Salonen at RallyBase
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salonen, Timo 1951 births Living people Finnish rally drivers World Rally Champions World Rally Championship drivers Sportspeople from Helsinki Peugeot Sport drivers Nismo drivers