Timo Salonen

Timo Salonen (born 8 October 1951) is a Finnish former rally driver who won the 1985 World Rally Championship season for Peugeot. 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 11 rally wins he remained the most successful driver of Group B era (1983–1986) of WRC.

Rallying career

WRC career (1975–2002)

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. 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, however, he achieved a string of top-ten finishes, resulting in Jean Todt inviting him to drive for Peugeot in the 1985 season. He began that year playing a supporting role to Ari Vatanen but quickly proved capable of being in a leading role, especially after Vatanen's near-fatal accident in Argentina. Salonen set a record by winning four world rallies in a row – unmatched and unbroken until Sébastien Loeb'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. Salonen then remained at Peugeot for the 1986 season, and finished third in the drivers' championship, behind his new team-mate Juha Kankkunen and Lancia driver Markku Alén.

He has remained the most successful driver of Group B with his seven rally wins and one World Rally Championship.

In the turbulent world of post-Group B rallying, Salonen starred for Mazda, taking a popular win on the 1987 Swedish Rally. His last WRC event in action was the 1992 Rally Portugal in a Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 until he made a one-time comeback at the 2002 Neste Rally Finland. He managed his Peugeot 206 WRC 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 (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 from 1998 to 2001). After retiring from rallying, Salonen has worked as the CEO for his car sales company Autotalo Timo Salonen in Finland.

Rally Raid career (1992–1995)

Following his full-time WRC career, he drove for Guy Fréquelin's Citroën rally raid team. During the 1992 Paris-Moscow-Beijing rally raid, Salonen's ZX burnt to the ground.

In 1993, he then competed regularly for the squad, winning the 1993 Pharaohs Rally Raid in the works ZX and helping the team win the Cross-Country World Cup manufacturers' title. That same season, Salonen also finished fourth on the Baja Aragon Raid, second on the Atlas Rally Raid and third on the United Arab Emirates Desert Challenge. He would withdraw from the 1993 Paris-Dakar rally, however, when co-driver Fred Gallagher (co-driver) injured his back after a heavy landing.

For the following season, the Finn could not compete in 1994's Paris-Dakar-Paris. Citroën and the event organisers disagreed about the running of the event, the French marque entering a reduced squad of just two ZXs in protest. He did still drive for the team during the World Cup, finishing second on the Tunisia Rally Raid, following a penultimate stage crash that robbed him of the win, taking the victory on the Baja Aragón and providing a test drive for Top Gear (1977 TV series)'s Jeremy Clarkson.

In the 1995 Granda-Dakar rally, he finished fifth, after losing over five hours when his ZX lost drive to its front wheels. Salonen also finished third on the Atlas Rally that season and second on the Baja España-Aragón.

Complete WRC results

WRC victories

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References

External links

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