Ari Vatanen

Ari Pieti Uolevi Vatanen (pronounced

His debut year in rallying was 1970, and he debuted in the

In the 1976 Scottish Rally (part of the British Rally Championship), the Ford works team replaced a broken differential in Ari Vatanen's Mk2 Escort RS 1800 with one they removed from a spectator's Ford Capri. It wasn't a spare carried by the service team. Co-driver Peter Bryant took matters into his own hands by flagging down a passing 3.0-litre Capri and persuading the owner- Ken Brown from Nottingham- to let them take out his rear diff. and put it in the rally car. Ford competition manager Peter Ashcroft simply gave Mr Brown his business card and told him to take his Capri to the nearest Ford dealer and get a new differential or back axle and send the bill to him.[1] Ari Vatanen didn't finish the Scottish Rally, but he duly won the championship, a feat he repeated in 1980, co-driven by

Vatanen and Richards parted ways for the 1982 season, and for the next few years Vatanen was co-driven by Terry Harryman. He did not defend his world title in 1982, competing instead in the British Championship in a Ford Escort, before moving to the Opel team for 1983. The Opel Ascona and Opel Manta were only two-wheel-drive and not fully competitive, but Vatanen still managed to win the Safari Rally.

In

In 1997 he won the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies with a Citroën ZX Rallye-raid alongside navigator Fred Gallagher (co-driver).

With Peugeot, Vatanen also won the

Although he became much less active in rallying, his hunger for motorsport had not left him completely however, and Vatanen joined Nissan in the Paris-Dakar in 2003, finishing seventh. He also made an appearance at the 2003 Rally Finland with a Bozian Racing-prepared Peugeot 206 WRC, and finished eleventh. In 2004 and 2005, Vatanen drove the Dakar for Nissan as well, and in 2007 he made another attempt with Volkswagen, but retired on the seventh stage.^[4]

He currently holds the position of 'Club Patron' to the Ireland's Donegal Motor Club since 2002. He has a long association with the Donegal Motor Club and the Donegal International Rally, competing twice early in his career, 1975 and 1978.

Despite having no roots in Estonia, in January 2013 Vatanen was named as the candidate of presidency by the board of the Estonian Autosport Union to become first foreign President of the authority. Vatanen said he had always been in good relations with Estonians and he's deeply impressed by the achievements of such a small country. Rumours said that the other candidate will be Estonia's most famous former rally driver Markko Märtin. Without any rival candidate Vatanen was elected President of the Estonian Autosport Union.

In September 2008, Vatanen took part in the

that they drove in 1981. He was one of a number of ex-world champions to take part in the event in memory of McRae, who died in 2007.

Personal life

Vatanen was born and grew up in rural Tuupovaara in Eastern Finland. He is married to Rita and has four children, Kim (b. 1972), Ria (b. 1980), Tua (b. 1982) and Max (b. 1990). They have homes in Finland and France.^[5] Kim is the manager of current WRC driver Sébastien Ogier. In 2016 Max followed his fathers footsteps by entering the British Rally Championship driving an M-Sport prepared Ford Fiesta R5.^[6]

In 1993, Vatanen settled in southern France, where he bought a farm and a winery.

Vatanen speaks fluent Finnish, English, and French.^[7]

Political career

In

National Coalition party

although he continued to live in France. The issues on which he worked included car taxation, traffic policies, development aid and agricultural policy.

In 2004, he was re-elected, this time from the list of the conservative French Union for a Popular Movement. In the 2009 European Parliament elections Vatanen was again a National Coalition candidate in Finland, but he did not get elected this time.^[8]

In July 2009, Vatanen declared his interest in being a candidate to stand against

FIA, which was won by his former team boss at Peugeot, subsequently Scuderia Ferrari manager Jean Todt.^[11]

Vatanen is a signatory of the

Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism.^[12]

Career results

WRC victories

Number	Event	Season	Co-driver	Car
1	Acropolis Rally	1980	David Richards	Ford Escort RS1800
2	Acropolis Rally	1981
3	Rallye do Brasil
4	1000 Lakes Rally
5	Safari Rally	1983	Terry Harryman	Opel Ascona 400
6	1000 Lakes Rally	1984		Peugeot 205 Turbo 16
7	Rallye Sanremo
8	RAC Rally
9	Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo	1985
10	Swedish Rally

Complete WRC results

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	WDC	Points
1974	Ari Vatanen	Opel Ascona 19	MON C	SWE C	POR	KEN	GRE C	FIN Ret	ITA	CAN	USA	GBR	FRA				N/A	N/A
1975	Ford Motor Company Ltd	Ford Escort RS1600	MON	SWE	KEN	GRC	MOR	POR	FIN Ret	ITA	FRA						N/A	N/A
		Ford Escort RS1800										GBR Ret
1976	Ford Motor Company Ltd	Ford Escort RS1800	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	GRC	MOR	FIN Ret	ITA	FRA	GBR Ret					N/A	N/A
1977	Ford Motor Company Ltd	Ford Escort RS1800	MON	SWE	POR Ret	KEN Ret	NZL 2	GRC Ret	FIN Ret	CAN Ret	ITA Ret	FRA	GBR Ret				NC	0
1978	Ford Motor Company Ltd	Ford Escort RS1800	MON	SWE 5	KEN	POR Ret	GRC	FIN Ret	CAN	ITA	CIV	FRA					8th	11
	Marlboro												GBR DSQ
1979	Rothmans Rally Team	Ford Fiesta 1600	MON 10														5th	50
		Ford Escort RS1800		SWE Ret	POR Ret	KEN	GRC		FIN 2	CAN 3	ITA	FRA	GBR 4	CIV
	Ford Motor Company Ltd							NZL 3
1980	Publimmo Racing	Ford Escort RS1800	MON Ret														4th	50
	Rothmans Rally Team			SWE	POR Ret	KEN	GRC 1	ARG	FIN 2	NZL	ITA 2	FRA	GBR Ret	CIV
1981	Rothmans Rally Team	Ford Escort RS1800	MON Ret	SWE 2	POR Ret	KEN	FRA	GRC 1	ARG Ret	BRA 1	FIN 1	ITA 7	CIV 9	GBR 2			1st	96
1982	David Sutton Motorsport	Ford Escort RS1800	MON	SWE 2	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC	NZL	BRA							13th	15
	MCD / Mobira										FIN Ret	ITA	CIV
	Rothmans Opel Rally Team	Opel Ascona 400												GBR Ret
1983	Rothmans Opel Rally Team	Opel Ascona 400	MON 5	SWE 6	POR	KEN 1	FRA										6th	44
		Opel Manta 400						GRC 4	NZL	ARG	FIN Ret	ITA Ret	CIV	GBR Ret
1984	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Peugeot 205 Turbo 16	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA Ret	GRC Ret	NZL	ARG	FIN 1	ITA 1	CIV	GBR 1			4th	60
1985	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Peugeot 205 Turbo 16	MON 1	SWE 1	POR Ret	KEN Ret	FRA Ret										4th	55
		Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2						GRC Ret	NZL 2	ARG Ret	FIN	ITA	CIV	GBR
1987	Fuji Heavy Industries	Subaru RX Turbo	MON	SWE	POR	KEN 10	FRA	GRC	USA	NZL	ARG						19th	16
	Ford Motor Company Ltd	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth										FIN 2	CIV	ITA	GBR
1988	Prodrive BMW	BMW M3	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC	USA	NZL	ARG	FIN Ret	CIV	ITA			–	0
	Ralliart Europe	Mitsubishi Galant VR-4													GBR Ret
1989	Mitsubishi Ralliart Europe	Mitsubishi Galant VR-4	SWE	MON 87	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC Ret	NZL	ARG	FIN Ret	AUS	ITA	CIV	GBR 5		40th	8
1990	Mitsubishi Ralliart Europe	Mitsubishi Galant VR-4	MON Ret	POR Ret	KEN	FRA	GRC Ret	NZL	ARG	FIN 2	AUS	ITA	CIV	GBR Ret			16th	15
1991	Milk Team	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS 4x4	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN 7	AUS	ITA	CIV	ESP		22nd	12
	Subaru Rally Team Europe	Subaru Legacy RS														GBR 5
1992	Subaru Rally Team Europe	Subaru Legacy RS	MON	SWE Ret	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC Ret	NZL Ret	ARG	FIN 4	AUS Ret	ITA	CIV	ESP	GBR 2	11th	25
1993	555 Subaru World Rally Team	Subaru Legacy RS	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC Ret	ARG	NZL Ret		AUS 2	ITA	ESP			7th	38
		Subaru Impreza 555									FIN 2				GBR 5
1994	SMS	Ford Escort RS Cosworth	MON	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC 5			FIN Ret	ITA	GBR 5					9th	28
	Ford Motor Company Ltd							ARG 3	NZL Ret
1996	Ford Motor Company Ltd	Ford Escort RS Cosworth	SWE Ret	KEN	IDN	GRC	ARG	FIN	AUS	ITA	ESP						–	0
1997	Motorsport Consultancy	Ford Escort WRC	MON	SWE	KEN	POR	ESP	FRA	ARG	GRC	NZL	FIN	IDN	ITA	AUS	GBR 8	–	0
1998	Ford Motor Company Ltd	Ford Escort WRC	MON	SWE	KEN 3	POR 5	ESP	FRA	ARG	GRC	NZL	FIN Ret	ITA	AUS			11th	6
	555 Subaru World Rally Team	Subaru Impreza WRC 98														GBR Ret
2003	Bozian Racing	Peugeot 206 WRC	MON	SWE	TUR	NZL	ARG	GRC	CYP	GER	FIN 11	AUS	ITA	FRA	ESP	GBR	–	0

Complete Dakar Rally results

Year	Class	Vehicle	Result	Stages
1987	Car	Peugeot	1st	3
1988			DSQ	4
1989			1st	7
1990			1st	7
1991		Citroën	1st	5
1992			5th	7
1993			8th	2
1994	did not enter
1995	Car	Citroën	DNF	3
1996			4th	7
1997–2002	did not enter
2003	Car	Nissan	7th	4
2004			DNF	1
2005			39th	0
2006	did not enter
2007	Car	Volkswagen	DNF	0

Complete European Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
1977	KWS Freizeit Team	Ford Escort RS2000	MNZ	SAL	MUG	PER	BRN	NUR Ret	ZAN	SIL	ZOL	JAR	EST	NC	0
1982	Eichberg Racing	Ford Capri III 3.0S	MNZ	VAL	DON	PER	MUG	BRN	SAL	NUR 12	SPA	SIL	ZOL	NC	0
Source:[13]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ari Vatanen.

1. ^ YouTube historical footage of the event)
2. ^ "1988: The desperate Peugeot search (28/40)". Retrieved 6 July 2023.
3. ^ "Ari Vatanen". RallyBase. Archived from the original on 3 January 2007. Retrieved 30 January 2007.
4. ^ "Dakar 2007 Withdrawals". Archived from the original on 17 January 2007.
5. ^ "Profile: Ari Vatanen". Politico Europe. 4 September 2002. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
6. ^ "Vatanen name to return to the British Rally Championship in 2016". m-sport.co.uk. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
7. ^ TelenovaMSP (18 June 2013). "Ari Vatanen – The Poet of Rallying". Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2021 – via YouTube.
8. ^ "True Finns and Greens advance in European Parliament elections as big parties suffer". Helsingin Sanomat. Archived from the original on 22 June 2010. Retrieved 13 June 2009.
9. ^ "Vatanen 'interested' in FIA presidency". Autosport.com. 7 July 2009. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
10. ^ Noble, Jonathan (10 July 2009). "Vatanen to run for FIA presidency". Autosport.
11. ^ "Motor racing-Todt elected FIA president". Reuters. 23 October 2009. Archived from the original on 27 October 2009. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
12. ^ "Prague Declaration: Selected signatories". Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism. Archived from the original on 25 August 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
13. ^ de Jong, Frank. "The European Touring Car Championship". History of Touring Car Racing 1952-1993. Retrieved 22 March 2024.

External links

• Ari Vatanen's official website
• Climb Dance on
  YouTube
• Profile at RallyBase
• http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/profile-rallying-to-a-new-cause-ari-vatanen/45453.aspx (Ari Vatanen's Profile)

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Stig Blomqvist	Autosport International Rally Driver Award 1984	Succeeded by Timo Salonen
Sporting positions
Preceded by Walter Röhrl	1981	Succeeded by Walter Röhrl
Preceded by René Metge	1987	Succeeded by Juha Kankkunen
Preceded by Juha Kankkunen	1991	Succeeded by Hubert Auriol
Records
Preceded by 1980 season )	1981 season )	Succeeded by 1986 season )