Tommi Mäkinen

Tommi Antero Mäkinen (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈtommi ˈmækinen]; born 26 June 1964) is a Finnish racing executive and former driver.

Tommi Mäkinen

A retired Mäkinen signing autographs during a visit to Rally Finland in 2004.
Personal information
Nationality	Finnish
Born	26 June 1964 Palokka-Puuppola, Finland
World Rally Championship record
Active years	1987–2003
Co-driver	Kaj Lindström Risto Mannisenmäki Seppo Harjanne Timo Hantunen
Teams	Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru World Rally Team
Rallies	139
Championships	4 (1996, 1997, 1998, 1999)
Rally wins	24
Podiums	45
Stage wins	362
Total points	544
First rally	1987 1000 Lakes Rally
First win	1994 1000 Lakes Rally
Last win	2002 Monte Carlo Rally
Last rally	2003 Rally Great Britain

Mäkinen is one of the most successful WRC drivers of all time, ranking fifth in wins (24) and third in championships (4), tied with Juha Kankkunen behind Sébastien Ogier (7) and Sébastien Loeb (9). In 2018, as a head of Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, he became the first person in the history of rally driving to win a Championship both as a driver and as a team principal.[1]

He is a four-time World Rally Champion, a series he first won, and then successfully defended, continuously throughout 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999, on all occasions driving the Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. He also aided Mitsubishi to the 1998 world constructors' title as well as winning the 2000 Race of Champions. Mäkinen's navigators include compatriots Seppo Harjanne, Kaj Lindström and Risto Mannisenmäki, the former retiring from alongside Mäkinen having previously served 1985 champion, and fellow "Flying Finn", Peugeot's Timo Salonen.

Career

Mäkinen won the Group N Finnish Rally Championship driving a Lancia Delta HF 4WD in 1988. Mäkinen's first world rally win came on the 1994 1000 Lakes Rally (now Neste Rally Finland), in a Ford Escort RS Cosworth. Mäkinen proved a late developer by the standards of some in rallying circles, only nabbing his first full-time manufacturer seat in a Group A formula Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution alongside former Group A rally champion Swede Kenneth Eriksson, in 1995 - but success was to prove spontaneous thereafter.

A cultured Safari Rally win in 1996 proved the platform on which to build a dominant championship lead, which he consolidated by taking the title in Australia, away from runner-up, Subaru's Colin McRae - a long-time rival. He proceeded to win every drivers' title for Mitsubishi from 1996 to 1999. The Mitsubishi team, with the Finn and young Briton Richard Burns among its driver personnel, also won its sole manufacturers' championship in 1998, while late that same year, the licensed Tommi Mäkinen Rally video game was also released. In 2000, despite opening his campaign with victory on the January Monte Carlo Rally, Mäkinen finally relinquished his grasp on the title, being beaten in the standings by new title holder and fellow Finn, Marcus Grönholm. That year Mitsubishi produced a 'Tommi Mäkinen edition' of the road version of the Lancer Evolution VI to commemorate his previous title successes. This car had a different front bumper than the regular Evolution VI, while some models also featured a red and white paint job to closely resemble Mäkinen's rally car.[2]

Mäkinen with a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo at the 2001 Rally Finland.

Mäkinen remained with Mitsubishi until the end of the 2001 season, having finished third in that year's standings behind Burns and McRae, by now respectively drivers for Subaru and Ford - but not before the inauspicious introduction of team's first ever World Rally Car on the San Remo Rally. Mäkinen and teammate Freddy Loix struggled with the car before the Finn's crash on the mountainside roads of the following round in Corsica was responsible for breaking co-driver Mannisenmäki's back and in doing so, virtually ended his top-line career. The Finn was forced to fare with substitute co-drivers for the remaining events in Australia (with Timo Hantunen) and Great Britain, the latter of which he retired from, helping Burns to claim the championship.

Mäkinen achieved his last victory with Subaru.

A move to the Prodrive-run Subaru World Rally Team for 2002 as replacement for Burns (who had chosen to drive a works Peugeot 206 WRC alongside Grönholm for his title defence) yielded one more, final career victory, on the 2002 Monte Carlo Rally where a technical infringement committed by on-the-road winner, and emerging talent, Sébastien Loeb, allowed Mäkinen to upstage the Frenchman. But his form then took a dive and he was not to add again to his tally of world titles.

He retired from the sport after the 2003 season, ending his WRC career on the podium with third place on that seasons final rally, Rally Great Britain.

In 2004 he established his own company named Tommi Mäkinen Racing Oy Ltd with the aim to prepare rally cars and provide support to drivers.[3]

In 2016, Mäkinen became the team principal of the Toyota Gazoo Racing, which is the factory team of Toyota and competes in the World Rally Championship (WRC). In 2018, the team managed to win the World Rally Championship earning Toyota their first manufacturers' title since 1999.[4]

Personal life

Mäkinen was born in Puuppola, near Jyväskylä, Finland. From 1999, he has lived in both Monaco and Jyväskylä. He is married, with two children.

WRC victories

Number	Event	Season	Co-driver	Car
1	44th 1000 Lakes Rally	1994	Seppo Harjanne	Ford Escort RS Cosworth
2	45th International Swedish Rally	1996	Seppo Harjanne	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 3
3	44th Safari Rally Kenya	1996	Seppo Harjanne	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 3
4	16º Rally Argentina	1996	Seppo Harjanne	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 3
5	46th Neste 1000 Lakes Rally	1996	Seppo Harjanne	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 3
6	9th API Rally Australia	1996	Seppo Harjanne	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 3
7	30º TAP Rallye de Portugal	1997	Seppo Harjanne	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4
8	33º Rallye Catalunya-Costa Brava (Rallye de España)	1997	Seppo Harjanne	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4
9	17º Rally Argentina	1997	Seppo Harjanne	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4
10	47th Neste Rally Finland	1997	Seppo Harjanne	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4
11	47th International Swedish Rally	1998	Risto Mannisenmäki	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4
12	18º Rally Argentina	1998	Risto Mannisenmäki	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 5
13	48th Neste Rally Finland	1998	Risto Mannisenmäki	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 5
14	40º Rallye Sanremo - Rallye d'Italia	1998	Risto Mannisenmäki	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 5
15	11th API Rally Australia	1998	Risto Mannisenmäki	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 5
16	67ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo	1999	Risto Mannisenmäki	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6
17	48th International Swedish Rally	1999	Risto Mannisenmäki	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6
18	29th Rally New Zealand	1999	Risto Mannisenmäki	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6
19	41º Rallye Sanremo - Rallye d'Italia	1999	Risto Mannisenmäki	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6
20	68ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo	2000	Risto Mannisenmäki	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6
21	69ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo	2001	Risto Mannisenmäki	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6.5
22	35º TAP Rallye de Portugal	2001	Risto Mannisenmäki	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6.5
23	49th Safari Rally Kenya	2001	Risto Mannisenmäki	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6.5
24	70ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo	2002	Kaj Lindström	Subaru Impreza WRC2001

WRC results

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	WDC	Points
1987	Tommi Mäkinen	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC	USA	NZL	ARG	FIN Ret	CIV	ITA	GBR		-	0
1988	Tommi Mäkinen	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC	USA	NZL	ARG	FIN Ret	CIV	ITA			-	0
	Mu-Uutiset 4 Rombi Corse	Lancia Delta Integrale													GBR Ret
1989	Tommi Mäkinen	Lancia Delta Integrale	SWE Ret	MON	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC	NZL	ARG	FIN Ret	AUS	ITA	CIV	GBR		-	0
1990	Pro Sport Rally Team	Mitsubishi Galant VR-4	MON	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC	NZL 6	ARG	FIN 11	AUS 7	ITA 13	CIV	GBR Ret			24th	10
1991	Promoracing Finland	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4x4	MON	SWE 13													31st	8
	Tommi Mäkinen				POR Ret	KEN	FRA	GRC
	Promoracing Finland	Mitsubishi Galant VR-4							NZL Ret	ARG
	Mazda Rally Team Europe	Mazda 323 GTX									FIN 5	AUS	ITA	CIV	ESP	GBR Ret
1992	Nissan Motorsports Europe	Nissan Sunny GTI-R	MON 9	SWE	POR Ret	KEN	FRA	GRC	NZL	ARG	FIN Ret	AUS	ITA	CIV	ESP	GBR 8	40th	5
1993	Astra	Lancia Delta HF Integrale	MON	SWE 4	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE 6	ARG	NZL	FIN 4	AUS	ITA	ESP	GBR		10th	26
1994	Nissan F2	Nissan Sunny GTI	MON	POR Ret	KEN	FRA	GRE	ARG	NZL			GBR 9					10th	22
	Ford Motor Co	Ford Escort RS Cosworth								FIN 1
	Mitsubishi Ralliart	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo II									ITA Ret
1995	Mitsubishi Ralliart	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo II	MON 4	SWE 2													5th	38
		Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III			POR	FRA 8	NZL Ret	AUS 4	ESP Ret	GBR Ret
1996	Mitsubishi Ralliart	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III	SWE 1	KEN 1	IDN Ret	GRE 2	ARG 1	FIN 1	AUS 1	ITA Ret	ESP 5						1st	123
1997	Mitsubishi Ralliart	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV	MON 3	SWE 3	KEN Ret	POR 1	ESP 1	FRA Ret	ARG 1	GRE 3	NZL Ret	FIN 1	IDN Ret	ITA 3	AUS 2	GBR 6	1st	63
1998	Mitsubishi Ralliart	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV	MON Ret	SWE 1	KEN Ret	POR Ret											1st	58
		Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V					ESP 3	FRA Ret	ARG 1	GRE Ret	NZL 3	FIN 1	ITA 1	AUS 1	GBR Ret
1999	Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI	MON 1	SWE 1	KEN DSQ	POR 5	ESP 3	FRA 6	ARG 4	GRE 3	NZL 1	FIN Ret	CHN Ret	ITA 1	AUS 3	GBR Ret	1st	62
2000	Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI	MON 1	SWE 2	KEN Ret	POR Ret	ESP 4	ARG 3	GRE Ret	NZL Ret	FIN 4	CYP 5	FRA Ret	ITA 3	AUS DSQ	GBR 3	5th	36
2001	Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6.5	MON 1	SWE Ret	POR 1	ESP 3	ARG 4	CYP Ret	GRE 4	KEN 1	FIN Ret	NZL 8					3rd	41
		Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII WRC											ITA Ret	FRA Ret	AUS 6	GBR Ret
2002	555 Subaru World Rally Team	Subaru Impreza WRC2001	MON 1	SWE Ret													8th	22
		Subaru Impreza WRC2002			FRA Ret	ESP Ret	CYP 3	ARG Ret	GRE Ret	KEN Ret	FIN 6	GER 7	ITA Ret	NZL 3	AUS DSQ	GBR 4
2003	555 Subaru World Rally Team	Subaru Impreza WRC2003	MON Ret	SWE 2	TUR 8	NZL 7	ARG Ret	GRE 5	CYP Ret	GER Ret	FIN 6	AUS 6	ITA 10	FRA 7	ESP 8	GBR 3	8th	30

See also

• International Rally Championship

References

1. "Tommi Mäkinen on rallin Midas – näin Puuppolan päälliköstä tuli historiallinen maailmanmestari Toyotan tallipäällikkönä". Aamulehti (in Finnish). 18 November 2018. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
2. "Trackside - Lancer Evo returns to rallying". AutoTrader.co.uk. 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-18.
3. "Tommi Mäkinen Racing – a former rally driver now champions wood heating" (PDF). VTT Technical research centre of Finland. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
4. Van Leeuwen, Andrew (18 November 2018). "Rally Australia: Latvala wins as Ogier, Toyota claim WRC titles". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 8 December 2018.

External links

• Tommi Mäkinen Racing Ltd.
• Toyota Gazoo Razing