An outing for Ford at Rally Finland in 2010 aside, Kankkunen finished his WRC career in 2002 with 23 WRC wins to his name. With Rally Finland starting this week, buckle up for a thrill ride with the country’s best drivers. Having nearly been one of rallying's also-rans, Mäkinen's late-90s blitz on the WRC has left him as one of the undisputed legends of the sport. He was the fastest driver in … Titles came in 1987 and 1991 for Lancia, before his final championship for Toyota in 1993. Check out the Climb Dance film above, from Ari Vatanen's 1988 Pikes Peak run, to see a true master at work. The 1981 champion often sailed close to the limit of what was possible in a rally car, sometimes getting away with it – see below from 1:58 for the famously bum-clenching moment at the 1983 Manx Rally where Vatanen manages to straighten up his Opel Manta just before passing through a narrow gap (and listen to co-driver Terry Harryman's reaction!) , a man so talented that at the 1967 1000 Lakes Rally, he set the third fastest time through the legendary Ouninpohja stage despite having to drive with his head half stuck out of the side window after the leather straps holding down his Mini's bonnet broke. for the 2014 title. Kankkunen with Toyota team boss Ove Andersson, Tommi Mäkinen in 1996, the year of his first title, Latvala is reckoned to be fastest in the WRC, Finland is well known for its incredible driving talent. – and sometimes not, with Vatanen's crash at the 1985 Rally Argentina in his Peugeot 205 T16 almost costing the Finn his life. remains one of the WRC's most successful ever drivers, and the only man to win four WRC titles for three different manufacturers: Peugeot. Nevertheless, Mäkinen lost his seat with Ford to Bjorn Waldegard in 1977 before winding down his career. In addition to those points, from 2011 each event holds 1 special stage, the Power Stage, in which drivers and co-drivers can score extra points – currently awarded to five fastest drivers (5, 4, 3, 2, 1). Following the end of Group B in 1986 – the year that Kankkunen claimed his first crown – Kankkunen went on to excel in the lesser-powered Group A cars, which needed to be driven harder to extract the maximum performance from them. Check out the Climb Dance film above, from. 's 1988 Pikes Peak run, to see a true master at work. Vatanen was also widely acknowledged to be the fastest driver of the World Rally Championship's fearsome Group B era in the 1980s. Get the app at. Sébastien Loeb holds the record for the most drivers' championships, winning nine during his career. Ten wins have followed, with Latvala, having switched to Volkswagen in 2013, currently battling with team-mate. no relation to Timo – had a largely unremarkable career in the WRC from 1987 to 1995, collecting just one win and one podium. He holds several other WRC records, including most event … Then out of the blue, from 1996 to 1999, the quiet Finn went win-crazy! The first real superstar Turner found was. Signed as a Mitsubishi works driver for the 1995 season, the following year Mäkinen won five out of nine rallies to take his first title, with three more championships following consecutively after that.

Turner realised that Finns had grown up driving on ice and gravel, and duly set about finding the country's best drivers to put in his team's Minis. For more Red Bull Motorsports action, follow, Want to experience the best of RedBull.com on the move? With rallying in the ascendancy in the 1960s, the British Motor Corporation's Competition Manager Stuart Turner hit on an idea that would have a profound effect on the sport: 'If you want to win, get a Finn'. David Evans on Colin McRae McRae's unwavering refusal to settle for second when there remained any possible chance of victory is what stands out about him for me. Forty years on from Stuart Turner's decision to stick Finns in his cars, Ford showed that the same method held true in rallying's modern era, using a succession of Finns in the 2000s, including, Arguably the fastest, though, was the prodigiously talented, . Of the eight Finnish F1 drivers who've started a grand prix, three have become world champions (Keke Rosberg, Mika Hakkinen and Kimi Räikkönen) while in. Though Ogier may be the more complete driver, people in the know reckon that Latvala, in terms of pure speed, is the fastest driver currently racing in the WRC. See below for this incredible spectacle. Latvala began his WRC career in 2002 aged just 17, and became a full-time Ford factory driver in 2007. He competed for the Citroën World Rally Team in the World Rally Championship (WRC) and is the most successful driver in WRC history, having won the world championship a record nine times in a row. His hat-trick of wins on the RAC Rally of Great Britain in 1973-75 was testament to this. As a works Ford man, he was routinely the fastest Escort driver out there. , Finns still lead the way in number of victories, with Finnish drivers having claimed 170 wins to France's 166. takes a look at the best rally drivers the country has produced.