Mikko Hirvonen
Mikko Hirvonen was born in Kannonkoski, Finland on July 31st, 1980 and is the Race Car Driver. At the age of 44, Mikko Hirvonen biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
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Mikko Hirvonen (born 31 July 1980) is a Finnish rally racer and a former Rally Raid pilot who competed in the World Rally Championship.
In both 2006 and 2007, he came third in the drivers' championship and helped Ford win the manufacturers' title.
He finished runners-up to Sébastien Loeb in 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2012.
Jarmo Lehtinen, Hirvonen's co-driver from 2003 to 2014, was co-drove with Hirvonen.
Career
Hirvonen won the Under 2000.c Group A Finnish Rally Championship (Kingdom) in 2002. In a third Ford World Rally Team entry in the 2003 season, he made his debut full time in a sixth place at the Cyprus Rally.
Hirvonen was invited to replace teammate Petter Solberg in 2004 for the Subaru World Rally Team after Richard Burns was diagnosed with brain tumor in late 2003. He scored in ten rallies, but his best event result was only fourth, at the Rally Argentina and in the season-ending Rally Australia. These efforts were not enough to guarantee a seat for the 2005 season. Hirvonen fought a two-year-old Ford Focus WRC 03 and led one rally throughout the year, winning a third place at the Rally Catalunya as a privateer.
Hirvonen's appearances on such occasions brought him right back to Ford's notice, since his factory arm had signed him for the 2006 season. Hirvonen was behind the new Ford Focus RS WRC 06, collaborating with Marcus Grönholm. Hirvonen won his first World Rally Championship victory at the Rally Australia and came in second second at the Rally d'Italia Sardegna, the Rally of Turkey, and Rally New Zealand. He earned his third position overall in the drivers' world championship by finishing on the podium for six rallies in a row.
Hirvonen began in the 2007 season with a fifth place at the 75ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo and a third place in the 56th Uddeholm Swedish Rally. He won the 2007 Rally Norway and the 2007 Wales Rally GB for his second straight WRC victory. He came in third place in the driver's championship, 17 points behind Sébastien Loeb. Hirvonen won the manufacturers' title for Ford for the second year in a row with Grönholm.
Hirvonen was officially named as the top BP-Ford Abu Dhabi factory driver for the 2008 season on December 17th, following Marcus Grönholm's departure. Jari-Matti Latvala, a young compatriot, was named his coworker in the second factory Focus. Hirvonen started the season off in second place at the 2008 Monte Carlo Rally, which was his and the BP-Ford Team's goal. He was considered Sweden's favorite, but he had to settle for second because he was unable to keep up with his younger teammate's speed. Hirvonen won his first match of the season at the inaugural Jordan Rally in Rally Mexico, where he punctures and had to change a wheel, and then re-joined under SuRally rules to take fifth place.
Hirvonen defeated Turkey for his second straight victory of the season. Despite being the favorite to win at his home event, Rally Finland, he could not keep up with his title rival Loeb's speed and finished second. Hirvonen was leading during a puncture and a spin on the penultimate stage, dropping him to third behind Citro'n drivers Loeb and Sordo in New Zealand. Both Hirvonen's colleague Latvala and Stobart M-Sport Ford driver François Duval crashed out from second and fifth place, respectively, on stage, causing Ford's disaster. Hirvonen fell eight points behind Loeb in the drivers' championship, with only four more rallies remaining.
Loeb soon secured his number one spot in Japan's drivers' championship, but the manufacturers' title battle was still open, with Ford trailing Citron by 11 points. Hirvonen rolled his car onto the roof of stage five of the season-ending Wales Rally GB, and that all changed. As a result, he was pushed to 44th place, but he managed to climb to eighth position by the end of the run. Hirvonen and Lehtinen were the first WRC drivers to score points in every round of a season thanks to this success.
Hirvonen began the 2009 season in a third position behind the Citron pair at Rally Ireland. He barely won the Rally Norway in 2007, which he won in 2007, just barely escaping the victory to Loeb after a close three-day match. In the ensuing two rallies in Cyprus and Portugal, he came in second, second to Loeb. Hirvonen tied for the longest points finish streak in the series (22 events) in Portugal, alongside his former teammate Marcus Grönholm. Hirvonen was six seconds behind Loeb after 14 stages, when his Focus RS WRC suffered with an engine malfunction. Loeb took the drivers' standings by 20 points after his retirement.
On day one of Rally d'Italia Sardegna, Hirvonen, and Loeb all dropped time in order to gain a better road position. Hirvonen was unable to reach teammate Latvala, who had been battling in front from start to finish after Loeb sustained a puncture. Hirvonen won his first game of the season in the Acropolis Rally in Greece. Loeb's championship lead was cut by seven points with his expulsion from the Frenchman's. Loeb crashed once more during Rally Poland, but the team resurgent to seventh place, with Hirvonen winning his second straight rally and his second consecutive victory. Hirvonen took the lead on the first proper stage of the first proper stage of the event in Finland and then pushed away from Loeb to win his first home match. Mikko was back in Australia a few weeks after winning just a close contest with Loeb. Loeb's car was discovered to have rollbar violations, as had Dani Sordo and Sébastien Ogier. Hirvonen's victory was then decided by 1 minute time penalties, which gave them the victory and ten points. Hirvonen led the 2009 Championship by a point from Sebastien Loeb and needed a victory to clinch the trophy, but the bonnet hinge failed on the penultimate stage, prompting the Championship to be canceled.
Hirvonen stayed with Ford for the final time as a result of the Ford Focus RS WRC in 2010, before switching to the Ford Fiesta RS WRC in 2011. Hirvonen changed his position to a Citron DS3 WRC in 2012 to partner Sebastien Loeb in the Citron Total World Rally Team.
Citroon's first rally victory of the 2012 season brought the championship to a close conclusion, but he was later disqualified from the competition due to technical difficulties with his Citron DS3 WRC's clutch and turbo.
Hirvonen had a rough year in 2013, finishing on the podium just five times and collecting no wins. He had one of his biggest accidents in Wales at the start of the year. He finished the season in fourth place.
Hirvonen, who was previously Ford, will re-join M-Sport, formerly Ford, for the 2014 season, according to a tweet on December 13. His season was remarkably good for him, with three podium appearances and three power stage victories placing him fourth in the championship, behind dominant Volkswagen trio Sebastien Ogier, Jari-Matti Latvala, and Andreas Mikkelsen.
It was revealed on Friday that he would withdraw from the sport just days before the Wales Rally GB's starts on November 6, 2014.
Hirvonen launched a Mini Countryman in 2015 and came third at the Baja Aragón with co-driver Michel Périn. He came in fourth place at the 2016 Dakar Rally in January 2016. Finn won the Hungarian Baja and finished third in the overall standings at the eAbu Dhabi Desert Challenge and Baja Aragón in the 2016 FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup. At the 2017 Dakar Rally, the driver ranked 13th.