Having taken part in, and won, all the leading rallies, Ari Vatanen is one of the most respected people in international motorsport. After making his debut with Ford in 1976, he took his first World Rally Championship win in 1980, on the Acropolis rally. In 1981, he won the World Rally Championship.
However, in 1985, when he was still competing at the top world level with Peugeot Talbot Sport, he was seriously injured while competing in Argentina. After nearly two years of recuperation, he rejoined Peugeot, which had switched to rally-raids. This marked the start of a new career for him, and he proceeded to win the epic Dakar rally four times, as well as many other rally-raids. Despite a brief yet successful time with Subaru in the World Rally Championship, he returned to rally-raids with Citroën, culminating in victory in the World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies in 1997. Ari has been a member of the European Parliament for Finland since 1999. He joined the Nissan Rally Raid Team for the Dakar 2003 and won 4 stages, finishing 7th overall. |
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