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Ari Vatanen
Vatanen in 2009
Born	(1952-04-27) 27 April 1952 (age 72) Tuupovaara, Finland
Nationality	Finnish
World Rally Championship record
Active years	1974–1985, 1987–1998, 2003
Co-driver	Alf Krogell Geraint Phillips Peter Bryant Atso Aho Jim Scott David Richards Terry Harryman "Tilber" Bruno Berglund Fabrizia Pons Roger Freeman Fred Gallagher Juha Repo
Teams	Ford, Opel, Peugeot, Subaru, BMW, Mitsubishi, Citroën
Rallies	101
Championships	1 (1981)
Rally wins	10
Podiums	27
Stage wins	590
Total points	518
First rally	1974 1000 Lakes Rally
First win	1980 Acropolis Rally
Last win	1985 Swedish Rally
Last rally	2003 Rally Finland
Member of the European Parliament for Finland
In office 13 June 1999 – 12 June 2004
Member of the European Parliament for Sud-Est (France)
In office 13 June 2004 – 6 June 2009
Personal details
Political party	National Coalition Party Union for a Popular Movement

Ari Pieti Uolevi Vatanen (pronounced [ˈɑri ˈʋɑtɑnen] ; born 27 April 1952) is a Finnish rally driver turned politician and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1999 to 2009. He won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1981 and the Paris Dakar Rally four times. In addition, he won the 1997 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies.

Racing career

Vatanen's debut year in rallying was 1970, and he debuted in the World Rally Championship at the 1974 1000 Lakes Rally. In that year he won the Nortti Rally in an Opel Ascona, beating Hannu Mikkola in the process, which brought him to wider attention. His first international rally was the 1975 Rothmans 747 Rally in Jamaica driving a Datsun 120Y. He placed 12th with co-driver Gerry Phillips. At the end of that season he was offered his first professional drive, in a Ford Escort RS1800, on the RAC Rally. He crashed out on the second day, but by then he had impressed Ford team manager Stuart Turner enough to be offered a seat in the team for the British Rally Championship the following year.

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. Vatanen did not finish the Scottish Rally, but he won the championship, a feat he repeated in 1980, co-driven by David Richards, who later became chairman of Prodrive. Between 1977 and 1980, Vatanen also competed in selected World Championship events, initially for the official Ford team and then, after its withdrawal from the sport at the end of 1979, for the semi-private Rothmans Rally Team. He took his debut win at the 1980 Acropolis Rally and became the World Rally Champion in 1981.

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 won the Safari Rally.

In 1984, Vatanen signed to drive the Peugeot 205 T16 for Peugeot's factory team. From the 1984 1000 Lakes Rally to 1985 Swedish Rally, Vatanen won five world rallies in a row. He was tipped to win the 1985 world title, but at mid-season was trailing his teammate Timo Salonen after a series of accidents and mechanical problems. He then had a serious accident on the Rally Argentina, when his car somersaulted at over 120 mph (190 km/h). His seat broke, and he was thrown around inside the car, suffering severe injuries to his legs and torso and life-threatening internal bleeding. He spent 18 months recovering first from his physical injuries, and then from severe depression. He went on to make a complete recovery and his return to motorsport in 1987 saw him go on to win the Paris-Dakar Rally four times; with Peugeot in 1987, 1989 and 1990, and with Citroën in 1991. He became the centre of controversy when his car was stolen whilst leading the same rally in 1988.

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 Pikes Peak International Hillclimb, after Peugeot stopped participating in the World Rally Championship in 1986, due to the demise of Group B rallying. Peugeot used the lessons learnt from its 205 T16 to create the 405 T16. With at least 600 bhp (447 kW), large aerofoils, four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering, Vatanen took the car up the hill in record time, his efforts being captured in the award-winning short film Climb Dance.

Vatanen continued competing in the World Rally Championship until the 1998 season. He drove for Mitsubishi Ralliart Europe in four events in 1989 and in five events in 1990. His best result with the Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 was second at the 1990 1000 Lakes Rally. From 1992 to 1993, he competed for Subaru in 11 events, finishing second three times, including on the debut event of the first Subaru Impreza in Finland. Vatanen briefly led the event before being overhauled by eventual winner Juha Kankkunen. Even so, he was dropped by the Subaru team at the end of the 1993 season in favour of Carlos Sainz.

The following year he returned to the wheel of a Ford, driving the Ford Escort RS Cosworth for a semi-private team, and then being co-opted into the Ford factory team where he stood in for the injured Francois Delecour. He scored a podium finish on Rally Argentina, the first time he had contested the event since his accident there nine years previously.

From 1995, Vatanen competed less frequently. He scored a podium finish at the 1998 Safari Rally, and then briefly returned to a works Subaru for the season-ending Rally of Great Britain, marking his 100th World Rally Championship event.

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, finishing eleventh. In 2004 and 2005, he drove the Dakar for Nissan, and in 2007 he made another attempt with Volkswagen, but retired on the seventh stage after a fire destroyed his car.

In September 2008, Vatanen took part in the Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally, a round of the Scottish Rally Championship centred in Perth in Scotland. His co-driver was once again David Richards and they competed in the same Rothmans sponsored Ford Escort RS1800 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 (1972–2024), Ria (b. 1980), Tua (b. 1982) and Max (b. 1990). They have homes in Finland and France. Kim was 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.

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

Vatanen speaks fluent Finnish, English, and French.

Political career

In 1999, Vatanen was elected to the European Parliament from the list of the conservative Finnish 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.

In July 2009, Vatanen declared his interest in being a candidate to stand against Max Mosley in the FIA presidential elections in October if Mosley decide to stand for another term as president. Vatanen later confirmed that he would run for the presidency. On 23 October 2009, Vatanen failed in his bid to be elected as president of the FIA, which was won by his former team boss at Peugeot, subsequently Scuderia Ferrari manager Jean Todt.

Vatanen is a signatory of the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism.

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

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:

References

1. "1988: The desperate Peugeot search (28/40)". Retrieved 6 July 2023.
2. "Ari Vatanen". RallyBase. Archived from the original on 3 January 2007. Retrieved 30 January 2007.
3. "Dakar 2007 Withdrawals". Archived from the original on 17 January 2007.
4. "Profile: Ari Vatanen". Politico Europe. 4 September 2002. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
5. "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.
6. TelenovaMSP (18 June 2013). "Ari Vatanen – The Poet of Rallying". Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2021 – via YouTube.
7. "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.
8. "Vatanen 'interested' in FIA presidency". Autosport.com. 7 July 2009. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
9. Noble, Jonathan (10 July 2009). "Vatanen to run for FIA presidency". Autosport.
10. "Motor racing-Todt elected FIA president". Reuters. 23 October 2009. Archived from the original on 27 October 2009. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
11. "Prague Declaration: Selected signatories". Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism. Archived from the original on 25 August 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
12. 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)

• 1952 births
• Dakar Rally drivers
• Dakar Rally–winning drivers
• Finnish rally drivers
• Finnish sportsperson-politicians
• Living people
• MEPs for Finland 1999–2004
• MEPs for South-East France 2004–2009
• National Coalition Party MEPs
• Off-road racing drivers
• People from Tuupovaara
• Union for a Popular Movement MEPs
• World Rally Champions
• World Rally Championship drivers
• Finnish expatriates in France
• Citroën Racing drivers
• Peugeot Sport drivers
• Volkswagen Motorsport drivers
• Sportspeople from Joensuu