PART OF HIS CAREER

Born on April 27 1952 in Tuupovaara (Finland), Ari Vatanen took part in his very first rally at the age of 18. Eleven years later in 1981, he was crowned World Champion.

In his WRC career, Vatanen was closely associated with a particular car, the legendary Peugeot 205 T16 Group B. A machine famous for exceeding 500 BHP in its second evolution.

After 18 months of rehabilitation following a terrible accident in 1986, he returned to competitive motorsport in the legendary Dakar Rally which he went on to win 4 times.

While Vatanen was making his mark on the Dakar Rally, he and Peugeot found the time to tackle one of the biggest events in world motorsport in 1988 – the Pikes Peak Hill Climb.

Driving the Peugeot 405 T16, Vatanen reached the summit in 10’ 47’’ 220, which was a new record on an entirely dirt track.

Today Ari Vatanen is the ambassador of our driving course Rally Finland helping us all live the dreams and fantasies of the Flying Finns.