"The Flying Finn" is a nickname given to several Finnish athletes who were noted for their speed. Originally, it was given to several Finnish middle and long-distance runners. The term was later extended to notable Finnish racing sportsmen.
Henri Pauli Toivonen was a Finnish rally driver born in Jyväskylä, the home of Rally Finland. His father, Pauli, was the 1968 European Rally Champion for Porsche and his brother, Harri, became a professional circuit racer.
Juha Matti Pellervo Kankkunen is a Finnish former rally driver. His factory team career in the World Rally Championship lasted from 1983 to 2002. He won 23 world rallies and four drivers' world championship titles, which were both once records in the series. Both Sébastien Loeb and Sébastien Ogier have since collected more world titles, but no driver has so far been able to repeat Kankkunen's feat of becoming a world champion with three different manufacturers, but Ogier has managed to match this achievement in 2020.
Ari Pieti Uolevi Vatanen is a Finnish rally driver turned politician and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1999 to 2009. Vatanen won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1981 and the Paris Dakar Rally four times. Since 2013 Vatanen has been the President of the Estonian Autosport Union.
Tommi Antero Mäkinen is a Finnish racing executive and former driver.
Timo Salonen is a Finnish former rally driver who won the 1985 World Rally Championship season for Peugeot. It was commented of him that he stood out from other drivers, because he was overweight, wore thick glasses and smoked heavily, but still remained one of the fastest and most competitive drivers in the sport. He was also known for his relaxed attitude and for his habit of steering his rally car with one hand only. These factors led to the nickname Löysä ("Slack"). With his 7 rally wins he remained the most successful driver of Group B era (1983–1986) of WRC.
Hannu Olavi Mikkola was a Finnish champion world rally driver. He was a seven-time winner of the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland and won the RAC Rally in Great Britain four times.
The 1986 World Rally Championship was the 14th season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) World Rally Championship (WRC). The season consisted of 13 rallies, including all twelve venues of the previous season as well as the addition of the Olympus Rally. This marked the return of the WRC to the United States and North America, as well as the first world rally to be held on the western side of the continent. The December rally would also be the only WRC event to feature Group B competition in the United States.
Jari-Matti Latvala is a Finnish rally driver who has competed in the World Rally Championship (WRC). His co-driver for most of his career was Miikka Anttila, who co-drove for Latvala between the 2003 Rallye Deutschland and 2019 Rally Catalunya. He is well known for his aggressive driving style, which earns him many plaudits, and comparisons to the late Colin McRae. With 18 event victories in the WRC, he is the most successful driver to not have won a championship. Latvala is also the driver with the most World Rally starts in the sport which he achieved in 2019, 17 years after his debut.
The Subaru World Rally Team (SWRT) was Subaru's World Rally Championship (WRC) team. It used a distinctive blue with yellow colour scheme that is a throwback to the sponsorship deal with State Express 555, a BAT cigarette brand popular in Asia. 555 logos were found on Subaru cars from 1993 to 2003, although less prevalent since 1999 due to BAT's participation in Formula One with British American Racing. Subaru's WRC efforts date back to 1980, however, the team, in its current form, has existed since 1989, when the British firm Prodrive took over its operations, and its base moved from Japan to Banbury, England.
Finland was present at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in Moscow, Russia. The country was represented by Waldo's People with "Lose Control".
Fred Gallagher is a World Rally Championship winning co-driver and motorsport personality.
Seppo Harjanne is a Finnish former rally co-driver. He is best known for co-driving for Timo Salonen from 1979 to 1988 and for Tommi Mäkinen from 1990 to 1997. With Salonen, Harjanne took ten World Rally Championship victories for the factory teams of Datsun, Peugeot and Mazda, and the 1985 drivers' world championship title in a Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2. With Mäkinen, competing mainly for the Team Mitsubishi Ralliart, he won ten more WRC events along with the 1996 and 1997 drivers' titles in a Lancer Evolution.
Hyundai Motorsport is responsible for Hyundai's global motorsports activities. The company was established in December 2012 and is based in Alzenau, Germany.
Finland participated at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 held in Bærum, Oslo, Norway. Yle (Yleisradio) hold a national final, Euroviisut 2010, to select the 2010 Finnish entry.
Mattias Kristoffer Therman is a Finnish businessman and rally driver. He was an owner of Hartwall beverage company and in 2008 he earned more capital gains than anyone else in Finland.
Finland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany and selected their entry through Euroviisut 2011, organised by Finnish broadcaster Yleisradio (Yle). The final was broadcast Full HD 1080p via the Yle HD channel.
Juha Salo is a Finnish rally driver. He has won the Finnish Rally Championship nine times, in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016. He is of no relation to Mika Salo.
Denis Giraudet is a French rally co-driver.
Finnish
