Mikko Hirvonen

[ish678]

I don't think he has any chance of getting out of there with his racing suit still in tact

[LadyR]

LOL...nah, Mikko is just great! As well as Jari Matti Latvala and Loeb! For sure, all these guys after the King KR! ;)

Oh boy, i just realised that I like more drivers from WRC than from F1!

[Ice-Ludy]

LOL...nah, Mikko is just great! As well as Jari Matti Latvala and Loeb! For sure, all these guys after the King KR! ;)

Oh boy, i just realised that I like more drivers from WRC than from F1!

I know exactly what you mean LadyR!

[Wolfie]

LOL...nah, Mikko is just great! As well as Jari Matti Latvala and Loeb! For sure, all these guys after the King KR! ;)

Oh boy, i just realised that I like more drivers from WRC than from F1!

I know exactly what you mean LadyR!

So who is number two for you girls? Ken Block? Seb Loeb?

Or better yet, Top 3

[ish678]

LOL...nah, Mikko is just great! As well as Jari Matti Latvala and Loeb! For sure, all these guys after the King KR! ;)

Oh boy, i just realised that I like more drivers from WRC than from F1!

I know exactly what you mean LadyR!

So who is number two for you girls? Ken Block? Seb Loeb?

Or better yet, Top 3

If I could just butt in here, in what context do you mean, Wolfie?

For me, it's Kimi first (obviously) then Mikko and Dani Sordo - I do like the Spanish...well, except a certain F1 driver.

[ReAlien]

For me Kimi, Miko, Jari-Matti, Petter, Ogier, Seb.

[Ice-Ludy]

LOL...nah, Mikko is just great! As well as Jari Matti Latvala and Loeb! For sure, all these guys after the King KR! ;)

Oh boy, i just realised that I like more drivers from WRC than from F1!

I know exactly what you mean LadyR!

So who is number two for you girls? Ken Block? Seb Loeb?

Or better yet, Top 3

For me is a Top 3 for sure: Kimi , Seb Loeb and Seb Ogier!!!!

[Moominpappa]

Should I stay without answer? Here it comes, like or not:
Kimi, Loeb, Hirvonen. I have mixed feelings for Loeb: he seems to be very nice person but he is won so much that now is another drivers turn.

[LadyR]

LOL...nah, Mikko is just great! As well as Jari Matti Latvala and Loeb! For sure, all these guys after the King KR! ;)

Oh boy, i just realised that I like more drivers from WRC than from F1!

I know exactly what you mean LadyR!

So who is number two for you girls? Ken Block? Seb Loeb?

Or better yet, Top 3

Nah...on 1st place...oh surprise, surprise...."Herra" Kimi Räikkönen
2nd place "Monsieur" Sebastien Loeb
3rd place "Herra" Mikko Hirvonen
4th place "Herra" Jari Matti Latvala
....and so on....

[Wolfie]

Turkey review

AMAZING RACE

For a small country Iceland has put Europe quite well on it's knees. Of course nobody can do anything about vulcanos but I would never have believed that it creates a mess like this. I got off pretty easily but many people in rally is in quite some trouble.

My, Jarmo Lehtinen's and a couple of other guys journey back home started with a minivan from Istanbul to Bulgaria. We crossed the border on foot because it was the fastest way. From the border we got a ride from people we knew to Sofia from where we flew to Prag. From Prag we continued by flight to Riga. From Latvia we rented a car, drove to Estonia and came by boat to Helsinki. We were in Finland on Tuesday night at 11 p.m.

The trip took a couple of days but during these times one can consider it fast. My boss Malcolm Wilson will get to England tomorrow and others might have an even longer trip. Some friends bought an Audi from Sofia. The paperwork took 7 hours but the drive only a third of it. You see the turning bar broke after 130 km. Now the guys are still in Sofia.

The vulcano might have also messed up the WRC-serie because Stobart's cars for example are still on their way to England. They should be rebuilt for the next race and get shipped by air in time. If things go really badly they might even cancel the next race. That would be a bad thing for me. Sebastien Loeb made the gap even bigger in Turkey and I really can't afford to leave any races.

Despite our bad situation in the WRC-serie I'm quite satisfied with Turkey's rally because the driving went well and the battle was tight. We went head by head for two days but the weather ruined my attack on Sunday. Cancelling the first two stages left me with less kilometers to get the gap smaller and I couldn't do anything else than drive with a big risk. It lead to tyre puncture and ended my dreams for victory.

I should be satisfied with the podium-position in my current situation. The competition has become remarkably tougher and it's only a good thing. Petter Solberg, Jari-Matti Latvala, Dani Sordo and Sebastien Ogier are all fighting head to head with me and Loeb. Of course one has to remember that Sordo and Ogier can't win Loeb and maybe the same applies to Jari-Matti but still the competition is tough and it also makes the risks bigger. We can't just bump along second to finish line like in earlier years.

In Turkey we raced, we didn't use tactics. This is the way it should be. The drivers did give FIA their suggestion for change of regulations after Jordan rally which would end the tricking. Guess what FIA's reply has been? You're right - silence.

FIA decided in their own voting before Turkey to stop the tricking where a driver who have come too early to the starting place would act as the sweeper for his team mate. It was a good decision for everyone else except the lawyers. Even Jean Todt had to give in when the men in suits claimed that the decision is illegal. Nice action.

I won't worry about FIA's actions, Iceland's vulcanos, Citroen's Sebastien-double or world peace. I will still trust myself, my car and my co-driver and won't worry. Last season proved that everything is possible as long as there are races left. And we have enough of them - whether there's ash in the air or not.

Mikko Hirvonen
21.04. 2010

[momo]

Turkey review

AMAZING RACE

For a small country Iceland has put Europe quite well on it's knees. Of course nobody can do anything about vulcanos but I would never have believed that it creates a mess like this. I got off pretty easily but many people in rally is in quite some trouble.

My, Jarmo Lehtinen's and a couple of other guys journey back home started with a minivan from Istanbul to Bulgaria. We crossed the border on foot because it was the fastest way. From the border we got a ride from people we knew to Sofia from where we flew to Prag. From Prag we continued by flight to Riga. From Latvia we rented a car, drove to Estonia and came by boat to Helsinki. We were in Finland on Tuesday night at 11 p.m.

The trip took a couple of days but during these times one can consider it fast. My boss Malcolm Wilson will get to England tomorrow and others might have an even longer trip. Some friends bought an Audi from Sofia. The paperwork took 7 hours but the drive only a third of it. You see the turning bar broke after 130 km. Now the guys are still in Sofia.

The vulcano might have also messed up the WRC-serie because Stobart's cars for example are still on their way to England. They should be rebuilt for the next race and get shipped by air in time. If things go really badly they might even cancel the next race. That would be a bad thing for me. Sebastien Loeb made the gap even bigger in Turkey and I really can't afford to leave any races.

Despite our bad situation in the WRC-serie I'm quite satisfied with Turkey's rally because the driving went well and the battle was tight. We went head by head for two days but the weather ruined my attack on Sunday. Cancelling the first two stages left me with less kilometers to get the gap smaller and I couldn't do anything else than drive with a big risk. It lead to tyre puncture and ended my dreams for victory.

I should be satisfied with the podium-position in my current situation. The competition has become remarkably tougher and it's only a good thing. Petter Solberg, Jari-Matti Latvala, Dani Sordo and Sebastien Ogier are all fighting head to head with me and Loeb. Of course one has to remember that Sordo and Ogier can't win Loeb and maybe the same applies to Jari-Matti but still the competition is tough and it also makes the risks bigger. We can't just bump along second to finish line like in earlier years.

In Turkey we raced, we didn't use tactics. This is the way it should be. The drivers did give FIA their suggestion for change of regulations after Jordan rally which would end the tricking. Guess what FIA's reply has been? You're right - silence.

FIA decided in their own voting before Turkey to stop the tricking where a driver who have come too early to the starting place would act as the sweeper for his team mate. It was a good decision for everyone else except the lawyers. Even Jean Todt had to give in when the men in suits claimed that the decision is illegal. Nice action.

I won't worry about FIA's actions, Iceland's vulcanos, Citroen's Sebastien-double or world peace. I will still trust myself, my car and my co-driver and won't worry. Last season proved that everything is possible as long as there are races left. And we have enough of them - whether there's ash in the air or not.

Mikko Hirvonen
21.04. 2010

Grazie tante Wolfie!

[Wolfie]

This guy has so much humility that I can't but respect him - deeply

Mikko Hirvonen's blog
19.5.2010

TO PORTUGAL WITHOUT ANY PRESSURES

Sometimes you have to admit the facts - I have drove better sometimes. New Zealand offered a disappointment, something this season has offered me too many times. After confessing the fact it's reason to start thinking why the job is so hard. It's easy to ask but finding the answer is much more difficult.

The car works fine although there might be something we could do to improve it. Yet the reason for my weak results is found between the steering wheel and the seat. The human component.

After driving out in Jordan I have desperately been after a victory because fighting Sebastien Loeb requires that. I've started each rally with a victory in my mind and with a straight foot on the pedal. Too much trying and too many risks taken but still the pace hasn't been enough. After thinking about the matter I've come to the conclusion that that's exactly the reason why there hasn't been any results.

I have simply tried too much, fought too much, thought about the victory too much. Too much, too much, too much.

Speed is a consequence of a good car, a natural talent, experience and consideration. I have a good car, experience and consideration. Yet trying too hard has suffocated my natural driving rhythm. Driving has lacked relaxation and pleasure. I've been like a grown-up in the games a small boy plays: I've done a serious amount of doing things but the performance has been forced. It's time to let the enthusiastic small boy go back to the sand-box.

Driving a rally car is a big pleasure for me. It's difficult to explain to outsiders the joy it gives. In a tough racing situation the pleasure must top the stress created by pressure or otherwise the performance becomes a forced attempt and it shows inevitably in the results. This I forgot for a moment.

No pressure makes wonders to a driver's performances. Just look at Jari-Matti Latvala's driving. He got a great victory from New Zealand and his season has been going on well. The earlier fast but insecure youngster has disappeared and his place is taken by a considerating, mature and still fast top professional.

I know that my struggling has awakened a lot of speculation among the fans and the media. It's understandable and probably justified also. I take no pressure about it. The job hasn't been working lately but it isn't the end of the world to me. I fix the problems and if I can't, then I can't. Life goes on and I try later again.

I will go to Portugal and drive a top time stage by stage. Corner by corner, concentrating on one stage at a time and see in the end where it took me. I have not given up, on the contrary. My goal is still to win the championship only I don't think about it all the time. Now I go forward step by step and enjoy each moment.

[Kinga]

This guy has so much humility that I can't but respect him - deeply

Absolutely agree! Thanks for this, Nicole.

[saif]

Mikko Hirvonen will compete in a two-day tarmac rally in Serbia as a test ahead of Rally Bulgaria next month.

Malcolm Wilson on the decision to enter the Serbian Rally: "Mikko is working hard in his bid for the drivers' championship and we wanted to give him the chance to get used to asphalt driving again. He tested for three days on the surface in England immediately after Rally New Zealand. The Serbia Rally will give the team the opportunity to test some of the things that came out of that session in genuine rally surroundings. It will help Mikko and the team in our preparations for the asphalt rallies to come in the WRC."

[valuk]

Mikko in Serbia.

(pictures: from Rally Magazin Forum, user:JeZn )