In Quarantine with AUTOhebdo – Happy Birthday Ari!

For many, Ari Vatanen symbolizes the adventure of Peugeot Sport in Group B, with the legendary 205 T16. The Finn also remained famous for his fabulous filmed climb of Pikes Peak with the monstrous 405 T16 or his victories at the Dakar with the Lion or Citroën.

But it was first with Ford and the Escort RS1600 then 1800 that the future MEP revealed himself in the 70s. Mainly involved in Finland and the RAC as well as the British national championship, Vatanen continued his performances and won the title. national across the Channel in 1976.

In the process, Vatanen showed himself to be more and more consistent at the world level, and began to get on the podium in WRC from 1977 in New Zealand. The first success at the highest level of rally will intervene in 1980 in Greece, also the year of a second national coronation in Great Britain.

A year later, Greece will once again be the scene of a victory for Ari Vatanen and the Ford Escort RS1800 Group 4 in Rothmans colors. But this time, the success marks the start of a superb comeback for the Finn in the championship after a difficult start to the season with two retirements at the Monte-Carlo Rally and in Portugal.

Facing Guy Fréquelin and his Talbot Sunbeam, Vatanen also won the Finnish and Brazilian events and became world champion.

If the move to Opel, with the Ascona 400 which had led Walter Röhrl to the 1982 title, was not as fruitful in 1983 for the first year of Group B, 1984 saw the great Finn begin one of the most important pages of his career at Peugeot Sport.

With a 205 T16 which features all the latest technological developments (4-wheel drive, turbo engine in central rear position), Ari Vatanen is writing a legendary page in French and international motorsport.

After two events without results in Corsica and Greece, the native of Tuupovaara won the last three events in 1984 in Finland, at Sanremo and at the RAC. All before a 1985 Monte-Carlo Rally which will remain in legend.

Largely in the lead after the first stages, Vatanen was penalized following a scoring error by his co-driver Terry Harryman. Relegated several minutes behind Walter Röhrl, then aligned with the Audi Quattro, Vatanen caught up and took advantage of a poor choice of tires from his rival to definitively regain the advantage.

This was followed by a 5th success in a row in Sweden, before the machine stalled with four consecutive retirements, then a terrible accident in Argentina, where the Finn came very close to death.

An accident which, however, will have a happy outcome for Vatanen, back on his feet and ready to face a new challenge with Peugeot: the Dakar.

Because it was on African tracks that the 1981 WRC world champion proved almost unbeatable at the end of the 80s. Following the ban from Group B in 1986, the Lion, still led by Jean Todt, set out to the rally-raid assault with its 205 then 405 T16 Grand Raid.

The result: four victories in five years for Vatanen, the last in the Citroën ZX. Only the 1988 edition escaped him, with the famous episode of the theft of the 405 in Bamako.

In the meantime, Ari Vatanen also shone on the slopes of Pikes Peak, with a victory that remained famous in 1988 with the film Climb Dance.

Always involved in rallying until the 90s, the Finn was able to return to politics by becoming a Member of the European Parliament in the 2000s.