Mikko Hirvonen
FameRank: 4

"Mikko Hirvonen" is a Finland/Finnish former Rallying/rally driver who drove in the World Rally Championship. He placed third in the drivers' championship and helped Ford World Rally Team/Ford to the List of World Rally Championship Constructors' Champions/manufacturers' title in both 2006 World Rally Championship season/2006 and 2007 World Rally Championship season/2007. In 2008 World Rally Championship season/2008, 2009 World Rally Championship season/2009, 2011 World Rally Championship season/2011 and 2012 World Rally Championship season/2012 he finished runner-up to Sébastien Loeb. Hirvonen's co-driver has been Jarmo Lehtinen since the 2003 season.

More Mikko Hirvonen on Wikipedia.

The roads are soft and there is no advantage in running further down the start order. They are not cleaning like we thought they would. I'm driving at a steady pace, which was the plan. The brake pedal felt soft on stage four so I bled the front brakes after the finish and that improved things. I'm not sure about my tyre choice. Maybe I needed cuts like Marcus.

233

After our pre-Christmas test, I did three days testing on gravel last week and that's helped me get used to the car on loose surfaces. But then, it's always a shock to come here, with the high speeds. This morning was very good and the car feels excellent. The traction is very good, so now we need more power! But then, every driver will always want more power!

226

I made a mistake in Sweden; I made a mistake in Mexico. I must avoid that. I will continue flat out because that's how the car needs to be driven. But I need to stop making errors.

206

This stage was terrible driving for me.

169

Today has been good for my confidence. The Focus RS is easy to drive and I loved it out there. I have so much confidence in it and it's encouraging to set times similar to Loeb and Solberg.

127

The fight goes on! I enjoy a good battle and I don't think either of them is going to give up just yet. We made some set-up changes to the centre differential last night and in turning the Focus feels more agile now.

74

I've had lots of problems. There's something wrong with the centre differential and the handbrake, and I had to shunt backwards and forwards to get round all the hairpins.

58