Offroad
The retiring Flying Finn looks back at his favourite car & the changes he's seen in his WRC career.
After 13 years, 15 World Rally Championship wins, 68 podiums and 259 stage wins, the final stage of Wales Rally GB, the event's Brenig Power Stage, will see Mikko Hirvonen will climb out of his M-Sport prepared Ford Fiesta and retire from the WRC.
To see Hirvonen's farewell video, click the clip below...
Before the 34-year-old announced his decision to retire from the sport on Thursday 6th November, Red Bull spoke to him to discuss the Ford Focus WRC - a car which saw Hirvonen take 80 per cent of his WRC victories, and a machine which has taken four wins in the last decade on Wales Rally GB - an event Hirvonen won in 2007.
Following Hirvonen’s announcement, the tale’s focus changed and in addition to discussing what made the Focus WRC so special, the man who finished runner up to Sébastien Loeb in the WRC drivers’ standings four times between 2008 and 2012 also reveals the changes he's witnessed to the World Rally Championship during his career...
“Hey, sorry, I’m going to have to go outside, because my boys are playing in here,” Hirvonen opens the interview with. “It’s bloody cold here in Finland, you know… about minus 1,” and from that moment, it becomes understandable why he remains a fan favourite. Likable. No bullshit. Standard Finn.
Two more came with the Ford Fiesta WRC in 2011 when the series’ regulations changed to smaller 1600cc engines and supermini bodies. His final, to date, was with a Citroen DS3 WRC on Rally Sardinia in 2012.
“I think one reason why the Focus worked so well for me, was because I was involved from the development from the start; we actually did some testing at the end of 2005, and when you’re part of developing a car, you can build it a little bit for yourself in terms of finding set-ups you really like and you get to know it.
Hirvonen then harks back to a time when the WRC was very different. M-Sport, who prepares his current Fiesta WRC, had manufacturer backing from Ford, and there were other manufacturers, too. Subaru, for example. Petter Solberg was around and current WRC champion Sébastien Ogier was just a rookie.
There was also more money; a time, then, of before “cutting back” and sizing back engines was the zeitgeist.
“That was in a time where you could do a lot more testing and we tested a lot with that car,” continues Hirvonen. “You know, the more you drive, the more familiar you get and also for me, it was a revolutionary car. It was the first time any WRC team had developed a suspension like that; we had so much travel on that part of the car and that was one part that worked really, really well.
“Some of our rivals were using a four-speed gearbox, but we had a five-speed in the Focus, and its engine, the 2.0-litre Duratec had a lot of torque, and that allowed us to really use those gears.”
The interview returns to the higher spending spirit of the times being a “totally different era of the WRC” and according to Hirvonen, that allowed Ford to pursue different avenues in car development and technology.
“There are really a lot of differences if you compare it to the Fiesta, I mean, the Focus is bigger to start with,” he laughs. But it had an active centre differential, and I loved playing with the computer programming and electronics on the engine. That allowed me to play around with the car’s handling… it was such a forgiving car to drive; you could make a small mistake, and it’d let you to correct the error easily.
“Another thing that really made that car special was just kind of small things…” he then pauses for a second. “You know, the fact we could use things like carbon fibre and we could use titanium in that time, it just made it a bit more special.”
The feeling that the Focus is a car close to Hirvonen’s heart is no more apparent, than in his account of the car’s last event on Wales Rally GB; a rally won by his then team-mate, Jari-Matti Latvala.
“It was my last ever Sunday morning with that car and I went to Parc Ferme in it. I kind of felt: “yeah, this is the last time I’m in this car” and it was a moment in a way.
“I wouldn’t say I was sad, but I do remember thinking: “bloody hell, this is the end of this car”. He then refers to, and doesn’t expand on, some “great moments” and “not so great moments” during the five seasons he drove that car. If you want to know what Hirvonen was alluding to, go on YouTube.
Before assessing his chances on his final WRC event, Hirvonen ends talking about the Focus WRC with: “if there is any rally car I could have, it would be a Ford Focus.”
It’s not surprising, is it?
Looking ahead to Wales Rally GB, Hirvonen is once again philosophical about his chances, despite finishing a strong third behind the championship winning Volkswagens of Ogier and Latvala last time out in Spain.
“Everyone can see how strong the Volkswagens are, and that’s the same for everyone. if nothing happens to them, then it’ll be tough to beat them because they’re so bloody strong.
“However, GB is a really tricky event, it’s very fast and it’s very slippery, so small mistakes can happen to absolutely anyone. I hope we can push the VWs to the limit and if they make an error, that gives us the chance to really challenge for the win and the podium. That would be a fantastic way to finish this year…”
So, will his 11 previous runs through the slippery Welsh stages help him steal an advantage over the Volkswagen Polos, which have so far won 12 of the 12 events on the 2014 WRC calendar?
“A little bit, but like I said, the WRC has changed a from when I did most of my years,” he candidly admits. “The gap between a younger newcomer and experienced guy has got a lot smaller, because nowadays people use so many videos and do so much recce. The way people make notes is more consistent and precise.
“I don’t think I have such an advantage over some of the younger boys out there. Maybe, though, if it’s really difficult conditions with fog, or rain, or ice, then maybe that might help me a little…”
And you know what? It’d be difficult to find anyone in the WRC who’d begrudge him or long-term co-driver Jarmo Lehtinen that.
You can keep up-to-date with all the action from this weekend's Wales Rally GB by heading to WRC.com, or checking out Red Bull Motorsports.
There is also a career re-cap in photos on Mikko's Facebook page, and be sure to find out how he does on his final WRC event by following him on Twitter.
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