In the past, Mikko Hirvonen and Sebastien Loeb were close rivals – It probably won’t come to another clash
Sebastien Loeb has won the World Rally Championship (WRC) season opener in Monte Carlo with M-Sport, making history as the first winner in the Rally1 era with hybrid cars. The nine-time WRC champion is 47 years old and reels off a part-time programme for the Ford team. His former rival Mikko Hirvonen is impressed, but has ruled out a WRC return himself.
Hirvonen is 41 years old and was part of the WRC until 2014, where he was one of Loeb’s closest pursuers in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Between 2008 and 2012, the Finn finished second in the overall standings a whole four times – each time behind the Frenchman. Hirvonen has won 15 rallies in his career but has never taken the title.
In 2009, Hirvonen was very close: the Finn fought a head-to-head duel with Loeb throughout the year, culminating in the British final after six wins for Loeb and four for Hirvonen. Loeb secured win number seven of the season and won the championship by just one point over his closest rival.
Hirvonen retired from the WRC after the 2014 season, while Loeb continues to contest some rallies. That actually sounds like an unsettled score between the two rally aces, but the Finn rules out a return. He wants to continue to focus on helping young rally drivers and developing talent.
Hirvonen recently took up the position of chief instructor in Toyota’s WRC junior programme. There, he is supposed to pave the way for young drivers from Japan to enter the World Championship. He currently has three drivers under his wing who might one day make it into the Rally 1 category of the WRC.
He tells us: “I’m certainly not going to drive at the WRC level any more. I might do some fun historic rallies or autocross, but there are no concrete plans there either. For now, I’m happy watching my guys train and being involved in the Toyota programme. That’s enough for me.”
Hirvonen, however, has great respect for Loeb: “Hats off to him! He drove a fantastic Rally Monte Carlo. But that didn’t spark the enthusiasm in me to make a comeback myself.” The role in the background and working with young talent fulfils the Finn, which is why there is no reason for him to get the racing suit out of the basement.
Hirvonen not only looks after Japanese drivers Hikaru Kogure, Nao Otake and Yuki Yamamoto, but also helps Kalle Rovanperä improve at asphalt rallies. Rovanperä is one of the most promising youngsters at Toyota. The Japanese want to follow Takamoto Katsuta, who has already made it into the top class of the WRC.