Harri Toivonen

Harri Toivonen (born 22 October 1960) is a Finnish former rally and race car driver. He is the younger brother of the late Henri Toivonen and son of Pauli Toivonen.

Rally career

Toivonen's first World Rally Championship outcome was at the 1980 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland driving a Chrysler Avenger, former car of his brother Henri.

In 1983, Toivonen drove a Mitsubishi Lancer Turbo, mainly for the Finnish Junior Rally Team. In 1986, he came to a deal with the Austin Rover works team to drive the British Rally open in an MG Metro 6R4. While competing at the Wales Rally in early May, he heard the news of his brother's accident at the Tour de Corse which cost Henri and co-driver Sergio Cresto their lives.

Toivonen continued competing later that year. He drove his Metro to eighth place at the 1000 Lakes Rally, but retired at the UK's RAC Rally in November. The rally his brother Henri won one year earlier.

After some unsuccessful years in rallying after 1986, Toivonen switched to circuit racing. He drove in several racing classes with some successes. He participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1991 finishing ninth overall, driving a Porsche 962 for Kremer Racing with JJ Lehto and Manuel Reuter.

In 2002, Toivonen hung up his helmet as a full-time driver. In 2006, he opened an exhibition to pay tribute to his brother Henri at the Neste Oil Rally Finland.

Toivonen is now involved with Ian's Dawsons Le Mans Prototype Eco Racing Team.

Racing record

Complete WRC results

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	WDC	Points
1980	Harri Toivonen	Chrysler Avenger	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	GRC	ARG	FIN Ret	NZL	ITA	FRA	GBR	CIV		NC	0
1981	Harri Toivonen	Talbot Sunbeam Lotus	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC	ARG	BRA	FIN Ret	ITA	CIV	GBR		NC	0
1982	David Sutton Cars Ltd.	Ford Escort RS1800	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC	NZL	BRA	FIN Ret	ITA	CIV	GBR		NC	0
1983	Harri Toivonen	Mitsubishi Lancer Turbo	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC	NZL	ARG	FIN Ret	ITA	CIV			NC	0
Mitsubishi Ralliart												GBR Ret
1986	Austin Rover WRT	MG Metro 6R4	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC	NZL	ARG	FIN 8	CIV	ITA	GBR Ret	USA	49th	3
1987	Harri Toivonen	Mazda 323 4WD	MON	SWE Ret	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC	USA	NZL	ARG	FIN Ret	CIV	ITA	GBR	NC	0
1988	Harri Toivonen	Lancia Delta Integrale	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC	USA	NZL	ARG	FIN Ret	CIV	ITA	GBR	NC	0

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1991	Germany Porsche Kremer Racing	Germany Manuel Reuter Finland JJ Lehto	Porsche 962CK6	C2	343	9th	9th
1992	United Kingdom British Racing Motors	South Africa Wayne Taylor United Kingdom Richard Jones	BRM P351	C1	20	DNF	DNF
1996	Germany Kremer Racing	France Christophe Bouchut Germany Jürgen Lässig	Kremer K8 Spyder	LMP1	110	DNF	DNF
1997	United Kingdom Pacific Racing Ltd.	Chile Eliseo Salazar Spain Jesús Pareja	BRM P301-Nissan	LMP	6	DNF	DNF
2001	United Kingdom Team Ascari	South Africa Werner Lupberger United Kingdom Ben Collins	Ascari A410-Judd	LMP900	134	DNF	DNF

External links

(in Italian)