Juha Kankkunen

Quick Facts

Full Name	Juha Kankkunen
Occupation	Rally Driver
Date Of Birth	Apr 2, 1959(1959-04-02)
Age	65
Birthplace	Laukaa
Country	Finland
Birth City	Central Finland
Horoscope	Aries

Juha Kankkunen Biography

Juha Kankkunen is one of the most popular and richest Rally Driver who was born on April 2, 1959 in Laukaa, Central Finland, Finland. Juha Matti Pellervo Kankkunen (Finnish pronunciation: [‘juha’kaNGkkunen(listen) ( listen ) born on 2 April 1959, in Laukaa) is one of the Finnish ex-racing driver. His career with the factory team during the World Rally Championship lasted from 1983 until 2002. He was the winner of 23 world rallies along with four drivers’ World championships and two drivers’ world championship titles, both of which were records for the series. The two Sebastien Loeb as well as Sebastien Ogier are now won additional world titles, however none of them has been able to replicate Kankkunen’s feat, becoming a world champion using three different manufacturers. Ogier has been able to achieve his feat of winning consecutive championships by partnering with various manufacturers.

However, outside of the World Rally Championship, he had a lot of success. Resuming the steering driving position of the Peugeot 205 T16 He won the Dakar Rally in his first attempt, after teammate and compatriot Ari Vatanen’s T16 was stolen as he was the leader of the race. Kankkunen also took part with Peugeot during the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb, being runner-up again to teammate Vatanen and also at the very first Race of Champions, beating the world rally champion of 1985 along with ex- Peugeot colleague Timo Salonen in the final to be the very first “Champion of Champions”.

Following the FIA’s decision to ban Group B, Peugeot withdrew from the WRC and Kankkunen moved to drive the Lancia Delta HF 4WD for Lancia Martini, Lancia’s factory WRC team. He was quickly comfortable in the car and led his Lancia debut in Monte Carlo until the very last stage, when Lancia boss Cesare Fiorio controversially forced him to finish second behind teammate Miki Biasion. Kankkunen later won the Olympus Rally by beating Biasion by only 12 seconds in a six-hour event. In a close battle for the drivers’ world championship title, he edged out his teammates Biasion and Alén by winning the season-ending RAC Rally. At the Autosport Awards, Kankkunen was presented the “International Rally Driver Award” for the second year running. Despite becoming the first driver to successfully defend the world title, Kankkunen’s uneasy acceptance of team orders designed to benefit Biasion, the Italian star in an Italian car, pre-empted a move elsewhere for the 1988 season.

Kankkunen’s achievements outside the WRC include winning the Dakar Rally in 1988 and the Race of Champions in 1988 and 1991. Following his retirement from active rallying, he has worked in the fields of business and politics. In 2007, Kankkunen set the world speed record on ice in a Bentley Continental GT. In 2011, he set a further record of 330.695 km/h in a convertible Bentley Continental Supersports.

Kankkunen was accepted to Toyota in 1983. He won his first WRC victory in his third season with the team. His achievements earned him a contract with champions of the championship Peugeot in 1986. Kankkunen was shortly crowned the youngest-ever series champion. In the year that Peugeot pulled out of the championship due to the suspension of the group B, Kankkunen moved to Lancia and became the first driver to keep his crown. After a brief stint at Toyota and then returning to Lancia and took home an unprecedented third championship in 1991.

Juha Kankkunen Net Worth

Juha Kankkunen is one of the richest Rally Driver from Finland. According to our analysis, Wikipedia, Forbes & Business Insider, Juha Kankkunen 's net worth $5 Million. (Last Update: December 11, 2023)

Kankkunen was raised on the farm of his parents situated in Laukaa situated in Central Finland, near the route of the Rally Finland. His father was a rally driver and Ice racing as a pastime and also instructed Juha the art of driving at an ice-racing track. Kankkunen started driving at the age of seven years old and had his first car by the age of 12. He started rallying in 1978, and was a participant at his very first World Rally Championship event at the 1979 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland where he finished 14th on the Ford Escort RS2000. Kankkunen was instructed by Timo Makinen, a close friend of his father’s. Kankkunen was able to compete regularly and gain experience thanks to financial support from Timo Jouhki as the manager of many Finnish rally drivers, including Tommi Makinen and Mikko Hirvonen.

In the wake of good results for Toyota Finland in local events, Kankkunen was signed by the Toyota Team Europe, Toyota’s factory WRC team, which is led by Ove Andersson. In his first year with Toyota’s Toyota Celica Twincam Turbo, as a teammate with 1979 World Champion Bjorn Waldegard His three appearances in the championship earned him sixth place in the 1000 Lakes, a seventh place in the RAC Rally in Great Britain and a retirement from the Rallye Cote d’Ivoire. In the next calendar year Kankkunen participated in four WRC events, with Fred Gallagher as his new regular co-driver. He took off in three events and finishing fifth in his own home event. The year 1985 was the first time he kicked off his campaign with a surprising victory in the Safari Rally, becoming the first driver to win the race in his first try. He continued to participate in four more rallies , and get his second win at the WRC’s second endurance race that was that of the Rallye Cote d’Ivoire, where he won with the same amount of penalty time (4 45 minutes and 4 hours) as his co-pilot Waldegard however, he took the victory with the tie-breaker.

Kankkunen’s performances with the Celica earned him his chance to come to the fore with the defending manufacturers’ and drivers’ champions Peugeot. The team signed him for the 1986 season to replace Ari Vatanen who was still recovering from his nearly fatal accident during the previous season. Kankkunen duly seized his opportunity, taking the second evolution of the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2 to victory in the Swedish Rally, the Acropolis Rally and the Rally New Zealand and finishing on the podium in three more events. The season ended in controversy, when first Group B cars were banned for the next season after Henri Toivonen’s fatal accident at the Tour de Corse, which outraged Peugeot team principal Jean Todt, and later the French Peugeot team were excluded at the Rallye Sanremo in Italy, resulting in a triple win for home country’s Lancia. Despite the 205 T16s passing the pre-rally scrutiny, the stewards had decreed on re-examination that the cars’ underbody fins were in fact illegal side skirts. Going into the season-ending Olympus Rally in the United States, Lancia’s Markku Alén led Kankkunen by one point. Although Alén beat Kankkunen to the win, he was the world champion only for eleven days, until Peugeot’s appeal went through. The FIA deemed the team’s Sanremo exclusion illegal and annulled the results of the event, making Kankkunen the youngest champion in the history of the series.

Height, Weight & Body Measurements

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Who is Juha Kankkunen Dating?

According to our records, Juha Kankkunen married to Pirjo Kankkunen. As of December 1, 2023, Juha Kankkunen’s is not dating anyone.

Relationships Record : We have no records of past relationships for Juha Kankkunen. You may help us to build the dating records for Juha Kankkunen!

In 1992, Kankkunen placed on the podium in each of the nine WRC events that he participated in, but took his only win at the Rally Portugal. The title fight again went down to the wire. Before the final rally, Sainz led Kankkunen by two points and Auriol, who had taken a record six wins during the season, by three points. Sainz’s victory in the RAC ahead of Ari Vatanen and Kankkunen, combined with Auriol’s retirement, confirmed the title in favour of the Spaniard.

Facts & Trivia

Juha Ranked on the list of most popular Rally Driver. Also ranked in the elit list of famous people born in Finland. Juha Kankkunen celebrates birthday on April 2 of every year.

In 1994, Kankkunen started well with a runner-up spot in Monte Carlo and a win in Portugal. In the Safari Rally, he crashed out from the lead after hitting a pothole made by rain at 180 km/h (112 mph). At the season’s half-way point, Kankkunen and Subaru’s Sainz tied the lead in the championship, but a few poor results soon dropped him out of the title fight; in Argentina and Sanremo, he suffered from mechanical problems and in Finland, he won the opening stage but lost 20 minutes on stage two after rolling his car. He climbed back into the points by finishing ninth. Finishing behind Auriol and Sainz in the overall standings, Kankkunen had to watch a teammate take the title for the only time in his career.