Vatanen -- the crowd favourite
author: Leon Botha
If one had to find one competitor that you could really say was the crowd favourite, you would not have to look too far.
Judging by the applause and cheers he received when he and co-driver Tina Thorner appeared on the start ramp, he is by far the most loved.
Looking at the 50-year-old Vatanen's career, it is easy to understand why. He has won the Dakar four times, driving for Peugeot and the TOTAL sponsored Citroen team that dominated the event in early 1990's.
He has won the World Rally Drivers Championship twice and has also won the World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies. Quite a motorsport CV.
He made his debut in rallying in 1976 driving for Ford. In that year he was crowned the series champion in he British Open Championship and did it again in 1980.
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Leon Botha
Earlier days - Vatanen putting the Escort through its paces. Motorpics.co.za
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He won his first WRC drivers championship in 1981 and scored his first Dakar rally win in 1987.
In 1992 he was part of the TOTAL Citroen team that competed in the TOTAL Paris Sirte le Cap Rally. A puncture in the desert cost him valuable time while waiting for the chase car, driven by Jean-Pierre Lartegue to catch up with a spare. He never recovered and the current organiser of the Dakar, Hubert Auriol in a Mitsubishi Pajero, won the event.
With Vatanen in that team were other motorsport reads like Jackie Ickx of Le Mans fame, Bjorn Waldegard, another WRC champion and who competed on the TOTAL International Rally, Philippe Monnet, who is still entered in this year's event, and of course Lartegue.
In 1995 Vatanen made a return to WRC rallying, again with Ford. In that year Jannie Habig and Douglas Judd, entered the RAC Rally, and found them in the company of Vatanen and Thorner.
The immediately struck up a very good relationship and Vatanen and Thorner assisted Habig and Judd in preparing for the event.
Habig and Judd surprised everybody by finishing seventh overall, the first privateer crew behind the works teams.
In 1985 Vatanen was seriously injured wile competing in the Argentine Rally for Peugeot. It took him two years to recuperate, and he then rejoined the Peugeot team that had by then switched to rally raids.
Rallying's loss was marathon rallying's gain as Vatanen was as successful in these long distance events as he was in WRC events.
He has won just about every one of the rally raids that form part of the World Cup for Cross-Country rallies. The Dakar is not part of the series, as the event does not comply with the FIA regulations for the world cross-country championship.
A father of four, Vatanen is also a member of the European Parliament for Finland.
Driving for Team Nissan on the 2003 Dakar, he has shown at an early stage that he has not lost his touch even after an absence of six years. A true ambassador for motorsport.
As an aside, how do you like this as something that embodies the spirit of the Dakar?
Philippe Leblanc (KTM) "I rode the special standing up on my bike and waving to the crowd. It was fun. I’m so lucky to be at the start of this rally and so lucky in my life. I have four children and a half, the last one will be born at the end of January. A great wife that follows me in all my projects. Six years ago when I decided to start riding a bike, we sold everything: house, car, etc… and my wife followed me. Last year, when I told her I wanted to ride the Dakar, she once again followed this project. I’m part of the ‘Blaireaux’ team, not a nice team at all. Between us, it’s war. (he laughs) Today for example, our farm ‘Blaireau’ won. This year, there’s something special in the team. We are three, friends, and three enemy brothers. My goal is to finish. I have a good bike, a good team, good assistance."
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