Jussi Välimäki

Jussi Välimäki
Personal information
Nationality Finland Finnish
Born (1974-09-10) September 10, 1974
World Rally Championship record
Active years 19982008
Teams Hyundai
Rallies 36
Championships 0
Rally wins 0
Podiums 0
Stage wins 0
Total points 8
First rally 1998 Rally Sweden
Last rally 2008 Rally Finland

Jussi Välimäki (born 9 September 1974 in Tampere) is a Finnish rally driver, who scored eight World Rally Championship points during his career, with a best finish of fifth on the 2006 Rally d'Italia Sardegna.

Career

Välimäki at the 2006 Rally Finland

Välimäki's first World Rally Championship events came in 1998, in Sweden and Finland, behind the wheel of an Opel Astra GSi 16V. In 2000 he drove a Ford Escort WRC to 13th place on Rally Finland. In 2001 he contested the Junior World Rally Championship (JWRC) in a Peugeot 206 S1600, finishing third in the category in Finland and finishing the season ninth. He contested the 2002 JWRC season in a Citroën Saxo, but only managed a best finish of fifth on Rally GB, ending the year 15th in the classification. He also did two other WRC rounds in a Toyota Corolla WRC, but retired from both.

2003 saw Välimäki do four WRC rounds with the Hyundai team, but he retired from all four of them. He used the Hyundai Accent on four rounds of the 2004 season, finishing seventh on Rally Mexico. He also used a Ford Focus RS WRC 03 on Rallye Deutschland, finishing 14th. In 2005, Välimäki won the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, with five wins from seven rallies.

Välimäki returned to top-class WRC action in 2006, entering three rounds with a Mitsubishi Lancer WRC05. He used it to finish fifth on Rally d'Italia Sardegna, before finishing ninth in Greece and seventh in Finland.

In 2007, Välimäki won the Finnish Rally Championship, and was runner-up in the following season. In 2009 he contested the Chinese Rally Championship.

In 2011 Välimäki announced he was ending his active rallying career.[1]

WRC results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Points
1998 Jussi Välimäki Opel Astra GSi 16V MON SWE
35
KEN POR ESP FRA ARG GRE NZL FIN
38
ITA AUS GBR NC 0
1999 Jussi Välimäki Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI MON SWE KEN POR ESP FRA ARG GRE NZL FIN
Ret
CHN ITA AUS GBR NC 0
2000 Jussi Välimäki Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI MON SWE
30
KEN POR ESP ARG GRE NZL CYP FRA ITA AUS GBR
31
NC 0
Ford Escort WRC FIN
13
2001 Jussi Välimäki Peugeot 206 S1600 MON SWE POR ESP
Ret
ARG CYP GRE
Ret
KEN FIN
36
NZL ITA
Ret
FRA
29
AUS GBR
Ret
NC 0
2002 Jussi Välimäki Citroën Saxo S1600 MON
Ret
SWE FRA ESP
Ret
CYP ARG GRE
Ret
KEN FIN GER
Ret
ITA
23
NZL AUS GBR
27
NC 0
Toyota Corolla WRC SWE
18
FIN
Ret
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI AUS
15
2003 Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai Accent WRC3 MON SWE
Ret
TUR NZL
Ret
ARG GRE
Ret
CYP GER FIN
Ret
AUS ITA FRA ESP GBR NC 0
2004 Jussi Välimäki Hyundai Accent WRC MON
11
SWE MEX
7
NZL CYP
Ret
GRE
Ret
TUR ARG 27th 2
Suzuki Ignis S1600 FIN
26
Ford Focus RS WRC 03 GER
14
JPN GBR ITA FRA ESP AUS
2005 Jussi Välimäki Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII MON SWE
21
MEX NZL ITA CYP TUR GRE ARG FIN GER GBR JPN FRA ESP AUS NC 0
2006 Jussi Välimäki Mitsubishi Lancer WRC05 MON SWE MEX ESP FRA ARG ITA
5
GRE
9
GER FIN
7
JPN CYP TUR AUS NZL GBR 16th 6
2008 Jussi Välimäki Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX MON SWE MEX ARG JOR ITA GRE TUR FIN
14
GER NZL ESP FRA JPN GBR NC 0

JWRC Results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 JWRC Points
2001 Jussi Välimäki Peugeot 206 S1600 ESP
Ret
GRE
7
FIN
3
ITA
Ret
FRA
12
GBR
Ret
9th 4
2002 Jussi Välimäki Citroën Saxo S1600 MON
Ret
ESP
Ret
GRE
Ret
GER
Ret
ITA
9
GBR
5
15th 2

PWRC results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 PWRC Points
2008 Jussi Välimäki Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX SWE ARG GRE TUR FIN
2
NZL JPN GBR 15th 8
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Karamjit Singh
Asia-Pacific Rally Champion
2005
Succeeded by
Cody Crocker

References

  1. "RALLI: Välimäki lopettaa aktiiviuransa". 11 April 2011. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, January 03, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.