29 Facts About Ari Vatanen

Ari Vatanen won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1981 and the Paris Dakar Rally four times.

Ari Vatanen crashed out on the second day, but by then he had impressed Ford team manager Stuart Turner enough to be offered a seat in the team for the British Rally Championship the following year.

Ari Vatanen did not finish the Scottish Rally, but he won the championship, a feat he repeated in 1980, co-driven by David Richards, who later became chairman of Prodrive.

Between 1977 and 1980, Ari Vatanen competed in selected World Championship events, initially for the official Ford team and then, after its withdrawal from the sport at the end of 1979, for the semi-private Rothmans Rally Team.

Ari Vatanen took his debut win at the 1980 Acropolis Rally and became the World Rally Champion in 1981.

Ari Vatanen did not defend his world title in 1982, competing instead in the British Championship in a Ford Escort, before moving to the Opel team for 1983.

The Opel Ascona and Opel Manta were only two-wheel-drive and not fully competitive, but Vatanen still won the Safari Rally.

In 1984, Ari Vatanen signed to drive the Peugeot 205 T16 for Peugeot's factory team.

Ari Vatanen was tipped to win the 1985 world title, but at mid-season was trailing his teammate Timo Salonen after a series of accidents and mechanical problems.

Ari Vatanen's seat broke, and he was thrown around inside the car, suffering severe injuries to his legs and torso and life-threatening internal bleeding.

Ari Vatanen spent 18 months recovering first from his physical injuries, and then from severe depression.

Ari Vatanen went on to make a complete recovery and his return to motorsport in 1987 saw him go on to win the Paris-Dakar Rally four times; with Peugeot in 1987,1989 and 1990, and with Citroen in 1991.

Ari Vatanen became the centre of controversy when his car was stolen whilst leading the same rally in 1988.

Ari Vatanen continued competing in the World Rally Championship until the 1998 season.

Ari Vatanen drove for Mitsubishi Ralliart Europe in four events in 1989 and in five events in 1990.

Ari Vatanen briefly led the event before being overhauled by eventual winner Juha Kankkunen.

Ari Vatanen scored a podium finish on Rally Argentina, the first time he had contested the event since his accident there nine years previously.

Ari Vatanen scored a podium finish at the 1998 Safari Rally, and then briefly returned to a works Subaru for the season-ending Rally of Great Britain, marking his 100th World Rally Championship event.

Ari Vatanen made an appearance at the 2003 Rally Finland with a Bozian Racing-prepared Peugeot 206 WRC, finishing eleventh.

In September 2008, Ari Vatanen took part in the Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally, a round of the Scottish Rally Championship centred in Perth in Scotland.

Ari Vatanen's co-driver was David Richards and they competed in the same Rothmans sponsored Ford Escort RS1800 that they drove in 1981.

Ari Vatanen was one of a number of ex-world champions to take part in the event in memory of McRae, who died in 2007.

Ari Vatanen was born and grew up in rural Tuupovaara in Eastern Finland.

In 1993, Ari Vatanen settled in southern France, where he bought a farm and a winery.

In 1999, Ari Vatanen was elected to the European Parliament from the list of the conservative Finnish National Coalition party although he continued to live in France.

In July 2009, Ari Vatanen declared his interest in being a candidate to stand against Max Mosley in the FIA presidential elections in October if Mosley decide to stand for another term as president.

Ari Vatanen later confirmed that he would run for the presidency.

On 23 October 2009, Vatanen failed in his bid to be elected as president of the FIA, which was won by his former team boss at Peugeot, subsequently Scuderia Ferrari manager Jean Todt.

Ari Vatanen is a signatory of the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism.