Biography and Career Outline

Everything everyone wants to know about Henri Toivonen....Family, career etc... What made the man the way he was.....How the hell was he so fast ?

Henri Toivonen was born on the 25th of August 1956 in Jyvaskyla in Finland.

He started his competetive career in single seaters ( Formula K ), and then moved onto Touring Cars, where he was the Finnish Cup Champion. Later, he switched back to single seaters, Formula V this time, and won one round of the Scandinavian Championships. Henri then graduated to Formula Super-V, where he promptly won a round of the European series. Under pressure from his family about the safety aspect of circuit racing, he switched to rallying, which, looking back on it now, was an extreme case of irony.

Henri hit the world scene in 1978, driving for the french-based Citroen team on the Portugese and Acropolis Rallies. He didn't finish either event, but he was quick off the mark, and impressed a lot of people, even at the tender age of 22.

In 1980, after winning the Arctic Rally, he came to Britain to contest the Open series as team mate to Guy Frequelin and Russell Brookes in the Talbot team, with Antero Lindquist as his co-driver. He also drove in selected WRC rounds, and managed a fifth place on that years San Remo. Frequently faster than his experienced colleagues, his performance was, however, somewhat inconsistent, until the team decided to replace Antero with Paul White, known by Henri as Chalkie. The partnership started to gell on the Welsh Rally, and went from strength to strength, where Paul's knowlege of the british special stages paid a big part in the partnership. ( note : Paul White had been codriver of team mate Russell Brookes' car.)

The big breakthrough came on the Lombard RAC rally, where he outdrove Frequelin and Brookes to win the rally convincingly. At just 24 years of age, he was (and still is ) the youngest winner of a world championship event. The skill he showed in the wet and muddy conditions endeared him to the british public......

In 1981, Henri was signed up for a full WRC programme with the Talbot squad, but he realised that the car was no longer competetive against the fledgeling group B machinery, despite second places on both the San Remo and Portugese Rallies and a 5th place on the Monte Carlo Rally. He also had a new co-driver, Fred Gallagher, of Juha Kankkunen fame. One of the high points of the season, was a win on the Audi Sport International Rally, courtesy of a guest appearance by Henri in the final round of the British Open Rally Championship (in that year the Talbot team won the Codasur Rally in Argentina with Guy Frequelin and the World Championship for Makes).

1982 brought a move to the Opel Europe team, managed by Tony Fall, an ex-BMC works driver (in Mini Coopers), where his team mates were Walter Rohrl and Jimmy McRae. He managed 3rd on the Acropolis, 5th on the San Remo and 3rd on the RAC, all driving in the Ascona 400. Henri drove the Manta 400 in 1983, but the car was losing ground to the much more powerful machinery fielded by Lancia and Audi, yet he still managed a fourth place on the San Remo. Henri also guested in several rounds of the British Open series, winning the 1983 Manx Rally at the first attempt, in a Manta 400, the first driver to do so....

1983 also brought a change of scenery. This time, it was the World Endurance Championships, where he signed up to race a Porche 956, chassis no 956-106-2 , for Richard Lloyd Racing. He practiced the car at Imola for round 7, but finally got to race the car in round 8 at Mugello, where he finished third in the 6 hour race, partnered by Jonathan Palmer and Derek Bell.

1984 brought an end to Henri's association with Opel Team Europe, and he settled for a drive in the Porsche 911 S in the European Rally Championship, the Rothmans sponsorship getting him the drive. Despite missing several rounds through ill health, in particular, back problems. he still finished second in the series with 369 points, only 56 behind the series winner Carlo Capone in a Lancia 037, winning the Costa Smeralda Rally along the way. By now, Henri also had a new co-driver in Juha Piironen, ( also navigated for Juha Kankkunen ) but on some of the rounds that Henri contested, Ian Grindrod was in the hot-seat when Juha was unavailable. When the chance came to drive for Lancia, Henri took it with both hands, and finished third on that years 1000 Lakes for the Lancia squad.

The first half of 1985, was again frustrating, as both Henri and his team mate, Markku Alen wrung the last of the now long-in-the-tooth 037. Henri, whose driving had by now matured considerably, managed to string together some results : 6th on the Monte, 4th on the 1000 Lakes and 3rd on the San Remo. Despite all this, Henri broke his back on the Costa Smeralda rally, when he crashed his car into a brick wall. There was also disappointment on the development front, as the new group B challenger, the Delta S4, was not proving to be competetive on its trial European Championship rounds. By now,he was partnered by Neil Wilson ( who also co-drove for Russell Brookes ). A few tweaks to the Delta S4 transformed the car dramatically, and its WRC debut was to be the Lombard RAC Rally.

The Delta was to prove the class of the rally, even the Quattro's couldn't keep the car in check. Henri consistently outdrove Markku to win the rally by a large margin. Again, as in 1980, he wowed the british fans with his driving, though little did the spectators realise, it was the last time they would see their hero alive on these shores.

1986 began where the previous year left off for Henri, with a convincing win on the Monte Carlo Rally. He was now partnered by Sergio Cresto, a promising young American co-driver. After the Monte win, there came a string of second and third places, plus another win on the Costa Smeralda leaving Henri leading the chase for the world driver's title.

The Tour de Corse began on the 2nd of May. Henri was suffering from flu, but insisted he drive. Even though he was walking around, semi-comatose, he was constantly putting up the fastest times for each stage. Competitors and spectators alike did not know, how someone so far from fitness, could pull out a performance like that.

But it was not to last. On the 7th kilometer of the eighteenth stage, the Lancia inexplicably left the road, and plunged down a ravine. The aluminium fuel tank was ruptured by the trees as the car rolled down the cliff-face, and the Lancia exploded after landing on its roof. Clouds of thick black smoke pinpointed the accident, but there were no marshalls or spectators nearby to lend assistance. Still strapped in their seats, Henri and Sergio burned to death.

No one knew of the accident at the stage finish, and it was only when the Lancia hadn't emerged from the competetive section on scheule, did the team realise that there was something wrong. It wasn't until the next crew through the stage explained about the black smoke that they saw at 7 kms, did everyone realise that there had been an accident. But it was too late. By the time the emergency services reached the scene, it was too late. The trees in which the car had come to rest were so dry, that they added to the flames, fanned by the breeze. The remains of the car was so charred, that the Lancia engineers and technicians couldn'tdetermine the cause of the crash. So, exactly how Henri Toivonen and his co-driver, Sergio Cresto died, is still a mystery to this day.....Was there a problem with the car, or was it that his ill health caused him to lose control of a 550 bhp car on some of the most trecherous roads in Europe ? We will never know..... Maybe we wouldn't want to know..... It would only increase the pain caused by such a tragic loss to the sport of rallying.

Autosport's 40th anniversary supplement looked at the event in this way.... "Mystery surrounded the death of Henri Toivonen and Sergio Cresto on the 1986 Tour de Corse : no one saw the Lancia plunge from the hillside into the trees, and such was the intensity of the subsequent fire, there were no clues from the charred remains of the car's spaceframe. The date, May 4, was already etched in the memory of rally fans, for one year earlier Attilio Bettega had been killed during the Corsican road race. The consequences of Toivonen's accident were sudden and far-reaching. Within hours FISA President Balestre cancelled the Group B supercar era. Henri broke onto the World scene in 1980, winning the RAC Rally in a Talbot Sunbeam Lotus. The raw talent was there, but a curious blend of impatience and a youthful, agressive will-to-win had denied him a frontline ride until he signed for Lancia. The character remained, but there was now maturity. A debut win for the Delta S4 on the RAC was followed by victory on the Monte. And in Corsica, car no 4 was utterly dominant, more than 2 minutes clear during the second day and still attacking, this despite Henri being stricken by severe flu prior to the rally start. At rest halts, the 29-year-old appeared almost in a daze. How he produced such speed, was almost beyond belief. It was a mystery which could have only been solved after the rally finish when the Finn would typically have relaxed and produced his background stories which journalists loved. Instead, the mystery was compounded. There was never such a dark day as that May morning. The news of the accident was recieved in almost stunned silence by the Lancia mechanics waiting at the end of the stage. Garbled messages crossed the air waves and, as the truth dawned, Henri's friends openly wept. A dear friend had been lost to us all. The following day, FISA killed his reason for being there at all. Things would never be the same again....."

After the accident, a memorial stone was set up at the corner where Henri and Sergio lost their lives. Inevitably, there are always fresh flowers there, which prove that Henri will never be forgotten. And only recently, did they put a guardrail there, but the stage is still used for the Tour de Corse.

Pauli Toivonen

Pauli Toivonen, is Henri's father. Pauli also drove for Lancia, (like his son) in 1967 - he was the first works driver employed by Cesare Fiorio. He contested three major events, each with a different co-driver.

• Acropolis Rally '69 - 1st (Kolari)
• Monte Carlo '66 - 1st (Mikander)
• Swedish Rally '67 - 6th (Ahava)
• 1000 Lakes '67 - 7th (Salonen)
• Tour de Corse '67 - 2nd (Tiukkanen)

He was European Rally champion in 1968 driving a Porche 911, but is best remembered by the British rally fans for the headlamps debacle on the 1966 Monte, for he was the driver of the "winning" Citroen. ( Sorry, I'm a mini nut.... )

Pauli on his way to winning the 1969 Acropolis Rally

Harri Toivonen

Not much is known about Harri Toivonen, but he is Henri's younger brother, born on the 1st of April 1961. As far as I know, he did some rallying in 1986 for the Austin Metro works team as colleague to Tony Pond, competing in the British Open Series,but later switched to touring cars and then to sportscars, competing for Kremer in both the 1990 and 1991 WSCC, his best result being third, partnered by Manuel Reuter, in the ADAC 1000 kms at the Nurburgring in 1991, behind Warwick/Brabham and Fabi.

Harri was one of the first people to offer support to Derek Warwick after his brother, Paul was killed in an accident at Oulton Park in a round of the NF3000 championships, which was decidedly poignant..... Quoted from Autosport ( 22.8.91 ) is the following..... " I know the feeling, I would not wish it on anybody......" { "As the words sunk in, it was impossible to think of a reply. It was a poignant moment, made more so when Toivonen joined Warwick on the rostrum on Sunday." Adam Cooper }

In 1992, Harri became the lead driver in the works BRM Sports - Prototype effort. The car flattered to decieve. It was fast, but woefully fragile, rarely finishing any races. The team disappeared without trace at the end of the season.

For next season ( 1997 ), Harri will once more be driving in sportscars, again for BRM, with their open top WSC special. Sponsorship dictates that Harri will be the lead driver on the team, and BRM will be back at Le Mans !