Harri Toivonen (born 22 October 1960) is a former

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sports ...

and race car driver from Finland. He is the younger brother of the late

Henri Toivonen Henri Pauli Toivonen (25 August 1956 – 2 May 1986) was a Finland, Finnish rallying, rally driver born in Jyväskylä, the home of Rally Finland. His father, Pauli Toivonen, Pauli, was the 1968 European Rally Championship, European Rally C ...

and son of

Pauli Toivonen Pauli Toivonen (22 August 1929 in Jyväskylä, Finland - 14 February 2005) was a Finnish rally car driver. He drove for Citroën, Lancia and Porsche and had many successes to his credit. Toivonen had two sons, Harri and Henri, both also racin ...

Rally career

His first

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

outcome was at the 1980

1000 Lakes Rally Rally Finland (formerly known as the Neste Rally Finland, Neste Oil Rally Finland, 1000 Lakes Rally and Rally of the Thousand Lakes; fi, Suomen ralli, sv, Finska rallyt) is a rally competition in the Finnish Lakeland in Central Finland. The ra ...

in Finland driving a

Chrysler Avenger Avenger, Avengers, The Avenger, or The Avengers may refer to: Arts and entertainment In the Marvel Comics universe * Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes ** Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes o ...

, former car of his brother Henri. In 1983 he drove a

Mitsubishi Lancer The Mitsubishi Lancer is an automobile produced by the Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi Motors since 1973. The Lancer has been marketed as the Colt Lancer, Dodge Colt, Plymouth Colt, Chrysler Valiant Lancer, Chrysler Lancer, Eagle Summit, Hin ...

Turbo, mainly for the Finnish Junior Rally Team. In 1986 he came to a deal with the

Austin Rover The Austin Rover Group (abbreviated ARG) was a British motor manufacturer. It was created in 1982 as the mass-market car manufacturing subsidiary of British Leyland (BL). Previously, this entity had been known as BL Cars Ltd (formerly Leyland C ...

works team to drive the British Rally open in an MG Metro 6R4. While competing at the Wales Rally in early May, he heard the news of his brother's accident at the Tour de Corse which cost Henri and co-driver

Sergio Cresto Sergio Cresto ( USA) (January 19, 1956 – May 2, 1986) was the co-driver of Henri Toivonen at the Lancia Martini team for the 1986 World Rally Championship season. He was also a former co-driver for fellow Lancia employee Attilio Bettega, who di ...

their lives. Harri continued competing later that year. He drove his Metro to 8th place at the 1000 Lakes Rally, but retired at the UK's

RAC Rally Wales Rally GB was the most recent iteration of the United Kingdom's premier international motor rally, which ran under various names since the first event held in 1932. It was consistently a round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) calen ...

in November. The rally his brother Henri won one year earlier. After some unsuccessful years in rallying after 1986, he switched to

circuit racing A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also ...

. He drove in several racing classes with some successes. He participated in the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

in 1991 finishing 9th overall, driving a

Porsche 962 The Porsche 962 (also known as the 962C in its Group C form) is a sports-prototype racing car built by Porsche as a replacement for the 956 and designed mainly to comply with IMSA's GTP regulations, although it would later compete in the Europ ...

for

Kremer Racing Kremer Racing is a motorsports team based in Cologne, Germany, founded by racing driver Erwin Kremer and his brother Manfred. They have competed internationally with Porsches for nearly all of their existence, and were even one of the factory-back ...

with

JJ Lehto Jyrki Juhani Järvilehto (; born 31 January 1966), better known as "JJ Lehto", is a Finnish racing driver. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice, in 1995 and 2005. He is also a former Formula One driver. He was a protégé of Finnish 1982 Formula ...

and

Manuel Reuter Manuel Reuter (born 6 December 1961 in Mainz) is a German former race car driver. He has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice: *in 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans for Sauber-Mercedes *in 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans for Joest Racing He also won the Inte ...

. In 2002, Toivonen hung up his helmet as a full-time driver. In 2006, he opened an exhibition to tribute to his brother Henri at the

Neste Oil Rally Finland Rally Finland (formerly known as the Neste Rally Finland, Neste Oil Rally Finland, 1000 Lakes Rally and Rally of the Thousand Lakes; fi, Suomen ralli, sv, Finska rallyt) is a rally competition in the Finnish Lakeland in Central Finland. The ra ...

. Harri is now involved with Ian's Dawsons Le Mans Prototype Eco Racing Team.

Racing record

Complete WRC results

24 Hours of Le Mans results

External links

*
Site dedicated Henri Toivonen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toivonen, Harri 1960 births Finnish rally drivers Finnish racing drivers World Rally Championship drivers Living people 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers American Le Mans Series drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers Multimatic Motorsports drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers