Risto Mannisenmäki (born on 28 May 1959) 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 Sport ...

co-driver A co-driver is the navigator of a rally car in the sport of rallying, who sits in the front passenger seat. The co-driver's job is to navigate, commonly by reading off a set of pacenotes to the driver (what lies ahead, where to turn, the severity ...

and two-times

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

with driver

Tommi Mäkinen Tommi Antero Mäkinen (; born 26 June 1964) is a Finnish racing executive and former driver. Mäkinen is one of the most successful WRC drivers of all time, ranking fifth in rally wins (24) and third in championships (4), tied with Juha Kankkune ...

Career

Mannisenmäki begun his career in 1982 and was co-driving for various drivers such as

Sebastian Lindholm Sebastian "Basti" Lindholm (born 30 January 1961 in Helsinki) is a rally driver from Finland. He is a cousin of Marcus Grönholm. Lindholm has won the Finnish Rally Championship eight times; 1990, 1993, 1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006. Li ...

and Ari Mökkönen in local rallies. In 1996 and

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

, Risto was the permanent co-driver of Tapio Laukkanen and participated in both Finnish and British local rally series, as well as a few

WRC WRC may refer to: Broadcasting stations * WRC-TV, a television station (virtual channel 4, digital channel 34) licensed to Washington, D.C., United States * Several radio stations in the Washington, D.C. area: ** WTEM, a radio station (980 AM) l ...

rallies. For the 1998 season, Mannisenmäki moved on to co-drive with Tommi Mäkinen, after the retirement of

Seppo Harjanne Seppo Harjanne (born 20 February 1948) is a Finnish former rally co-driver. He is best known for co-driving for Timo Salonen from 1979 to 1988 and for Tommi Mäkinen from 1990 to 1997. With Salonen, Harjanne took ten World Rally Championship vic ...

. Together, they won the World Rally Championship in 1998 and

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, and were 5th in the

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

championships. During the Rally of Corsica in the 2001 WRC season, both were involved in a major

accident An accident is an unintended, normally unwanted event that was not directly caused by humans. The term ''accident'' implies that nobody should be blamed, but the event may have been caused by unrecognized or unaddressed risks. Most researche ...

where the Lancer driven by Mäkinen and Mannisenmäki ricocheted off of the outside wall into steep cliff-face, turning the car over and narrowly avoiding plunging down the ravine on the opposite side of the road. In the accident, the passenger-side of the Lancer was heavily damaged, breaking Mannisenmäki's back, forcing an end to his co-driving career. However, after a two-year hiatus, Mannisenmäki returned to participate in a WRC stage, the last in his career, at the Wales rally in the 2003 WRC season, as the co-driver for Juuso Pykälistö. Both finished in 9th position in this rally which also happened to be Mäkinen's final WRC start. Mannisenmäki won the '' Vuoden Moottoriurheilija'' title (engl. Motorsport athlete of the year) in 1999 with Tommi Mäkinen and

Mika Häkkinen Mika Pauli Häkkinen (; born 28 September 1968), nicknamed "The Flying Finn", is a Finnish former racing driver. He won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1998 and 1999, both times driving for McLaren. Häkkinen is one of three Fo ...

. Mannisenmäki has been active in rally coaching programs before, and retiring from co-driving, he was chosen in 2004 as AKK-Motorsport's rally coach.

References

External links

Profile at ewrc-results.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mannisenmaki, Risto 1959 births Living people Finnish rally co-drivers World Rally Championship co-drivers