Kyösti Hämäläinen (born 16 September 1945 in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

) is a Finnish

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Political demonstration, a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a North American school or college sporting event Sport ...

driver. He contested 19

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the oldest FIA world championship after Formula One. E ...

events, winning the 1977

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; , ) is a rally competition in the Finnish Lakeland in Central Finland. The rally is driven on wide and smooth g ...

overall. Hämäläinen also won 13

Finnish Rally Championship The Finnish Rally Championship is the national rally championship in Finland. The series currently has four classes; Super4 (including R5, S2000 and old WRC cars), Production4 (including Group N cars), R2 (including R2 and R1 cars) and Super2 (inc ...

titles between 1973 and 1986.

Career

Hämäläinen began his career in 1965 by taking part in ice racing events with rental cars. In 1969, he moved to rallying and in 1973 took his

championship in group 1, driving an

Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian carmaker known for its sports-oriented vehicles, strong auto racing heritage, and iconic design. Headquartered in Turin, Italy, it is a subsidiary of Stellantis Europe and one of 14 brands of mu ...

2000 GTV. He followed it up with four consecutive Group 1 titles between 1975 and 1978, using a Sunbeam Avenger(1975) and Ford Escort(1976,1977,1978). In 1978 Hämäläinen moved to Group 2 and won eight consecutive Finnish Championships with a Ford Escort, from 1979 to 1986. Hämäläinen's career in the World Rally Championship consisted mainly of his entries into

, which was also part of the Finnish Rally Championship. His first WRC start was the 1973 1000 Lakes Rally, in which he retired. 1977 was the most successful year of Hämäläinen's WRC career, including an unexpected victory in the 1000 Lakes Rally, a 5th-place finish in

International Swedish Rally The Rally Sweden (), formerly the KAK-Rally, the International Swedish Rally, and later the Uddeholm Swedish Rally, is an automobile rally competition held in February in Värmland, Sweden and relocated to Umeå in 2022. First held in 1950, as a ...

and a 6th place in

Lombard 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) cal ...

Complete WRC results

References

External links

Rallybase Data page

Living people Finnish rally drivers World Rally Championship drivers 1945 births Racing drivers from Helsinki 20th-century Finnish sportsmen {{Finland-sport-bio-stub