Valle Mäkelä (born 2 February 1986,

Laitila Laitila (; ) is a town and a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southwest Finland region, and it is from Laitila to Turku. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

) is a Finnish motor racing driver. FormulaLeMans Hope Polevision Racing Spa

Career

Mäkelä began his

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on fu ...

career at the age of five. In 2000 he became Finnish Champion in the

ICA-J OK-Junior is a kart racing class for top drivers aged 11 to 15 (drivers must reach the age of 12 within the first semester of calendar year). This class used to be called Junior Intercontinental A (JICA or ICA-J) and has changed since January 20 ...

class. In 2002, he began racing in

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single-seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world have historically been an important step for many prospective Formula One dri ...

in both the UK and Nordics with some success. In 2003, he finished 3rd in the

British Formula Ford Championship The British Formula Ford Championship was an entry-level single seater Auto racing, motor racing category, designed to give racing drivers their first step into car racing after karting. Drivers from around the world were attracted to the United ...

class, winning one race and securing a further seven podiums. Remaining with Nexa Racing, Mäkelä won the 2004 British Formula Ford title with 506 points scored over the season, including ten victories. For 2005, he joined

GR Asia GR Asia is an auto racing team based in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. They have raced in the World Touring Car Championship, the European Touring Car Championship and the British Touring Car Championship. In 2006 they won the Independents ...

in the

World Touring Car Championship The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a sing ...

racing a

Seat Toledo The SEAT Toledo is a small family car produced by the Spanish manufacturer SEAT, part of Volkswagen Group. The Toledo name was first introduced to the SEAT line up in May 1991 being named after a Spanish city with the same name, with the fourt ...

alongside

Tom Coronel Tom Romeo Coronel (born 5 April 1972) is a Dutch professional racing driver. Tom's twin brother Tim Coronel, Tim is also a racer, just like their father Tom Coronel Sr. His most important results are winning the Masters of Formula 3, Marlboro Mast ...

. His best result was a 10th place finish at Silverstone. In 2006, he returned to open wheel racing driving for

Manor Motorsport Manor Motorsport Ltd, currently trading as Manor Endurance Racing Ltd is a British motor racing company that was formed in 1990 by former single-seater champion John Booth. Manor has participated as a team in many motorsport disciplines since ...

in British Formula Renault. He ended the season in 13th position. In 2007, he returned to Nexa Racing in the Formula BMW UK series and finished 5th in the championship, winning the first race at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts ...

. After completing three races in

Star Mazda The USF Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, formerly known as the Star Mazda Championship, Pro Mazda Championship, and later Indy Pro 2000 Championship, is an open-wheel racing series serving as the third step on the Road to Indy la ...

in the USA in 2008, Mäkelä joined the Finnish GT3 Championship winning three races in the No Brakes Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S. He would also race Hope PoleVision Racing's Oreca FLM09 in the Formula Le Mans Cup. Over 12 races, he scored two wins and finished 4th in the championship. In 2010 he competed in one race of the

24H Series The 24H Series is a sports car racing and touring car racing series developed by Creventic and with approval from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It features Group GT3, GT3-spec cars, Group GT4, GT4-spec cars, Sports car r ...

, finishing 3rd for Westend Racing at the Hungaroring. Mäkelä competed in his first race in 6 years at the 2016 Riga Summer Race in Baltic Touring Car Championship driving a Lamborghini Gallardo.

Racing record

Career summary

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

* * 1986 births Living people People from Laitila Finnish racing drivers Formula Ford drivers French Formula Renault 2.0 drivers British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula BMW UK drivers World Touring Car Championship drivers Indy Pro 2000 Championship drivers Manor Motorsport drivers Sportspeople from Southwest Finland 24H Series drivers Fluid Motorsport Development drivers Morand Racing drivers 21st-century Finnish sportsmen {{Europe-autoracing-bio-stub