If you are not familiar with the 1994 edition of the 1000 Lakes Rally yet, it was wild. Maybe most memorably, it is remembered as the first win and worldwide breakthrough an upcoming Finnish star driver, Tommi Mäkinen.
The rally started with two clear favourites. 4-time world champion Juha Kankkunen and a 30-year old Tommi Mäkinen. As a preparation for the rally, the pair had battled in Mänttä-ralli a couple weeks earlier. This was the first time Tommi managed to beat Juha fair and square. As Miki Biasion had stepped out of the 1000 Lakes, Ford's manufacturer team had called Tommi, the local star, to drive their car alongside Francois Delecour.
On SS2 Lankamaa, Juha famously rolled his Celica on his home road, and lost his chance of victory, despite him
driving a madman run to finish in 9th. Incredibly, this stage also caught Ari Vatanen in his
Red Bull-sponsored Escort Cosworth, as he lost his wheel and retired from the event. The local spectators were bummed to see two of their three favourites out of the even before it really even began. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Tommi Mäkinen had to step up and deliver for the home fans.
This opened up the opportunity to give Tommi by far his best chance of a victory yet. He had already showed who's the boss with a fastest time by 10 seconds on the Lankamaa stage against the other world champions, Sainz and Auriol. For the rest of the first day he drove very good times apart from SS10 where he lost 25 seconds on a spin, to end the day in 2nd place just 2 seconds away from Auriol.
Day two would be a fabulous fight of stage wins between the aforementioned 4 drivers. Tommi managed to build a decent 22 second gap ahead of the final day, with both Auriol and Sainz still being less than 30 seconds away. Juha, Carlos and Tommi would each drive the 2-hour leg 2 within 4 seconds of each other.
Leg 3 would still be far from a Sunday drive, as 100 stage kilometres were left to drive. Tommi managed the situation like a champion, and finished on the top step of the podium for the first time in his career. This rally would start a historical success that would come behind the wheel of a Mitsubishi in the coming years.
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