- Rauno Aaltonen
Rauno August Aaltonen (born
January 7 ,1938 ), also known as "The Rally Professor", is a Finnish former professional rally driver who competed in theWorld Rally Championship throughout the 1970s. Before WRC was established Aaltonen competed in theEuropean Rally Championship . He won the championship in 1965, withTony Ambrose as hisco-driver . He also won theFinnish Rally Championship in 1961 and 1965. In 1966 he partnered Bob Holden inAustralia to win the premier touring car race, the Gallaher 500, in aMini Cooper S at Mount Panorama inNew South Wales .Aaltonen finished second on six occasions in the
Safari Rally , which is considered one of the most difficult courses in rallying. In 1985, he was leading the rally by two hours when his engine broke down before the last few special stages. His other merits include winning theRAC Rally in 1965, theMonte Carlo Rally in 1967 and theSouthern Cross Rally in 1977.Despite now being remembered as one of the Flying Finns of rallying, Aaltonen started his career on
speed boat s and later moved on to motorcycles competing inroad racing , speedway andmotocross . Before he became the first Finnish European Rally Champion, he was the first Finn to win aGrand Prix motorcycle racing competition.External links
* [http://www.rallybase.nl/index.php?type=profile&driverid=3108 Aaltonen at RallyBase]
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