Markku Alén

Markku Alén

Personal information
Nationality	Finnish
Born	February 15, 1951 (1951-02-15) (age 60) Helsinki
World Rally Championship record
Active years	1973–1993, 2001
Teams	Ford, Fiat, Lancia, Subaru, Toyota
Rallies	129
Championships	1 (1978)
Rally wins	19
Podiums	56
Stage wins	801[1]
Total points	840
First rally	1973 1000 Lakes Rally
First win	1975 Rally Portugal
Last win	1988 RAC Rally
Last rally	2001 Neste Rally Finland

Markku Allan Alén (born February 15, 1951 in Helsinki) is a Finnish former rally and race car driver. He drove for Fiat, Lancia, Subaru and Toyota in the World Rally Championship, and held the record for most stage wins in the series until 2011.^[2] Alén's phrase "now maximum attack" became well-known.^[3]

Alén never won the world championship itself, despite being for a long time the driver with the most wins to his credit. However, he did win the FIA Cup for Drivers in 1978, the precursor to the World Championship for Drivers established in 1979. In 1986, he was the world champion for eleven days, until Peugeot's appeal went through and the results of Rallye Sanremo, which Alén had won, were annulled.^[3]

Career

Early

Alén's interest in motorsport came from his father, who was the 1963 Finnish champion in ice racing. Alén started his rallying career in 1969 driving a Renault 8 Gordini, and finished ninth at the 1000 Lakes Rally at his first attempt. After getting a contract with the Finnish Volvo importer to drive the Volvo 142, he finished third at the 1000 Lakes in 1971 and 1972. At his World Rally Championship debut at the 1973 1000 Lakes Rally, he took second place behind Timo Mäkinen.

Fiat (1974–81)

Alén's Fiat 131 Abarth.

Alén's performances at his home event caught the attention of both Fiat and Ford. With Ford's Escort RS 1600, he established his reputation as a hard-charger on the 1973 RAC Rally by finishing third, despite rolling his car on the first day and dropping to 178th place. This resulted in a "dream contract" with Fiat, with a very large salary. Alén also became the first rally driver to be assigned a personal fitness program.^[4]

In 1974 and 1975, Alén drove the Fiat 124 Abarth Rallye, achieving several podiums and then his debut WRC win at the 1975 Rally Portugal. During the 1976 season, Fiat debuted the new Fiat 131 Abarth, which would prove to be a big improvement over its predecessor. Alén won the 1976 1000 Lakes and the 1977 Rally Portugal, and helped Fiat to their first manufacturers' title in 1977.

Alén's 1978 Rallye Sanremo -winning Lancia Stratos HF.

Then in 1978, Alén took the car to two wins and five consecutive podiums. In the Rallye Sanremo, he debuted in Alitalia Fiat's Lancia Stratos HF and won his third world rally of the season. These performances brought him the FIA Cup for Drivers title, well ahead of main rivals Jean-Pierre Nicolas and Hannu Mikkola, and Fiat their second manufacturers' title. Alén continued with Fiat for the next three years, taking a win each season.

Lancia (1982–89)

After Fiat wound up their works rally team, Alén moved to the related Lancia team. In 1982 he debuted the marque's first of two Group B category homologated models, the Lancia 037, a rear-wheel drive car which was, in consequence, a particular performer on the championship's asphalt rounds. Alén's several wins with it in 1983 helped Lancia narrowly pip Audi and their four-wheel drive long wheelbase Quattro to that year's constructors' championship. Indeed it was Alén who was responsible for the car's final victory, on the 1984 Tour de Corse, in a year in which Audi retook both of the title honours, before it was replaced by the four-wheel drive Lancia Delta S4 from the final round, in Great Britain, of the 1985 season.

Alén driving his Delta HF 4WD at the 1987 RAC Rally.

Having become unequivocal team leader in the aftermath of team-mate Henri Toivonen's death in Corsica the following year, Alén narrowly lost the 1986 World Rally Championship to rival driver, Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 pilot Juha Kankkunen. Late in the season, Alén had been victorious on the San Remo rally only after Kankkunen's Peugeot team was excluded by the organizers on a controversial technicality. Peugeot subsequently appealed the exclusion to the FISA, which eventually annulled the results of the rally, stripping Alén of the World Championship title which he had held for just eleven days, which lead to Alen famously boycotting the 1987 Monte Carlo Rally.^[5]

Alén remained at Lancia after the abolition of Group B at the end of 1986, and adapted successfully to the replacement Group A formula. He won three events in the Lancia Delta HF 4WD in 1987, but lost his chance to take second place in the world driver's championship after rolling his car in front of the TV cameras on the 1987 RAC Rally. He won another three events the following year, culminating in an emotional first victory on the RAC, an event he had been trying to win for fifteen years. It was to be his last world championship victory.

Later career

In 1990, Alén moved to the burgeoning Prodrive-run Subaru World Rally Team, and was responsible for many of the Subaru Legacy's early successes, including 4th on the 1990 1000 Lakes Rally, and a 3rd and two 4th places the following season. For 1992 he moved to the Toyota team, but found himself playing very much a supporting role to Carlos Sainz. The 1993 season found Alén without a full-time position, and he drove for Toyota and Subaru early in the season, taking 2nd place for Toyota on the Safari Rally and 4th for Subaru in Portugal. Along with fellow veteran and 1981 World Champion Ari Vatanen, he drove the Subaru Impreza on its debut event, the 1000 Lakes Rally. Unfortunately for Alén, he crashed on the first stage of the event. This effectively marked the end of his career as a top-line rally driver.

Alén with a Ford Focus WRC at the 2001 Rally Finland.

He drove two races of the International Touring Car Championship of 1995 for Alfa Romeo, driving the same number of races in DTM earlier that year. He also drove in Trophy Andros in 1996 and 1997.

To celebrate his 50th birthday in 2001, he entered that year's Neste Rally Finland, finishing in a respectable 16th place overall with a Ford Focus WRC. He has also participated in the Paris-Dakar rally twice in the truck class. Anton Alén, son of Markku, is driving a Super 2000 class Fiat Punto in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge series.

In March 2010, Luca di Montezemolo hired Alén as a Ferrari test driver. He started with snow tests on the Ferrari 458 Italia.^[6]

Complete WRC results

Season	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
1973	Volvo	Volvo 142	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	MOR	GRE	POL	FIN 2	AUT	ITA	USA		FRA				–	–
	Motorcraft	Ford Escort RS1600												GBR 3
1974	Fiat	Fiat Abarth 124 Rallye	POR 3	KEN	FIN 3	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA 2	GBR Ret	FRA Ret									–	–
1975	Fiat	Fiat Abarth 124 Rallye	MON 3	SWE 6	KEN	GRE	MOR	POR 1		ITA Ret	FRA	GBR Ret							–	–
	Datsun	Datsun 160J							FIN Ret
1976	Fiat	Fiat Abarth 124 Rallye	MON 6	SWE	POR	KEN	GRE												–	–
	Fiat	Fiat 131 Abarth						MOR 12	FIN 1	ITA Ret	FRA	GBR Ret
1977	Fiat	Fiat 131 Abarth	MON 54	SWE Ret	POR 1	KEN	NZL 3	GRE Ret	FIN Ret	CAN Ret	ITA	FRA	GBR Ret						–	–
1978	Fiat	Fiat 131 Abarth	MON	SWE 3	Safari	POR 1	GRE 2	FIN 1	CAN 2		CIV	FRA	GBR Ret						1	52
	Fiat	Lancia Stratos HF								ITA 1
1979	Alitalia Fiat	Fiat 131 Abarth	MON 3	SWE 4	POR	KEN 3	GRE	NZL	FIN 1	CAN	ITA 6	FRA	GBR 5	CIV					3	68
1980	Fiat Italia	Fiat 131 Abarth	MON Ret	SWE	POR 2	KEN	GRE 3	ARG Ret	FIN 1	NZL	ITA Ret	FRA	GBR	CIV					6	47
1981	Fiat Auto Torino	Fiat 131 Abarth	MON 7	SWE	POR 1	KEN	FRA	GRE 2	ARG	BRA	FIN 2	ITA 9	CIV	GBR Ret					4	56
1982	Martini Racing	Lancia Rally 037	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA 9	GRE Ret	NZL	BRA	FIN Ret	ITA Ret	CIV	GBR 4					21	12
1983	Martini Racing	Lancia Rally 037	MON 2	SWE	POR 4	KEN	FRA 1	GRE 2	NZL	ARG 5	FIN 3	ITA 1	CIV	GBR					3	100
1984	Martini Racing	Lancia Rally 037	MON 8	SWE	POR 2	KEN 4	FRA 1	GRE 3	NZL 2	ARG	FIN 2	ITA Ret	CIV	GBR					3	90
1985	Lancia Martini	Lancia Rally 037	MON	SWE	POR	KEN Ret	FRA Ret	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN 3	ITA 4	CIV						5	37
	Lancia Martini	Lancia Delta S4												GBR 2
1986	Martini Lancia	Lancia Delta S4	MON Ret	SWE 2	POR Ret		FRA Ret	GRE Ret	NZL 2	ARG 2	FIN 3	CIV	ITA 1	GBR 2	USA 1				2	104
	Martini Lancia	Lancia Rally 037				KEN 3
1987	Martini Lancia	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	MON	SWE 5	POR 1	KEN	FRA	GRE 1	USA 3	NZL	ARG	FIN 1	CIV	ITA Ret	GBR 5				3	88
1988	Martini Lancia	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	MON	SWE 1															2	86
	Martini Lancia	Lancia Delta Integrale			POR 6	KEN	FRA	GRE 4	USA	NZL	ARG	FIN 1	CIV	ITA 4	GBR 1
1989	Martini Lancia	Lancia Delta Integrale	SWE	MON	POR 2	KEN	FRA	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN Ret	AUS 3	ITA	CIV	GBR				9	27
1990	Subaru Technica International	Subaru Legacy RS	MON	POR	KEN Ret	FRA	GRE Ret	NZL	ARG	FIN 4	AUS	ITA Ret	CIV	GBR Ret					20	10
1991	Subaru Rally Team Europe	Subaru Legacy RS	MON	SWE 3	POR 5	KEN	FRA	GRE Ret	NZL 4	ARG	FIN Ret	AUS 4	ITA	CIV	ESP	GBR Ret			8	40
1992	Toyota Team Europe	Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD	MON Ret		POR 4		FRA	GRE Ret	NZL	ARG	FIN 3	AUS	ITA	CIV	ESP	GBR 4			5	50
	Toyota Team Sweden	Toyota Celica GT-Four		SWE 4
	Toyota Team Kenya	Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD				KEN 5
1993	555 Subaru World Rally Team	Subaru Legacy RS	MON	SWE	POR 4		FRA	GRE	ARG	NZL									11	25
	Toyota Castrol Team	Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD				KEN 2
	555 Subaru World Rally Team	Subaru Impreza 555									FIN Ret	AUS	ITA	ESP	GBR
2001	Blue Rose Team	Ford Focus WRC	MON	SWE	POR	ESP	ARG	CYP	GRE	KEN	FIN 16	NZL	ITA	FRA	AUS	GBR			–	–

WRC wins

#	Event	Season	Co-driver	Car
1	9º Rallye de Portugal Vinho do Porto	1975	Ilkka Kivimäki	Fiat Abarth 124 Rallye
2	26th 1000 Lakes Rally	1976	Ilkka Kivimäki	Fiat Abarth 131 Rallye
3	11º Rallye de Portugal Vinho do Porto	1977	Ilkka Kivimäki	Fiat Abarth 131 Rallye
4	28th 1000 Lakes Rally	1978	Ilkka Kivimäki	Fiat Abarth 131 Rallye
5	12º Rallye de Portugal Vinho do Porto	1978	Ilkka Kivimäki	Fiat Abarth 131 Rallye
6	20º Rallye Sanremo	1978	Ilkka Kivimäki	Lancia Stratos HF
7	29th 1000 Lakes Rally	1979	Ilkka Kivimäki	Fiat Abarth 131 Rallye
8	30th 1000 Lakes Rally	1980	Ilkka Kivimäki	Fiat Abarth 131 Rallye
9	15º Rallye de Portugal Vinho do Porto	1981	Ilkka Kivimäki	Fiat Abarth 131 Rallye
10	27éme Tour De Corse – Rallye de France	1983	Ilkka Kivimäki	Lancia Rally 037
11	25º Rallye Sanremo	1983	Ilkka Kivimäki	Lancia Rally 037
12	28ème Tour de Corse – Rallye de France	1984	Ilkka Kivimäki	Lancia Rally 037
13	21st Olympus Rally	1986	Ilkka Kivimäki	Lancia Delta S4
14	21º Rallye de Portugal Vinho do Porto	1987	Ilkka Kivimäki	Lancia Delta HF 4WD
15	34rd Acropolis Rally	1987	Ilkka Kivimäki	Lancia Delta HF 4WD
16	37th 1000 Lakes Rally	1987	Ilkka Kivimäki	Lancia Delta HF 4WD
17	38th International Swedish Rally	1988	Ilkka Kivimäki	Lancia Delta HF 4WD
18	38th 1000 Lakes Rally	1988	Ilkka Kivimäki	Lancia Delta Integrale
19	37th Lombard RAC Rally	1988	Ilkka Kivimäki	Lancia Delta Integrale

References

1. ^ "Driver statistics – Stage wins". World Rally Archive. http://www.juwra.com/stats_ss_wins.html. Retrieved 5 October 2010. 
2. ^ "Loeb overtakes Alen's 801 stage record". Sky News. 23 October 2011. http://www.skynews.com.au/sport/article.aspx?id=676704&vId=. Retrieved 10 November 2011. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Hope-Frost, Henry; John Davenport (2004). The Complete Book of the World Rally Championship. MotorBooks/MBI Publishing Company. p. 65. ISBN 0-7603-1954-5. 
4. ^ "Markku Alén" (in Finnish). Suomen Moottoriurheilumuseo. http://www.moottoriurheilumuseo.fi/kuljettajat/alen.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-30. 
5. ^ “”. "Monte Carlo Rally '87". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1matVP2LPXw. Retrieved 2010-07-31. 
6. ^ "Markku Alén testaa luksus-Ferraria" (in Finnish). Iltalehti. 5 October 2011. http://www.iltalehti.fi/autot/2011100514509060_au.shtml. Retrieved 10 November 2011. 

External links

• Profile at RallyBase

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Juha Kankkunen	Autosport International Rally Driver Award 1988	Succeeded by Miki Biasion

Persondata
Name	Alen, Markku
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1951-02-15
Place of birth	Helsinki
Date of death
Place of death