Markku Alén

Markku Allan Alén (born 15 February 1951) 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 (801) in the series, until Sébastien Loeb overtook it at the 2011 Rally Catalunya. Alén's phrase "now maximum attack" became well-known.^[2]

Markku Alén

Markku Alén (r.) and navigator Ilkka Kivimäki (1976)
Personal information
Nationality	Finnish
Born	(1951-02-15) 15 February 1951 (age 73) Helsinki, Finland
World Rally Championship record
Active years	1973–1993, 2001
Co-driver	Juhani Toivonen Ilkka Kivimäki Atso Aho Paul White Ilkka Riipinen
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 Rally Finland

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.^[2]

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 drives a Fiat 131 Abarth at the 1978 1000 Lakes Rally.

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.^[3]

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 teammate Henri Toivonen's death in Corsica the following year, Alén narrowly lost the 1986 World Rally Championship to rival driver, Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2 pilot Juha Kankkunen. Late in the season, Alén had been victorious on the Rallye Sanremo only after Kankkunen's Peugeot team was excluded by the organisers 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 led to Alén famously boycotting the 1987 Monte Carlo Rally.^[4][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 in the RAC, an event he had been trying to win for fifteen years. It was to be his last world championship victory.

Later career

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

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 fourth in the 1990 1000 Lakes Rally, and a third and two fourth 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 second place for Toyota in 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.

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 in August, 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. His son Anton Alén, 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

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	WDC	Points
1973	Oy Volvo-Auto Ab	Volvo 142	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	MOR	GRE	POL	FIN 2	AUT	ITA	USA		FRA		N/A	N/A
	Motorcraft	Ford Escort RS1600												GBR 3
1974	Fiat S.p.A.	Fiat 124 Abarth Spider	MON C	SWE C	POR 3	KEN	GRE C	FIN 3	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA 2		FRA Ret				N/A	N/A
	Ford Motor Company Ltd	Ford Escort RS1600										GBR Ret
1975	Fiat S.p.A.	Fiat 124 Abarth Spider	MON 3	SWE 6	KEN	GRE	MOR	POR 1		ITA Ret	FRA	GBR Ret					N/A	N/A
	Datsun	Datsun Violet 160J							FIN Ret
1976	Fiat S.p.A.	Fiat 124 Abarth Spider	MON 6	SWE	POR	KEN	GRE										N/A	N/A
		Fiat 131 Abarth						MOR 12		ITA Ret	FRA	GBR Ret
	Autonovo Oy								FIN 1
1977	Fiat S.p.A.	Fiat 131 Abarth	MON 54	SWE Ret	POR 1	KEN	NZL 3	GRE Ret		CAN Ret	ITA	FRA	GBR Ret				NC	0
	Autonovo Oy								FIN Ret
1978	Alitalia Fiat	Fiat 131 Abarth	MON	SWE 3	KEN	POR 1	GRE 2	FIN 1	CAN 2								1st	52
		Lancia Stratos HF								ITA 1	CIV	FRA	GBR Ret
1979	Alitalia Fiat	Fiat 131 Abarth	MON 3	SWE 4	POR	KEN 3	GRE	NZL	FIN 1	CAN	ITA 6	FRA					3rd	68
	Lancia GB	Lancia Stratos HF											GBR 5	CIV
1980	Fiat Italia	Fiat 131 Abarth	MON Ret	SWE	POR 2	KEN	GRE 3	ARG Ret									6th	47
	Fiat Rally / ASA								FIN 1	NZL
	4 Rombi Corse										ITA Ret	FRA	GBR	CIV
1981	Fiat Auto Torino	Fiat 131 Abarth	MON 7	SWE	POR 1	KEN	FRA	GRE 2	ARG	BRA	FIN 2	ITA 9	CIV				4th	56
	Team Chardonnet	Lancia Stratos HF												GBR Ret
1982	Martini Racing	Lancia Rally 037	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA 9	GRE Ret	NZL	BRA	FIN Ret	ITA Ret	CIV	GBR 4			21st	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			3rd	100
1984	Martini Racing	Lancia Rally 037 Evolution 2	MON 8	SWE	POR 2	KEN 4	FRA 1	GRE 3	NZL 2	ARG	FIN 2	ITA Ret	CIV	GBR			3rd	90
1985	Martini Lancia	Lancia Rally 037 Evolution 2	MON	SWE	POR	KEN Ret	FRA Ret	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN 3	ITA 4	CIV				7th	37
		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		2nd	104
	Martini Lancia	Lancia Rally 037 Evolution 2				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		3rd	88
1988	Martini Lancia	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	MON	SWE 1													2nd	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		9th	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			20th	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	8th	40
1992	Toyota Team Europe	Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD	MON Ret		POR 4			GRE Ret	NZL	ARG	FIN 3	AUS	ITA	CIV	ESP	GBR 4	5th	50
	Toyota Team Sweden	Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165		SWE 4
	Toyota Team Kenya	Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD				KEN 5	FRA
1993	555 Subaru World Rally Team	Subaru Legacy RS	MON	SWE	POR 4												11th	25
	Toyota Castrol Team	Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD				KEN 2	FRA	GRE	ARG	NZL
	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	NC	0

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	34th 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

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1980	Scuderia Lancia Corse	Gianfranco Brancatelli Piercarlo Ghinzani	Lancia Montecarlo Turbo	Gr. 5 SP 2.0	26	DNF	DNF

References

1. According to World Rally Archive (http://www.juwra.com), Alén won 801 stages. Markku Alén also won special stages in the following rallies that are not yet taken into account by www.juwra.com : 15 stages in Sweden 1977 (source: Sport Auto n°182, March 1977), 5 stages in South Pacific 1977 (source: Auto Hebdo n°63, 19–26 May 1977), 1 stage in Safari 1990 (source: Auto Hebdo n°723, 18 April 1990). He won at least 18 scored stages in Press-on-regardless 1974 (source claiming he won 21 stages: http://www.realautosport.com/images/mcmahon/Rally%20Data/1974-75/74%20POR%20RT-02.jpg); source claiming he won 20 stages: http://www.realautosport.com/images/mcmahon/Rally%20Data/1974-75/74%20POR%20results-c.jpg; source showing he won 2 annulled stages: http://www.realautosport.com/images/mcmahon/Newsletters/Ralligator%20Bullsheet/74-11m.jpg. Moreover, he is said to have won 11 special stages in Sanremo 1974 although reliable sources are missing. Also, Markku Alén won 20 special stages in annulled Sanremo 1986 (source: Auto Hebdo n°545, 22 October 1986).
2. 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.
3. "Markku Alén". Suomen Moottoriurheilumuseo (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 12 February 2008. Retrieved 30 October 2008.
4. "Monte Carlo Rally '87". YouTube. Archived from the original on 13 February 2024. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
5. Video on YouTube
6. "Markku Alén testaa luksus-Ferraria". Iltalehti (in Finnish). 5 October 2011. Retrieved 10 November 2011.

External links

• Markku Alén at Rallye-info.com
• Markku Alén at eWRC-results.com
• Profile at RallyBase

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Juha Kankkunen	Autosport International Rally Driver Award 1988	Succeeded by Miki Biasion
Sporting positions
Preceded by Sandro Munari	FIA Cup for Rally Drivers champion 1978	Succeeded by Björn Waldegård (World Rally Championship)
Records
Preceded by Stig Blomqvist 26 years, 203 days (1973 Swedish Rally)	Youngest rally winner 24 years, 156 days (1975 Rallye de Portugal)	Succeeded by Henri Toivonen 24 years, 86 days (1980 RAC Rally)
Preceded by Hannu Mikkola 18 wins (1973–1993)	Most rally wins 19 wins, 19th at the 1988 RAC Rally	Succeeded by Juha Kankkunen 23 wins, 20th at the 1993 RAC Rally