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| Paasonen
on the Swedish podium. |
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| The
OMV Team's EVO VII in action. |
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| Paasonen
was first spotted in the Focus during 2001. |
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Jani Paasonen is one
of the latest examples of the long list of Finnish rally drivers,
the legendary "Flying Finns". The 28 year old Jani has
already been a Mitsubishi works driver during the 2002 season
and was the only driver capable of making a mark at the wheel
of the not very competitive EVO VII WRC.
We are looking at an extremely fast driver although that raw speed
has cost him dear sometimes in the form of some huge crashes,
something that is likely to have been the reason behind the decision
of Mitsubishi not to hire him for the WRC team, moving him instead
to the production series at the wheel of a Top Run prepared EVO
VII entered by the German team OMV where he teams up with the
experienced Manfred Stohl and the young German driver Vollak.
Paasonen started his rallying in 1995, driving an Ascona and within
a year he was runner-up in the Finnish Junior Championship. The
following years were spent driving Group N Mitsubishis ending
up with winning the national championship of the category in 2000.
That lead to the big leap to the WRC, driving a Focus, a car that
allowed him to show up his tremendous potential at this level,
setting some very good times in the 2001 Finland rally and running
as high as third overall until a crash ended his good showing.
However it was enough to catch the eye of Mitsubishi and to gain
a contract as a works driver for a reduced WRC campaign in 2002
with the EVO VII WRC. Jani was the most successful of the team
drivers in a car that was never up to expectations. The subsequent
Mitsubishi withdrawal at the beginning of 2003 meant that Jani
got sidelined for most of the season except for a brief appearance
in the German Rally, again at the wheel of a works Mitsubishi.
This season, after being dropped from the WRC program, a new chance
has arisen in the form of a call from the OMV team to compete
in the PWRC, a program that could allow Jani to get noticed again
by the "big names" to enable him to obtain a new works
drive for 2005. His impressive victory at Sweden was only a further
confirmation of Jani's speed making the Finn a good bet for overall
honours at the end of the 2004 PWRC campaign.
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