Many famous rally drivers have won Rallye Açores, including Yves Loubet (1992), Bruno Thiry (1997), Gregoire de Mevius (1999), Markko Martin (2000), Kris Meeke (2009) and Andreas Mikkelsen (2012). But the most famous of all is four-time world rally champion Juha Kankkunen – co-driven by Juha Repo in a Subaru Impreza WRC.
Juha Kankunnen
“I remember it very well,” said Kankkunen. “It was in 2001 and we didn’t do so many rallies that year because I had stopped with Subaru on the world championship and it was before I started with Hyundai. We had the chance to come to the Azores and I was very happy for that. I remember some beautiful stages and a fantastic rally. In fact, after the rally I stayed for a bit and went round the island by bike for a little holiday. It’s not often I do that after a rally: normally I am in a hurry to get home. But this time I decided to stay.
“It was very tricky and technical. I remember the stages being very narrow: you had to be so neat and precise, also with the pace notes. We had a good battle with Thomas Rådström that was very close but then on the final day he had a problem with I think his alternator so he had to stop. In any case we led from the start so I was very happy to win and we did a good rally. But it was nice that we had to fight hard for the win.”