Pauli Toivonen


Pauli Toivonen was a Finnish rally car driver. He drove for Citroën, Lancia and Porsche and had many successes to his credit. Toivonen had two sons, Harri and Henri, both also racing drivers.
Toivonen was awarded a controversial first place on the 1966 Monte Carlo Rally - the top three placing Minis of Timo Mäkinen, Rauno Aaltonen and Paddy Hopkirk and Roger Clark's 4th place Ford Cortina were disqualified. Rally officials determined the headlamp bulbs were not homologated, following a last minute rule change. The winner therefore became Toivonen's Citroën DS.
As a result, Toivonen did not brag about his victory in the prestigious Monte Carlo rally because he felt he had not deserved the victory. However, when his son, Henri came in first at the same event twenty years later — this time in a convincing manner — Toivonen said, "Now the name of Toivonen has been cleared."
Toivonen was European Rally champion in 1968 and won four other events for Porsche in the same year.
While Toivonen was mainly known for driving rally cars, he also drove for Porsche in World Sportscar Championship races and for Renault in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Notable results

YearRallyFinishCarCo-driver
1961Thousand Lakes Rally2ndCitroën DSJaakko Kallio
1962Thousand Lakes Rally1stCitroën DS19Jaakko Kallio
1963Monte Carlo Rally2ndCitroën DS19A. Jarvi
1965Thousand Lakes Rally3rdVolkswagen 1500SKalevi Leivo
1966Monte Carlo Rally1stCitroën DS21E. Mikander
1967Swedish Rally6thLanciaAhava
1967Tour de Corse2ndLanciaM. Tiukkanen
1967Thousand Lakes Rally7thLanciaSalonen
1968Monte Carlo Rally2ndPorsche 911TM. Tiukkanen
1968Acropolis Rally3rdPorsche 911TM. Kolari
1968West German Rally1stPorsche 911TM. Kolari
1968East German Rally1stPorsche 911TM. Kolari
1968San Remo Rally1stPorsche 911TM. Tiukkanen
1968Castrol-Danube Rally1stPorsche 911TM. Tiukkanen
1968Geneva Rally1stPorsche 911TVihervaara
1968European Champion
1969Acropolis1stPorsche 911SM. Kolari