Kankkunen grew up on his family's farm in Laukaa in Central Finland, near the route of Rally Finland. His father had rallying and ice racing as a hobby and taught him to drive on an ice racing track. Kankkunen began to drive when he was seven years old and owned his first car at the age of 12. He debuted in rallying in 1978 and competed in his first WRC event at the 1979 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland, finishing 14th in a Ford Escort RS2000. He was coached by Timo Mäkinen, a friend of his father's, and received financial support from Timo Jouhki, who later managed Tommi Mäkinen and Mikko Hirvonen.
Due to good results for Toyota Finland in local events, Kankkunen was signed by Toyota Team Europe, Toyota's factory WRC team headed by Ove Andersson. In his first season with the Toyota Celica Twincam Turbo, as teammate to 1979 world champion Björn Waldegård, his results included a sixth place at the 1000 Lakes and a seventh at the RAC Rally. In 1985, he opened the season with a surprise victory at the Safari Rally, becoming the first driver to win that event on the first attempt. He took a second win at the Rallye Côte d'Ivoire, where he and Waldegård finished with identical penalty times of 4 hours and 46 minutes, with Kankkunen taking the win by tiebreaker.
Kankkunen moved to Peugeot for 1986, replacing Ari Vatanen, who was still recovering from a nearly fatal accident. Driving the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2, he won the Swedish Rally, the Acropolis Rally, and Rally New Zealand, and finished on the podium in three more events. The season ended in controversy: following Henri Toivonen's fatal accident at the Tour de Corse, Group B cars were banned for the following season; and Peugeot were excluded from the Rallye Sanremo for allegedly illegal underbody fins, briefly handing the title to Lancia's Markku Alén. Alén was world champion for eleven days until Peugeot's appeal succeeded; the FIA annulled the Sanremo exclusion, making Kankkunen the youngest champion in the history of the series at that point.
Following Peugeot's withdrawal from the WRC, Kankkunen moved to Lancia Martini, driving the Lancia Delta HF 4WD. He led his Lancia debut in Monte Carlo until the final stage, when team principal Cesare Fiorio controversially directed him to finish second behind teammate Miki Biasion. Kankkunen later won the Olympus Rally, beating Biasion by only 12 seconds in a six-hour event. He clinched his second consecutive title by winning the season-ending RAC Rally ahead of teammates Biasion and Markku Alén, becoming the first driver to successfully defend the WRC title. He received the Autosport "International Rally Driver Award" for the second year running.
Kankkunen moved back to Toyota Team Europe for 1988. Although results in the WRC were poor — he finished 37th in the drivers' standings — he achieved much outside the championship. Returning to a Peugeot 205 T16, he won the Dakar Rally on his first attempt after compatriot and teammate Ari Vatanen's 405 T16 was stolen while he was leading. He also competed at the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb, finishing runner-up to Vatanen. At the first-ever Race of Champions, he beat 1985 world rally champion Timo Salonen in the final to become the inaugural "Champion of Champions".
In 1989, Kankkunen gave the new Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165 its first victory at Rally Australia and finished third in the drivers' championship behind Lancia drivers Biasion and Alex Fiorio.
Kankkunen signed with Lancia for 1990 before his Toyota win was delivered. Midway through the season, with Toyota's new star driver Carlos Sainz dominating, Kankkunen could only manage third in the championship. In 1991 he won the Safari Rally, the Acropolis Rally, the 1000 Lakes Rally (for the first time), and Rally Australia for the third consecutive year. Entering the season-ending RAC Rally with Sainz leading by one point, Kankkunen won the RAC ahead of Kenneth Eriksson and Sainz, securing a record third drivers' title since the WRC's 1973 inauguration. His 150 points that season remain the record for most points in a single WRC season. He also won the Race of Champions for a second time, beating Didier Auriol in the final.
In 1992, Kankkunen placed on the podium in all nine WRC events he entered, winning at Rally Portugal. The title went to Sainz, who held a two-point lead entering the final rally.
After Lancia withdrew from the WRC following the 1992 season, Kankkunen rejoined Toyota to drive the Toyota Celica GT-Four ST185. Despite mid-season co-driver disruption after Juha Piironen suffered a brain haemorrhage, he won five of his ten WRC events to take a record fourth drivers' title. His win at the RAC was his career 20th, breaking Markku Alén's record for most WRC wins. He and third-placed teammate Didier Auriol also brought Toyota the manufacturers' crown — the first for a Japanese manufacturer. Kankkunen became only the second motorsportsman voted Finnish Sportsman of the Year, after 1982 F1 world champion Keke Rosberg.
In 1995, with two rounds remaining, Kankkunen led the championship by seven points over Subaru's Colin McRae. At the Rally Catalunya he appeared set for his first WRC victory on tarmac before a crash ended his event. Following the round, Toyota were found guilty of implementing illegal turbo restrictor bypasses on their ST205 cars and received a 12-month ban from the FIA. All points for Kankkunen, Auriol, and Armin Schwarz were stripped. FIA president Max Mosley stated there was no suggestion the drivers were aware of the situation. In 1996, Kankkunen competed in three events for private Toyota teams, finishing fourth in Sweden, third in Indonesia, and second in Finland.
Halfway through the 1997 season, Kankkunen joined the Ford factory team run by M-Sport, replacing Armin Schwarz. He started well by leading the Acropolis Rally until a team order required him to drop behind teammate Carlos Sainz. At Rally Finland, he lost the win to defending champion Tommi Mäkinen by only seven seconds — still the narrowest winning margin in the event's history. He stayed with Ford for 1998 with Bruno Thiry as teammate, but the team's final season with the Ford Escort WRC was winless. Kankkunen finished on the podium seven times and placed fourth in the drivers' championship.
Kankkunen joined the Subaru World Rally Team for 1999. In Argentina he took his first win in over five years, overtaking teammate Richard Burns on the last stage to win by 2.4 seconds; Subaru team principal David Richards declared there would be no team orders despite a planned 10-second penalty having been considered. Kankkunen also won his home Rally Finland, defeating Burns again. At the season-ending RAC, Subaru finished first and second but lost the manufacturers' crown to Toyota by four points. For the third year running, Kankkunen placed fourth in the drivers' standings, while Tommi Mäkinen equalled his record of four titles. The 2000 season was a disappointment; his best result was second in the Safari Rally, and he placed eighth in the drivers' standings.
Kankkunen and Subaru did not reach a deal for 2001, and he competed in only one world rally that season, the Rally Finland for the Hyundai factory team, retiring with technical problems. In 2002, Hyundai offered a modified programme covering only the nine gravel rallies. Kankkunen's fifth place at Rally New Zealand was the team's best result of the season; nevertheless, Kankkunen, Freddy Loix, and Armin Schwarz combined to give Hyundai its career-best fourth place in the manufacturers' championship. Kankkunen retired from the WRC after the 2002 season.
In 2004, Kankkunen ran for the European Parliament as a candidate of the conservative National Coalition Party but his 17,815 votes were not enough to gain a seat.
In 2004 he also signed with the works Volkswagen rally raid team and competed in the 2005 Dakar Rally. Following a roll, another competitor crashed into his stranded Touareg, and he was withdrawn after the 10th stage.
In early 2007, on the frozen Gulf of Bothnia near Oulu, Finland, Kankkunen set a new world speed record on ice in his privately owned Bentley Continental GT, averaging 321.65 km/h (199.86 mph) in both directions on the flying kilometre and reaching a maximum of 331 km/h. The previous record of 296.34 km/h was held by a Bugatti EB110 Supersport. Tyres were from Nokian Tyres with spikes, and technical support was provided by Nokian and Bentley Motors. In 2011 he bettered the record to 330.695 km/h driving an E85-powered Bentley Continental Supersports convertible.
In July 2010, at just over 51 years old, Kankkunen competed in Rally Finland to mark the event's 60th jubilee, co-driven by his long-time co-driver Juha Repo in a Ford Focus RS WRC 08 for the Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team, finishing eighth ahead of many WRC regulars.
Since the 2025 season, Kankkunen has served as team manager of Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT in the World Rally Championship, becoming the first person to win a car manufacturer championship as both a driver and team manager for the same manufacturer.
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