Fløene began his co-driving career in the 1980s, primarily competing in Norwegian domestic events. Through the 1990s he gained experience on the occasional World Rally Championship and European Rally Championship round, building the international credentials that would define his later career. By the early 2000s he was contesting rallies abroad regularly, partnering with a range of Scandinavian drivers.
The defining chapter of Fløene's career began in 2006 when he started co-driving for a then 17-year-old Andreas Mikkelsen on various British events. The pair won six rallies outright in their debut season together. A limited WRC campaign followed in 2007, and over the next several seasons the partnership became one of the most recognised in the Scandinavian rally scene.
Their collaboration reached its peak in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, where Fløene and Mikkelsen claimed the championship in both 2011 and 2012 — back-to-back titles that underlined their consistency and pace on varied surfaces.
When Mikkelsen moved to Volkswagen Motorsport as a factory driver for 2013, Fløene initially found himself without the partnership. During that transitional period he joined Pontus Tidemand, and the pair won the Junior World Rally Championship title in 2013, demonstrating that Fløene's skills transferred seamlessly to a new driver pairing.
Fløene rejoined Mikkelsen at Volkswagen Motorsport in 2014, replacing Mikko Markkula mid-season. He quickly made an impact: on just his second rally with the team he claimed his first WRC podium finish. The partnership's defining moment in WRC competition arrived at the 2015 Rally Catalunya, where Fløene and Mikkelsen took their first outright WRC victory together.
For 2016, Fløene switched to M-Sport to serve as co-driver to Mads Østberg, while Anders Jæger stepped into the Volkswagen seat. The move broadened Fløene's experience of top-tier factory programmes and added another prominent Scandinavian driver to his career résumé alongside Mikkelsen and Tidemand.
After a period away from the Mikkelsen pairing, the two reunited in 2021 to contest WRC2 — the second-tier category within the World Rally Championship — with Toksport WRT. The Toksport programme gave both driver and co-driver a competitive platform within the WRC structure while competing outside the manufacturer class.
Ola Fløene's career spans four decades of rallying, from Norwegian club events in the 1980s through to international WRC campaigns in the 2020s. His record of nurturing young talent — most notably Mikkelsen from the age of 17 — as well as his Junior WRC title with Tidemand and WRC victory with Mikkelsen marks him as one of Norway's most accomplished co-drivers. He is regarded as an experienced hand capable of developing drivers at the earliest stages of their international careers as well as guiding them to victories in the premier class.