Mäkinen won the Group N Finnish Rally Championship driving a Lancia Delta HF 4WD in 1988. Mäkinen's first world rally win came on the 1994 1000 Lakes Rally (now Rally Finland), in a Ford Escort RS Cosworth. Mäkinen proved a late developer by the standards of some in rallying circles, only nabbing his first full-time manufacturer seat in a Group A formula Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution alongside former Group A rally champion Swede Kenneth Eriksson, in 1995.
A cultured Safari Rally win in 1996 proved the platform on which to build a dominant championship lead, which he consolidated by taking the title in Australia, away from runner-up, Subaru's Colin McRae. He proceeded to win every drivers' title for Mitsubishi from 1996 to 1999. The Mitsubishi team, with the Finn and young Briton Richard Burns among its driver personnel, also won its sole manufacturers' championship in 1998. In 2000, despite opening his campaign with victory on the January Monte Carlo Rally, Mäkinen finally relinquished his grasp on the title, being beaten in the standings by new title holder and fellow Finn, Marcus Grönholm. That year Mitsubishi produced a 'Tommi Mäkinen edition' of the road version of the Lancer Evolution VI to commemorate his previous title successes. This car had a different front bumper than the regular Evolution VI, while some models also featured a red and white paint job to closely resemble Mäkinen's rally car.
Mäkinen remained with Mitsubishi until the end of the 2001 season, having finished third in that year's standings behind Burns and McRae. Mäkinen's navigators included compatriots Seppo Harjanne, Kaj Lindström, and Risto Mannisenmäki. Harjanne, who had previously served 1985 champion Timo Salonen, retired from co-driving alongside Mäkinen.
A crash during the inauspicious introduction of the team's first World Rally Car on the San Remo Rally in 2001, followed by a crash on the mountainside roads of the following round in Corsica, was responsible for breaking co-driver Mannisenmäki's back and virtually ended his top-line career. This forced Mäkinen to fare with substitute co-drivers for the remaining events in Australia (with Timo Hantunen) and Great Britain, the latter of which he retired from, helping Burns to claim the championship. A move to the Prodrive-run Subaru World Rally Team for 2002 yielded one more, final career victory, on the 2002 Monte Carlo Rally where a technical infringement committed by on-the-road winner, Sébastien Loeb, allowed Mäkinen to upstage the Frenchman. But his form then took a dive and he was not to add again to his tally of world titles.
He retired from the sport after the 2003 season, ending his WRC career on the podium with third place on that season's final rally, Rally Great Britain.
In 2004 he established his own company named Tommi Mäkinen Racing Oy Ltd with the aim to prepare rally cars and provide support to drivers.
In 2016, Mäkinen became the team principal of the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, which is the factory team of Toyota and competes in the World Rally Championship (WRC). In 2018, the team managed to win the World Rally Championship earning Toyota their first manufacturers' title since 1999.
Tommi Mäkinen was born in Puuppola, near Jyväskylä, Finland. From 1999, he has lived in both Jyväskylä and Monte Carlo, Monaco. He is married, with two children.
In 1998, the licensed Tommi Mäkinen Rally video game was released. In 2000, Mäkinen also won the Race of Champions.
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