Leo Kinnunen
Leo Juhani Kinnunen (* August 5, 1943 in Tampere ) is a Finnish former racing driver.
Leo Kinnunen learned the racing like many of his compatriots in the forests of Finland. However, unlike its famous rally colleagues of the 1960s Kinnunen wanted to circuit racing and so became the first Finn, who took part in a Formula 1 World Championship race.
After successes in national sports car racing, he was factory driver for Porsche. From there he went to John Wyer, for which he went in 1970 as a partner of Pedro Rodríguez. The two were the dominant pair of World Championship of 1970. The duo won the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 1000 km of Brands Hatch, the 1000 km race at Monza and 1000 km from Watkins Glen, each on a Porsche 917
To a certain celebrity Kinnunen came through his reckless ride in the 1970 Targa Florio in a Porsche 908 As a partner of Rodríguez he drove in the first lap of the race with 33 minutes 36 seconds by far the fastest lap ever achieved in the Sicilian circuit. He thereby undercutting the previous year by Vic Elford, who was already considered " eternal record lap " to 1 minute and 30 seconds. In the race he was second behind Rodriguez with teammates Brian Redman and Jo Siffert. In 1971 he drove in the Inter series, including on his home track Keimola. In 1973 he was in Sicily, together with the Swiss Claude Haldi third parties. In the same year he also drove the 1000 Lakes Rally, finishing behind Timo Mäkinen and Markku Alén on a Porsche Carrera also the third place.
Kinnunen never wanted to adapt to the now customary practices in international motorsport. Above all, he steadfastly refused to learn English and remained a loner. Hit hard Kinnunen had the fatal crash of his friend Hans Laine, who was burned in 1970 during practice for the 1000-kilometer race at the Nürburgring after an accident helpless in his vehicle. After a year at Alfa Romeo Kinnunen drove for AAW Finland in the inter- series, a racing series, for which he was " over-qualified ".
With AAW and a Surtees TS -16 - Ford -Cosworth, he tried in 1974 in Formula 1 In six attempts to qualify, he failed five times. Only at the Grand Prix of Sweden in Anderstorp he was able to qualify, but had to retire after twelve rounds with an engine failure.
Kinnunen drove to the end of the 1970s, GT and sports car racing with various models of Porsche and then retired from racing.