
Sharing a service park tent with a double world champion can be a daunting prospect for any young driver climbing the World Rally Championship ranks. But four-time WRC runner-up Mikko Hirvonen believes the no nonsense advice gleaned from his team-mate at Ford between 2006 and 2007, Marcus Gronholm, proved to be among the biggest influences on his rally career.
At opposite ends of their respective careers, rising star Hirvonen joined 2000 and 2002 champion Gronholm to create an all-new and all-Finnish line-up at the factory Ford squad, which had run Toni Gardemeister and Roman Kresta in 2005.