For many, undergoing open-heart surgery would usually spell an end to any extreme activities like tearing through a Finnish forest or navigating through a twisty Japanese mountain road in a rally car. Not for Heikki Kovalainen.
The Formula 1 race winner and childhood rally fan has overcome the “biggest challenge of his life” to recover from a potentially life-altering surgery to return to the cockpit in Japan earlier this month. If anything, rallying - a discipline the Finn turned to after seven years competing in Japan’s Super GT came to end in 2021 - has been a shining light at the end of a dark and concerning tunnel. The former Renault, McLaren and Caterham/Lotus F1 driver of 111 starts has clung on to the thought of returning to the rally stages and used this to drive him on through his recovery.
