The beginnings of many stories are forgotten about because the rest of it is much more interesting. The story of Finnish F1 history is a perfect example. After the first chapters there are well-known parts written by Keke Rosberg and Mika Häkkinen and less successful appearances by JJ Lehto and Mika Salo. These days Kimi Räikkönen is adding his own chapters to the story, and Heikki Kovalainen is waiting for his turn. But very few remember that first chapter, apart from a statistical point of view. That is, the story of Leo Kinnunen, seen here at Brands Hatch during practice for British Grand Prix, or the story of the only Finnish F1 team, the AAW Racing Team.
Leo or “Leksa” was one of those guys who had the ability to take whatever car he was given and instantly drive it faster than most others, no matter what the surface was. His natural talent in controlling a car was immense. Throughout his career he raced a wide variety of different cars on very different racing disciplines. From ice racing with a Fiat 500 to Volvos and Saabs in rallies, all the way to international sportscar races in Porsche’s monstrous 917s. Leo did it all, and usually was successful.
Leo was born at Tampere, a town in south-western Finland, in 1943. He started racing with motorcycles in his youth, and later moved to four wheels when he got his driver’s license in early sixties and moved to Helsinki. His first racing car was his own Fiat 500, and he took it to all events he could. Soon Leo dominated his classes in ice racing and autocross, and also took part in some asphalt races. There were also some races with Formula Juniors and naturally, being in Finland, rallies.
In fact, Leo was touted as one of the most promising rally drivers of his era, just a couple of years before the great breakthrough of The Flying Finns on the international scene. He achieved this by rallying a variety of cars, mostly Volvos for the Finnish importer, and was also sent to take part in his first international motor race when the Volvo importer sent him to Monte Carlo in 1965. There he and co-driver Charles Lindberg were disqualified after being late from a time control. Those aware of the history of Monte Carlo and the French organisers might be interested to know that the pair was leading their class at the time, appropriately enough ahead of a pair of Citroëns…
Leo’s career in rallying peaked in 1967. That year he started his cooperation with Antti Aarnio-Wihuri, a motorsport enthusiast and amateur racer whose family company imported VW:s and Porsches. Antti had set up a Finnish VW Rally Team and offered to run Leo in the Finnish Rally Championship. Leo took the offer and after one rally win and a string of good finishes he was the runner-up in the Finnish Rally Championship, matching the score of the title winner Simo Lampinen. Nevertheless, Leo’s priority was rapidly moving towards circuit racing.
That year Leo had also driven in Finnish F3 Championship with an old Brabham which was not on par with the machinery of his rivals. That changed for 1968 when Antti Aarnio-Wihuri found a new team that would concentrate on circuit racing and the team bought a brand-new Titan for Leo. The car gave much better chance for success and Leo won several races with it. On one notable occasion he beat two foreign visitors of the undulating Ahvenisto circuit; young Swedes Ronnie Peterson and Reine Wisell.
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