Leo Kinnunen

Leo Juhani ‘Leksa’ Kinnunen only contested one season of F1, racing with his own team in 1974, though was the first Grand Prix driver from Finland plus the last driver to compete in F1 using an open-face helmet. Despite a frustrating experience in F1 he would make his mark in sports cars, winning the Nordic Challenge Cup in 1969, the Interserie three years on the run from 1971–1973. He helped Porsche to take the World Sportscar Championship for manufacturers in 1970 and during that season achieved the fastest time ever recorded in the Targa Florio.

Born on the 5th August 1943 in Tampere, south western Finland, Leo started racing on motorcycles then switched to four wheels in the early 1960s after gaining his driver’s license. He quickly gained success in rallying, autocross and ice racing and often raced Volvos for the Finnish importer. In 1965 the importer entered him and co-driver Charles Lindberg in a Volvo 122 S for the Monte Carlo Rally but they were disqualified after being late from a time control.

In the following year he raced a Porsche 911 at Keimola and was fourth at Artukkainen with a VW MAC-1. In 1967, motorsport enthusiast and racer Antti Aarnio-Wihuri formed a Finnish VW Rally Team and Leo raced for them in the Finnish Rally Championship. One rally win and a number of good finishes saw him finish second in the Championship, matching the points total of title winner Simo Lampinen. During that year he also competed in the Finnish F3 Championship and was fourth in two races at Keimola in May with his Brabham BT21. In September a Finland GP, combining F2 and F3 cars took place at Keimola and results saw the top 6 places taken by F2 drivers (Jim Clark, Jochen Rindt, Graham Hill, Alan Rees, Frank Gardner and Jack Brabham) and Leo finished eleventh and fifth of the F3 runners. The following season saw him in a Titan Mk 3 and he took a victory (and fastest lap) in June at Ahvenisto, beating pole position man Ronnie Peterson’s Tecno 68. In a further race at the circuit in August the positions were reversed when he came second to Peterson.

Although he started 1969 in F3, a three-race Nordic Challenge Cup was created and AAW bought a used Porsche 908 Spyder for him to contest the series. Unfortunately only three cars took part in the first race at Keimola as the other entrants withdrew in a protest over prize money. Leo finished second in the race after a close battle with Jochen Rindt and went on to win the remaining races in Anderstorp and Mantorp Park, which featured full fields.

His performances had attracted attention and it led to him being invited to test a Porsche 917 at Osterreichring, where a Porsche development engineer, Helmut Flegl, stated ”The most dramatic driver of them all was Kinnunen. He threw the car into the corners like the devil himself, in true rally style.”

Following this, John Wyer paired him with Pedro Rodriguez in one of the Gulf-sponsored Porsches in the 1970 World Sportscar Championship. He and Pedro won the first race, the 24 Hours of Daytona, and went on to take the overall championship but despite the success it was a difficult time for him. Team manager David Yorke considered Pedro the team’s primary driver and regarded Leo as only the backup driver demanded by the rules, with the car built for Pedro’s measurements and driving style. At Sebring, he was allowed to modify the car to suit his style and went on to beat Pedro’s time in practice but this was the last chance he got to set the car up to his liking. The pair finished fourth in Sebring and went on to take consecutive victories at Brands Hatch and Monza and then came the Targa Florio which would prove to be one of the highlights of his career. Porsche had brought their light and nimble 908/03 for the event with Leo and Pedro, Jo Siffert/Brian Redman and Richard Attwood/Bjorn Waldegard in JW Automotive cars while Vic Elford/Hans Herrmann raced a Porsche Salzburg car. Pole position went to Siffert/Redman, followed by V.Elford/H.Herrmann, N.Vaccarella/I.Giunti’s Ferrari 512S, the Alfa Romeo T33/3 of P.Courage/A.De Adamich and then Leo/Pedro. On race day Rodriguez was ill and though the pair eventually finished second, Leo took the chance to shine on the final lap. With an average speed of just under 129 km/h he set a time of 33 minutes and 36 seconds, breaking Vic Elford’s old lap record by 1 and a half minutes, and achieving the fastest ever time recorded for the event. There were retirements due to mechanical issues at Spa, Le Mans and Zeltweg but the Nurburgring was a traumatic race for him as his good friend Hans Laine was killed during practice. Deeply shocked, he didn’t want to race but the team were unable to find a replacement driver though during the race he crashed into an earth bank and the car took off; recalling the event he would later describe how “Right before I landed I saw Brian Redman flash past below me.” They took victory in the final race at Watkins Glen and Porsche secured the World Championship but Leo moved on to drive for the AAW Racing Team. Besides the WSC drives he competed in a round of the Interserie Championship at Keimola in a Bill Bradley McLaren M12 and finished eighth. He also took part in the European Sportscar Championship for 2-litre cars with an Abarth 2000SP and took second and third place finishes at Mugello and the Nurburgring. During the year Leo was asked by Steve McQueen, whom he had befriended when McQueen raced for Porsche in America, to drive in the Le Mans movie but his contract with Porsche would not allow it and he was replaced by David Piper, who was severely injured during the filming.

AAW had intended running Leo and Hans Laine together in the World Sportscar Championship in 1971 but after Hans was killed the team decided to compete in the Interserie Championship. AAW bought a new Porsche 917 Spyder and, with the team being Finnish, ran in blue and white colours which were influenced by their country’s flag. They began achieving good results, with third in the first round at Imola (behind Arturo Merzario and Chris Craft) plus second place finishes at Zolder (to Peter Gethin) and Hockenheim (to Derek Bell). Sadly, after Hans Laine’s death the previous year, Leo encountered further trauma at Norisring when Pedro Rodriguez crashed into barriers and was killed in front of him. He and Pedro had made plans to eat dinner after the race, to be paid by the one who finished lower in the results and Leo withdrew from the race along with Herbert Muller in a Ferrari. Following this the team took victory in the fifth round at Keimola and finished off with third in the season’s final round back at Hockenheim. In other drives with the 917 Spyder he was fourth in a 500km Imola race and second in a shared drive alongside Gerard Larrousse in the 1000 Km Paris. AAW also ran a Porsche 911 at the 1000 Km Nurburgring and he and Bjorn Waldegaard finished sixteenth. He also returned to the Targa Florio to partner Rolf Stommelen in an Autodelta Alfa Romeo T33/3, only to see Stommelen crash on the first lap.

In the following year he focused on the Interserie and there was a season-long battle against Willy Kauhsen in a 917. The season started with fourth at the Nurburgring followed by retirement at Imola (his only dnf that year) though he won the next round at Silverstone. He was ninth at Zeltweg but then took 5 consecutive victories at Hockenheim, Norisring, Keimola, Nurburgring and again at Hockenheim and they took the spoils after winning six of the nine rounds with Kauhsen second in the points.

1973 saw a repeat of the previous year’s title chase though AAW Racing entered two Porsche 917/10s, for Leo and fellow Finn Hannu Sirvio. He won four of the seven rounds to take the Championship for the third year in a row, after another tough battle against Willi Kauhsen. The season started with the Nurburgring 300Kms at the end of March, with the venue also hosting the opening round of the European GT Championship as well as a Formula Three race. Despite a limited entry there were four turbocharged Porsche 917/10s amongst the field and in the two 7-lap heats he finished second in both behind Willie Kauhsen. He was second at the next race at Imola then took consecutive wins at Silverstone, Norisring and a non championship race at Mainz-Finthen. Although the run was halted by a ninth place finish at Hockenheim (due to gearbox issues) he followed this with victories in the final two rounds at Misano and Hockenheim. Despite winning his third Championship at Hockenheim, the crowd jeered when he went up to get his trophy, as besides beating a German driver, the crowd also felt Leo had not put in much effort against Kauhsen but he had been struggling with a down on power engine and could not keep up. Away from the Interserie he returned to contest the Targa Florio, this time in a Martini Racing Porsche 911 and was third alongside Claude Haldi. The year also saw one of his best results in rallying when he brought his Porsche Carrera home in third place in the World Rally Championship 1000 Lakes Rally, behind Timo Makinen and Markku Alen. In winning the championship three times in a row, he had taken 18 heat wins and 11 outright wins. AAW had plans to compete in the Interserie and also in Can-Am in America but Antti Aarnio-Wihuri cancelled the project and Leo was without a drive.

However, John Surtees offered one of his TS16s on lease and after finding sponsorship, mainly from Salora (a Finnish electronics manufacturer) and Colt (cigarettes) he entered F1 with his Cosworth powered car. Unusually, in the days of full face helmets, he had raced in an open helmet and goggles and would be the last person in F1 to do so. Antti Aarnio-Wihuri allowed him to use the AAW Racing Team name and his first GP came at Nivelles for the Belgian GP, which proved to be a disaster. Although the TS16 arrived in time for the race weekend, Leo had never even sat in the car before, let alone driven it. Added to the minimal preparation time, the car had been used as a mobile testbed by the factory and on examining it they discovered it had a damaged monocoque and rear suspension. It was underpowered, plus 80 kilos overweight and when he took the car out its gearbox broke after three laps. The team consisted of Leo, three mechanics and a crew chief but they had no spare parts and the repair work proved fruitless as the gearbox broke again in qualifying. Unable to set a recorded time he was the only driver not to qualify for the race. Following the race the team travelled back to Finland to focus on testing and fixing the car. Electing not to go to Monaco their next race was the Swedish GP at Anderstorp, where he qualified twenty fifth though the team already knew that finishing the race was unlikely. Now running with a new gold livery, the car was short-fuelled to compensate for being overweight but after climbing to twentieth by lap eight he was forced to retire after a spark plug lost its threads and failed. The rest of the season brought further disappointment for the team and they were not allowed to take part in the Dutch GP and did not qualify in France, Great Britain, Italy and Austria. There was no money for them to take part in the two American races and unfortunately a lack of funding forced the team to close, meaning Leo’s brief F1 career was over.

After his foray into Formula One he returned to the Interserie for a final race at Hockenheim and after winning both heats with a Martini Racing Porsche, the points from this one round saw him finish sixth in the Championship. In the following year he partnered Herbert Muller but it wasn’t as successful a season. In 1000km races he and Muller retired at Spa, were ninth at Zeltweg, sixteenth at Mugello (joined by G.van Lennep) and the season’s best result came with third at the Nurburgring. The only other result came at the Coppa Florio (a round of the World Championship for Makes at Enna Pergusa) where they finished seventh. In 1976, he switched teams and raced a Porsche 934 Turbo with Egon Evertz, in what would be Leo’s final year in International sports cars racing. But it proved a frustrating time as they suffered retirements at Vallelunga, Nurburgring, Zeltweg, Dijon (in a 908/03) and Le Mans. In the races they finished they were fourth at the 6 Hour Dijon and highlights came with three podium results,including third at Mugello and Silverstone plus second at Watkins Glen (joined by Toine Hezemans). Racing solo he was second and sixth in DRM races at Nurburgring and Hockenheim though wasn’t classified in a Euro GT round at Misano. Unfortunately, the team suffered financial problems and closed down, leaving Leo out of a drive. In 1977 he only competed in one race, the 1000km Nurburgring, with Jurgen Neuhaus and Albrecht Krebs though they retired their Porsche 935 due to engine problems.

Leo had also been competing in rallies during this time, driving a Toyota Corolla, Datsun 160J and Volkswagen 1302S in national events in 1975. He switched to a Volvo 66 the following year then combined the Volvo 66 with Porsche 911 drives in 1977. Although he ended his circuit racing career in 1977, two years later he won 1979’s Arctic Rally with a 911 though retired due to an accident at the Rally of 1000 Lakes. There were further 911 drives in 1981 and 1982’s Rally Finland and his final racing appearances came a few years later in 1985.

An eight-race Scandinavian Special Saloon Cup series was set up in 1985 and Saab hired Leo as the driver of its re-designed 900 Turbo Super Saloon. The first race took place in May at Ahvenisto and other makes in the field included in a BMW 320 Turbo, Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Eskort MkII and a Porsche 935. He retired from the event and there was a further retirement at the second race in Kemora but the Saab technincans were unable to solve the technical issues and there was another dnf in the third race at Ahvenisto. Unfortunately there were no significant results in the remaining rounds and the only finishes from the eight races were ninth and sixth place alongside six retirements. Following this Saab ended the project and only contested one season.

Leo remained in motor sport in administration plus started his own business in Finland. He settled in Turku, Southwest Finland and it was there that he passed away on the 26th July 2017.