At 30 years old, Huttunen is not yet past his prime as a driver. However, it’s challenging to prove his abilities without a driving opportunity.
Huttunen’s prospects looked bright seven years ago when he was selected for Hyundai’s WRC development programme. At the time, the 23-year-old Finnish driver also had an offer from Škoda, but Hyundai seemed like the more promising route to reach the highest level in the WRC.
Two-time world champion Marcus Grönholm took on the role of managing Huttunen’s rally project, trying to pave the best possible path for his protégé to reach the top.
The Hyundai opportunity was explored, but the door to a full WRC seat never opened. Huttunen was allowed to test Hyundai’s WRC car in two Finnish Championship rallies in 2019, with the condition that nothing in the car could break. In 2020, he won the WRC3 title, but still, no breakthrough into the WRC team materialised.
Huttunen left Hyundai at the end of 2021 and switched to M-Sport’s Ford Fiesta Rally2 car. The following season in 2022, Huttunen and Grönholm made a significant investment in the Rally Finland, acquiring an M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 car. Everything was riding on this one opportunity – a strong performance could reignite his career.
But the dream was shattered by a technical issue with the Ford. The chance to prove himself slipped away, and his career began to decline. This downward trend has continued to the present day.
Last year, Huttunen still competed in the Finnish Championship and took part in the WRC rallies in Sweden and Finland. This year, however, the driver from Kiuruvesi has barely raced at all.
Last weekend, Huttunen had a chance to shake off some rust behind the wheel of a Ford Escort in the Lahti Historic Rally. In the end, after numerous twists and turns, he was declared the winner when French driver Florent Todeschini was disqualified during post-event scrutineering.
Huttunen doesn’t have much positive news about his rallying future.
“There’s nothing lined up. Now I’m starting to feel like I’d like to drive, but nothing is planned, and nothing is in sight,” Huttunen said during the Lahti rally weekend.
According to Huttunen, he still has the desire to drive, but the lack of proper support is a major obstacle. Grönholm stopped backing Huttunen last autumn, and no new collaboration has been established since.
Huttunen has no intention of trying to raise the necessary funding himself.
“My motivation for that has pretty much run out – it’s completely gone. There are no plans, and I haven’t thought about continuing. But if a reasonable opportunity came up, why not?” Huttunen pondered.
