Rallying Icon Tommi Mäkinen on the Absolutely Brilliant Evolution VI

Mäkinen spoke to ‘Road & Track’ about his eponymous ride, and revealed a shocking fact. 

Tommi Mäkinen remains one of the most noted and respected names on the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) circuit. His driving career garnered four consecutive world championships for Mitsubishi, and 24 overall race wins. Mäkinen became such a name so synonymous Evolution excellence that he even got his own special Tommi Mäkinen Edition Evolution VI model. He recently spoke with Road & Track about rally racing and the Evolution.

After retiring, no one really expected Mäkinen would sit still for long. And by 2016, he was back on the track as principal of the Toyota Gazoo Racing rally team. Road & Track chatted with Mäkinen at a recent WRC Turkey event.

Road & Track asked the champ if there was any rally car he wished he had driven. While he was more than happy with Mitsubishi, he wouldn’t have minded giving Toyota a go.

“I had my latest and best version of the Mitsubishi,” Mäkinen says, “I took the World Champion title with that car [in Race of the Champions in Gran Canaria]. But then we were competing with the Toyota rally car, which was kind of a customer spec car, not the proper latest works development. But still, I went absolutely flat out with my Mitsubishi, and then I jumped into that customer spec Toyota for the first time ever…I went to see my team boss…saying, what is it? Do you have any idea?”

The most surprising fact, however, is that Mäkinen does not own a Tommi Mäkinen Edition Evolution VI model! Mitsubishi, send this man a red Evo, pronto!

The special edition Evo, often called the Evo 6.5, came in two trims, RS and GSR. It was lowered, featured a custom front bumper, custom badging and logos, 17″ titanium turbine wheels, and produced 276 horsepower and 275 lb-ft of torque.

Asked if the Evo is best in his rally car red, Mäkinen said “Well, yeah. They also look great in black. I have also seen white ones, and there’s no problem with those. It was an absolutely brilliant car.”

We couldn’t agree more.