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+ About Heikki Kovalainen +
Date of Birth: October 19th, 1981
Place of birth: Suomussalmi, Finland
Nationality: Finnish
Height: 1.72 m
Weight: 66 kg
Likes: Pasta, sport, girls, fast cars
Hobbies: Gym, cycling, cross-country skiing, golf
Heikki started his motor racing career karting in the early 90's. Recognition came with finishing runner-up in the Finnish
Formula A championship in 1999 and 2000. That year also saw Heikki adding the Scandinavian championship and winning the Elf
Masters at Paris Bercy to his achievements earning him title of Karting Driver of the Year in his native Finland.
Heikki’s success saw him move up to the British Formula Renault Championship in 2001, where he reached fourth place plus a
"Rookie of the Year" award 2001 by the Finnish Automobile Sports Federation. That same year, Heikki made his F3 debut, at the
Macau Grand Prix, finishing 8th.
In 2002 Heikki moved on to compete in the British F3 Championship, where he secured 3rd position in drivers' standings,
and was once again announced "Rookie of the Year", winning the prestigious support race at the British Grand Prix. He also
finished second in Macau and fourth in the Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort.
In 2003 Heikki went to Japan to contest in the World Series by Nissan: a win and two poles were enough to get 2nd place in
the Championship. That same year he also made his F1 test debut driving the Renault at Barcelona and then a Minardi
during the Vallelunga test session just a couple of weeks later.
The next year saw Heikki as the 2004 World Series by Nissan champion, crushing the opposition. As a member of the Renault
Driver Development Program Heikki assisted with the development of Renault's championship winning R24.
In Paris, at the Race of Champions 2004, Heikki represented Finland alongside Marcus Gronholm for the Cup of Nations, taking
the runner-up spot. The top step of the podium awaited Heikki with victory over 2004 world rally champion Sebastian Loeb and
7 times world champion Michael Schumacher, bringing the title Champion of Champions in front of a packed stadium.
In 2005 Heikki contested the inaugural GP2 series, finishing second. Despite leading the championship for much of the season,
the final race in Bahrain saw Nico Rosberg taking the title. That year also saw Heikki’s return to the Race of Champions,
where Heikki was looking good to repeat his 2004 performance when in the semi-final Tom Kristensen crossed the finish line
0.067 ahead.
Heikki also replaced Frank Montagny in 2006 as Renault F1 Team third driver where he regularly topped the time sheets during F1
test days.
On 6 September 2006 the Renault F1 Team announced their driver line up for 2007. As anticipated by many F1 pundits Heikki
Kovalainen became a fulltime F1 driver. During the course of the season Heikki outperformed and out-scored his experienced
team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella, becoming 2nd best rookie of the season after Lewis Hamilton and taking 7th place in the
final championship standing.
These achievements hovewer did not help Heikki to hold on to his seat with the Renault F1 Team for the next season, and he
was freed of his contract on order to give way to a returning double world Champion Fernando Alonso.
On 14 December 2007, it was confirmed that Kovalainen would drive the second car for McLaren Mercedes for the 2008 Formula
One season alongside Lewis Hamilton. Kovalainen is the fourth Finn to race for the Woking based team, following Keke Rosberg,
Mika Häkkinen and Kimi Räikkönen, all of whom have won the World Championship, albeit Mika Häkkinen being the only Finn to
win the World Championship in a McLaren car.
sources: Wikipedia &
HeikkiKovalainen.net
+ About Fanlistings +
According to The Fanlistings Network, a fanlisting is "simply an online listing of
fans of a subject, such as a TV show, actor, or musician, that is created by an individual and open for fans from around the
world to join. The only requirements to join a fanlisting are your name, e-mail address and country. Fanlistings do not have
to be large sites (although some are) - they are just a place where you can have your name listed along with other fans"
Basically, a fanlisting is a list of fans of a particular subject. Join just to show your love!
Believe me, these things can get addicting ;)
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