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Mika Salo famously gave away his only chance to win an F1 race to support Eddie Irvine in his only chance to win an F1 Championship (Germany 1999). That was one race out of his 111 race career. In that time, he raced for Ferrari, BAR, Lotus, Arrows, Toyota, Sauber and Tyrrell – where he spent most of his career. He scored two podiums both for Ferrari in 1999.
His career though is much deeper than just F1. He raced four times in CART, with a best finish of third with PK Racing. He has won the GT2 class at Le Mans twice with Risi. He has also raced the legendary Audi R8 and won a race of the V8 Supercar Championship at the Gold Coast 600 along side Will Davison.
Salo joined Maranello Motorsport for the 2013 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hours in a Ferrari 458 GT3. He was lightening quick – but was careful not to break the 2:06 benchmark time, like teammate Simonsen did (and incurred a 50kg penalty for the race, something Salo was not pleased with). The race wasn’t going to go his way, however. He touched the wall early in the race which would break the suspension later in the race. He would lead and win the Australian GT Championship portion of the race before he would receive a bizarre penalty and be demoted to second.
Despite all this, we were able to catch up with Mika at the race and were able to talk about the Bathurst 12 Hours, sportscars, F1 and THAT missed win.
We will be bringing you more throughout the weekend and keep an eye on www.speedtv.com and www.dailysportscar.com for more news throughout the weekend.
Keep up on our Bathurst 12 Hour coverage here.
Click here to download the interview with Mika Salo (right click and save as)
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Pictures of Mika
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Source: flickr.com via BVZM on Pinterest
Source: f1technical.net via katzho on Pinterest
Source: f1-facts.com via katzho on Pinterest
Source: f1fanatic.co.uk via Sam on Pinterest
Interview by Sam Tickell, February 2013
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