Henri Toivonen held the record for being the youngest winner of a World Rally Championship event for more than 27 years, as his first win came on the 1980 RAC Rally aged just 24 years and 86 days.
He had made his WRC debut five years earlier at home in Finland, and two years later he came fifth. After some impressive performances in 1978 and 1979, he earned a factory deal with Talbot for 1980. He was still very young for a rally driver at that time, and the deal only included four WRC rounds. In Finland, he crashed out, but on Rallye Sanremo – a month before the RAC – he came fifth, and won nine stages: before the breakthrough at the end of that year.
Toivonen went into the 1980 RAC Rally as a rank outsider against compatriots Hannu Mikkola and Ari Vatanen in their all-conquering Ford Escorts, as well as Sweden's Bjorn Waldegard, driving for Toyota.
Toivonen certainly wasn't just driving safely either. He opened up a stunning advantage over nearest rival Mikkola, who eventually gave up on his chase and settled for second, denied a Rally GB hat-trick by a new flying Finn. Toivonen had arrived – and from that point on, he never looked back.
With his win, Toivonen bettered the previous record for the youngest winner set by compatriot Markku Alen in Portugal five years earlier by only 70 days. But iconic rally names would come and go through the subsequent three decades, and it was not until 2008 when Jari-Matti Latvala (another Finn) would better the record with a win in Sweden aged 22, on Pirelli tyres.
While Toivonen was the shining star of the sport throughout the early 1980s, success never really changed him – or his flamboyant and typically Scandinavian driving style.
There was more to Toivonen than just natural speed and promising results though. He had an extra spark: a rock star swagger that made him the Lewis Hamilton of his day, with just the right amount of bad boy for his appeal to transcend the immediate environment of his chosen discipline. But that didn't stop him from remaining approachable and likeable, which is what made him a favourite of all the fans.
A complex, sometimes impetuous character, Toivonen would struggle to mature into a consistent performer over the following seasons, often not helped by the vagaries of his machinery. But his raw talent was always at the forefront, eventually earning him a coveted drive with Lancia. He began to win again, claiming the 1985 RAC Rally and 1986 Monte-Carlo Rally, but his potential ultimately went unfulfilled when he lost his life, together with co-driver Sergio Cresto, in a fiery accident in Corsica in 1986. For many rally fans, it was the day the music died.