Wednesday 30th November 1966

Born on this day, Mika Salo, Finnish racing driver, a veteran of 110 F1 starts, Mika Salo started his career in F1 with the fledgling Lotus-Team at the 1994 Suzuka round. He got an offer from Tyrrel and stayed with team for three seasons. In 1999 he famously filled in for an injured Michael Schumacher for six races and almost won his first race with a top F1car. But allowing Eddie Irvine past to allow the Irishman to pusrue his title chances at least earned him a Ferrari-backed with Sauber. Toyota the hired Salo for the Japanese car makers debutin F1 but dumped him after one GP-season. Apart from a couple of races in ChampCar he has since been committed to the LMS-series, first driving LMP1 sportscars, a stint at FIA-GT, and then with LM-GT.