From radio host to rally co-driver. Janni Hussi's foray into motorsport was as casual as it was exciting. Discover the incredible story of this friendly Finnish woman who discovered a passion after a live radio show.
For Janni Hussi, the Vodafone Rally de Portugal had an even more special "flavor". Third place alongside Joona Lauri in a WRC2 Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 was the highest point of her still short career in motorsport. The friendly 32-year-old co-driver was a celebrity on Finnish radio... before she discovered her passion for rallying.
"I was hosting a morning radio show in Finland. One day we were talking about rallies and I jokingly said live that it couldn't be that difficult, that anyone could do it. The truth is that Sami Pajari, the young Finnish driver, was listening and decided to call the station and, live, challenged me to try it. With thousands of people following the program who heard me say that anyone could do it, I had no arguments to refuse the challenge!" Janni Hussi told us in Portugal.
"I accepted thinking I was going to put on a racing suit and put on a helmet just once to try it out, but right from my first co-drive I realized it was love at first sight!". The impact of this first experience as a rally co-driver was so overwhelming that the radio presenter didn't give it a second thought: "Six months after that first experience I quit radio to take up a career as a rally co-driver. I must have done something right because, after just 14 months, I was preparing for my first season in 2023!"
And Hussi's meteoric career is far from slowing down. At the Vodafone Rally de Portugal, the Skoda duo even achieved a "hard-earned" third place in WRC2 and 10th place overall, after a very close fight for the podium places. The Finns may have lost a radio and television star, but they certainly gained a new star in the WRC2.