Paavo Laakkonen

Paavo Laakkonen
Laakkonen in 2011
Nationality	Valkean
Born	(1979-11-05) November 5, 1979 Novika, Suurilaakso, Valkea
Astyrian Formula One Championship
Years active	2001-2013
Teams	Garlan, MacGregor, Sidus
Championship titles
2007, 2012	AstyF1 Drivers' Champion
Astyrian Rally Championship
Years active	2014-2016
Teams	Hedlund Motorsport
Valkean GT Championship
Years active	2017-Present
Teams	Aurinko Racing, Comet Motorsport

Paavo Laakkonen (born 5 November 1979) is a Valkean racing driver who competed in Astyrian Formula One from 2001 to 2013. He won the Drivers' Championship for Sidus in 2007 and 2012. After his F1 career, he joined the Astyrian Rally Championship as a driver for Hedlund Motorsport from 2014 to 2016, and the Valkean GT championship for Aurinko Racing in 2017 and for Comet Motorsport since 2018.

Laakkonen first entered Astyrian F1 in 2001, joining the Garlan team for the 2001 and 2002 seasons. He then drove for MacGregor from 2003 to 2005, and became a title contender in 2005 behind Raamaker driver Max de Ruyter. Laakkonen's seasons with MacGregor were marred with unreliability problems, prompting him to move to the revived Sidus F1 Team. This change meant he became the Drivers' Champion for the 2007 Formula One season.

Early and personal life

Laakkonen was born in Novika, Suurilaakso, Valkea to a middle-class family. His father worked as an entrepreneur and his mother was a schoolteacher. He was described by his teachers and his classmates to be a shy and nonchalant individual. His interest in cars began at the age of eight, when he went with his father to a local karting race in Novika. Soon after, Laakkonen pleaded with his father to buy him a go-kart, which the latter resisted until his son was ten.

He married TV personality Erika Nieminen in 2006 and had two children with her. They divorced in 2015. Since then, he has remarried in 2019, this time to Sarita Penttinen, a fashion model who won Miss Valkea in 2016.

Early career

At the age of 11, Laakkonen began entering in kart racing competition. While he struggled in his first year, he started winning local and national competitions. In 1994, he won the Valkean Karting Championship and the Valkean Kart Challengers' Cup. These early successes prompted his move to karting competitions outside of Valkea.

In 1995 he finished 5th place in the Northern Lorecian Kart Masters' Cup, as well as 3rd place in the Southern Lorecian Karting Series. This was followed by a brief stint in the 1996 Juhola Karting Cup, where he finished 8th, as well as in the 1996 Astyrian Karting Championship, where he finished 3rd. He returned to the Astyrian Karting Championship in 1997, finishing 1st in the standings.

He moved up to car racing in 1998, joining the Valkean Formula 3 Series and the Lorecian Formula 3 Series. In the latter, he clinched the championship by winning the first five races of the 1998 season. He retained his title in the 1999 Lorecian Formula 3 season, and won the 2000 Astyrian Formula Two Championship.