There was a time when the only calls Janni Hussi made were over the radio. There was a time when she’d never sat in a rally car, let alone competed in one.
But plenty can change in four years. Today, she’s calling the pacenotes and cannot imagine her life without it.
“When I have a couple of weeks of break where I’m not sitting in a rally car, not doing gravel note crew or not in a test, you kind of like start to feel what’s the point of my life. It’s boring!” she laughs.
Thankfully for Janni, she rarely experiences this boredom. This weekend, she’s sitting alongside Jari-Matti Latvala gunning for glory at the latest FIA European Historic Rally Championship round – which ties a neat bow on the Finn’s career.
Four years ago, at Lahti Historic Rally, was where it all started.
Her driver that day: Sami Pajari.
Heard of him?
Candidly, Janni reveals she hadn’t back then.
WRC superstar Pajari was the one who got Janni into rallying
“Of course, because of the radio, I knew something about rallying,” she tells DirtFish. “But it was all the superficial stuff, mostly, like when Kalle [Rovanperä] did a good competition or Esapekka [Lappi], or when Jari-Matti got into the principal role or that kind of stuff.
“Of course rallying is a hot topic in Finland and we have to speak about those kind of topics. But I have to say, I had to Google who is Sami Pajari!
“He was doing Juniors at that time, so wasn’t that big a name even in Finland. So I Googled and I was impressed.”
Today, Pajari is riding the crest of the WRC wave – winning both of the last two events. But so is Hussi, going from no experience whatsoever to a respected professional, with a WRC2 victory to her name, in next-to-no time.
The tale of her rallying opportunity is now well-told. Pajari called her morning radio show and challenged her to come and co-drive for him; a challenge Janni was only too happy to accept.
But who could have predicted the transformation that call to the radio would have?
“I worked so hard to get to that radio spot because basically it’s the biggest morning show in Finland,” Janni shares. “Literally there is only three spots in that show and I was lucky enough to be one of the team, and I really knew that there is like a thousand people who wants my place.
“Of course I thought will do radio and this is my like forever thing, and I really enjoyed doing radio. But yeah, I have to say, I think I surprised myself the most because I couldn’t imagine that strong feeling once I first stepped into the rally car.
Janni has found her new happy place: in a rally car
“It just took my whole body and soul. It’s so hard to explain it. It just was strongest love at first sight I ever felt or experienced.”
People often say rallying is like a drug. Once you’ve tried it, it’s hard to ignore.
“Yes,” Janni smiles. “Like you said, it’s kind of like a drug. Once you get one small dose, you want more doses, and all of a sudden you need bigger doses, and then more bigger doses…”
What helped is that Janni was a natural. Despite never co-driving before, she “didn’t have to really think that much, I just got the flow”.
She adds: “Of course, Sami made some easier pacenotes. There wasn’t like every single rock mark done, that kind of stuff. But it felt very natural. And I feel like I’m such a high-intensity tempered human that I finally felt that something is happening at my pace. My brain is normally thinking and absorbing everything so fast.”
After Lahti Historic 2022, it took Janni “literally two days” to order herself a helmet, HANS device, race suit and all the associated safety gear. This was a hobby she wanted to keep up, but she quickly realized it could be more than just that.
“When I started to follow on social media like different rally related people and pages, I was finding myself watching the in-cars and onboards over and over again, and then I pretty soon realized that I want to start to practicing more with purpose,” she explains.
“So I contacted Marko Salminen and asked help from him: how can I practice, because I don’t have any driver and of course no one wants to take me since I don’t really know what to do? So how can I practice and become good?
“He gave me exercises that I could do in my home sofa, just like writing down pacenotes from onboards. And once I got them on the notebook, then I started to read them on the sofa. So it was a lot of work, like listening onboards and always like a pause, write, pause, write. But I really wanted to learn.
“So it was a good way to practice at home and then I had another event with Sami, Samsonas Rally in Lithuania, so I got more practice there and then it didn’t take that long [for opportunities to arise].”
Formula 1 race winner Heikki Kovalainen was soon on the phone, looking for a co-driver to compete with him and the Secto Labs team in the Finnish championship.
Looking back, Janni feels her public profile from her work in the entertainment business helped her secure that seat, as her social media following was a benefit to backers.
“But then I have to say there was like a turning point,” she admits.
Her profile became a hindrance rather than a help, as Janni felt she had to prove her credentials as a co-driver and show people she was serious.
“I feel like I really had to work twice or three times as much so that people really started to take me seriously,” she says.
“So many people were like ‘yeah well she’s doing some TV and like Big Brother and like blah blah whatever, she’s not that serious co-driver’. So I got the opportunity, yes, but then I feel like when the work actually started, I really had to prove myself.”
Jari-Matti Latvala is one of the many decorated drivers Janni has co-driven for
That she absolutely did.
Receiving a call-up for two ERC rounds with Lauri Joona, before a WRC2 campaign in 2024, Janni has worked her way into Toyota’s setup as co-driver to Latvala, Juho Hänninen on tests and route note crew for Takamoto Katsuta.
This year she’s also been working with Teemu Suninen in WRC2, claiming victory in Portugal and three second places in Sweden, Estonia and Finland.
“I have to pinch myself because I get this imposter syndrome sometimes,” she says. “I think, at the same time, this is a good thing because that keeps you humble and it keeps you really working hard every day. It really makes you improve yourself.
“Of course, the first win of WRC2 Portugal this year was one of the biggest highlights because the first one is always the first one. But also last year Secto Rally with Jari-Matti, because I was in a very bad place in my own personal life and was really struggling with ending my marriage.
“Of course, the divorce was a big thing in Finnish media, so I was very much under pressure. Secto Rally was only two weeks after that, and I felt like I was just in a brain fog the whole rally but I still managed to stay professional and it didn’t affect my work, not even for one second.
“So after the rally, I was like, ‘Hell yeah, I am good at this!’ There’s not many people who can do this hard rally so fast, and still manage to do it even if you are torn inside.”
It’s not a stretch to say rallying has changed Janni’s life. Reflecting over how far she’s come over the last four years, she describes herself as a “different person” who can now enjoy her profession, and not question if she’s good enough.
That’s encouraging to hear, because the impact she’s having off the stages is obvious. An entire generation is now growing up wanting to be the next Finnish rally co-driver. The next Janni Hussi.
“It’s so heartwarming,” Janni smiles. “There’s so many people coming to say hi and telling me that they are actually now planning to start co-driving, or they came for the first time to watch rally because I was there. So it’s really humbling actually.
“I’m from a small town originally, so all the publicity and everything, even though I’ve done it like, what, 16 years now, it still feels strange that people actually know or recognize me. I’m like, ‘How do you know me?’ It’s so humbling.
“There have been so many special moments, but if I have to point to one, there was this little girl, five years old, and there was this little karting area for kids [at the Rally Finland service park].
“She put the racing suit on and the helmet on and she told her mom: ‘Take a picture of me, I want to show this to Janni’. And then they came to the service park and showed the picture to me: ‘Look, this is me. I was doing the karting here!’ And the mom told me, ‘Janni, I hope you understand what you are doing. My daughter doesn’t think there’s anything weird that she’s a girl and she’s doing this. While I was young, like, it wasn’t like a normal thing to do.’
Janni is now one of the most popular figures in the service park, and inspiring the next generation
“So basically, when we see more girls and women in motorsport, it becomes just a normal thing to the young generation. They don’t even think about it. It’s just like, well, I ate oatmeal this morning. It’s a common thing for them.”
Janni can do a lot of good for rallying, with her background in the entertainment industry bringing new eyeballs to the sport. But while she’s determined to keep progressing in rallying, she hasn’t completely walked away from her old life either.
“I feel like so many people put themselves into boxes, or someone else does it for them. That’s another thing I really want to break the glass ceiling of, because you don’t have to choose just one thing you can be,” she believes.
“You can be basically so many things at the same time, you don’t have to choose to be just one. Like I’m still filming TV shows and I’m doing co-driving, and they don’t take away from each other.
“Let’s say the TV stuff is more glamorous, but then when I come to rallying it’s all about the dirt and getting hands dirty. So even if I’m doing rally, it doesn’t make me a worse TV host, and vice versa.
Janni sees herself as a co-driver, but that's not all
“So I hope if someone is still thinking, ‘Can I do it because…?’ Forget the because. Of course you can do it. Don’t put yourself into any box. Take that box and step on it so it crashes, and set yourself free!”
Janni’s become a trailblazer, a role model and an inspiration. When she puts her mind to something, she doesn’t stop until she’s achieved it.
“Let’s say I had a really nice job, a good salary and everything, and I gave it up,” she laughs. “And I feel like I gave up in so many different things in life already. So I didn’t do this just for nothing.
“Of course, I want to go all the way to the end and see how it goes. But I would lie if I didn’t say that I want to be like an actual professional, to do this as my main job. So that’s the target, and if there’s some success along the way, I don’t mind!”
