Winning rallies with Jari-Matti Latvala, just 25 events into your co-driving career, is about as good as it gets, no?
No.
Because while Janni Hussi is relishing her opportunity alongside the World Rally Championship’s most experienced driver ever, why stop there when she’s already climbed so high?
“Of course you have to set the bar high,” she tells DirtFish. “Let’s say I’ll do my best.
“I’ll try to learn from the best and hopefully one day it’s something big.”
Fresh from winning Rally Costa Brava, the opening round of the European Historic Rally Championship, DirtFish caught up with Hussi to reflect on her insane rallying journey so far, and what comes next.
The rapid rise
Just a few rallies into her career, Hussi was regularly sitting in Rally2 cars - including with Heikki Kovalainen
Hussi’s story is well-known by now – challenged live on radio by then WRC2 driver Sami Pajari to try out rally co-driving and see how hard it is.
Hussi did – and loved it.
For 2023 she decided to take up co-driving properly, and immediately teamed up with former F1 racer Heikki Kovalainen in a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 for a Finnish championship assault.
But two ERC rallies alongside another Finn, Lauri Joona, were key as that spawned a WRC2 partnership for 2024 – again in a Škoda.
However the week after Rally Finland that August, Hussi announced she was destined for a new venture, and it soon became clear that venture was Toyota.
More than just co-driving
Stepping into the cockpit with Latvala for his historic rallies in a Celica ST185, for 2025 Hussi is proudly wearing the GR colors and loving her new office.
“It’s so nice to work with Jari-Matti,” she smiles. “He is such a nice person. He’s so easygoing.
“He never complains about stuff. He’s just so nice and easy to work with and I’m really looking forward to the rest of the season.”
But crucially, she’s not purely within the Toyota fold to co-drive its team principal. She’s also doing a lot of work alongside Juho Hänninen – forming part of Takamoto Katsuta’s route note crew on asphalt WRC rallies, and sitting alongside him during Toyota tests.
“It’s different, but I learn a lot,” Hussi says. “And it’s an honor to work with such a great driver as Taka is.
“Working as a route note car for Taka, I really enjoy learning all the surface stuff, because that’s a very important thing as a co-driver too. So maybe in the future I can help my driver with the surface stuff. Juho is very experienced, so I’m learning a lot from him.
“And also we are doing some testing for Toyota with Juho. So a lot of traveling this year, but I’m enjoying so much. I’m living the best life.”
Giving up WRC2
Hussi sat with Lauri Joona in WRC2 last year, but felt after six events it was "the right time" to move on
Many people would assume ‘living the best life’ would mean competing in the WRC, which Hussi chose to give up in favor of what she’s doing now.
Was that an easy decision?
“Yeah, I gave up WRC2 last year, but I gained already like six competitions there and a lot of experience, so it was very nice,” she explains.
“But I think it was the right time for me to move to work with Jari-Matti and with Toyota, so gaining more experience and learning from the best.”
It’s unclear what precisely Hussi’s future is, but being embedded inside the manufacturer that’s won the last four manufacturers’ titles in a row is shrewd.
What is her ultimate goal in rallying?
“Well, of course you have to set the bar high, but let’s say I’ll do my best. I’ll try to learn from the best and hopefully one day it’s something big.”
Being a role model
Hussi hopes to introduce a new audience to rallying - and there's evidence she's doing so
The biggest impact Hussi is currently having on rallying however is introducing a new audience to it.
A TV presenter, actress and model that’s also becoming professional in the world of rallying, she is mixing two industries that don’t normally co-exist.
“I hope I can bring some new audience to rallying,” she says. “At least I have some messages in social media that families, especially like mom and daughters, that they are coming to see rallies and they didn’t know anything about the sport before, but these days they are following.
“Because now, I try to explain the stuff we do very easily, that you don’t have to be like an expert to understand what rallying is.
“And I hope I can bring some joy of rallying for everybody, not just the people who already knows everything about the sport.”
Amen to that. Hussi’s a breath of fresh air for rallying, who only seems to be climbing further up the ladder.
