There has probably never been a sports retirement that has been so classily handled than that of Finnish WRC competitor Mikko Hirvonen. His farewell video is so utterly fitting.
The announcement, made yesterday NZ time, surprised no-one I'm sure. Speculation as to Mikko's future in the sport has been widespread since around mid-season and the silence around his options for 2015 has been deafening.
But the seeming inevitability of the Finn's departure from the competition in which he has been a key ingedient for thirteen thrilling years has done little to prepare us for what is a very sad conclusion to a stellar carreer. Sad, that is to say, for those of us who watched him on our computers, our phones and tablets, our TVs and who braved the frost or the dust, the rain or the baking sun, to catch an unforgettable glimpse of a motorsport magician performing his own special brand of wizardry.
There are many better than I to write a fitting tribute to Mikko's importance in the World Rally Championship, one of the legends of our sport, but I have to add my voice to the universal expression of sadness that Mikko has felt the time has come to hang up the WRC helmet. Oh, I understand that there are other directions open to this unfailingly honest, generous and talented individual, but I can't help feeling a powerful sense of loss.
I had the great good fortune to shake Mikko's hand once and I shared a few stammering words of praise with him before he was onto the next rally fan awaiting his attention. He was in person exactly the same as I'd imagined he would be, not just to me, but to everybody he touched that day with his smile and his geniality.
Mikko Hirvonen is a bloody decent bloke - the WRC won't be the same without him.
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