Quote Originally Posted by BigWorm View Post
Well the offer turned out to be a mess for Hirvonen, as 2004 was a nightmarish year for him. In hindsight he was not ready to be put in the Subaru.

But then again Hirvonen's career turned out alright.
The way I understand it they paid his way in and with Burns unable to drive he got promoted to 2nd driver that he was not ready for.
Yes he came back in 2006 and did well. However, note that in 2005 M-Sport did a "low cost" year with untested cheap/paying drivers (Gardermeister, Kresta and Sola). None of them did well enough to secure a drive next year. But if any of them did it is possible that Hirvonen wouldn't be able to get back at all. Just shows the danger of the "get them in early with cash" strategy that Jouhki does.