2002–05 at the 2004
Cyprus Rally. Hirvonen won the under 2000 cc
Group A Finnish Rally Championship in 2002. As one of the World Rally Championship's younger competitors he made his debut full-time in a third
Ford World Rally Team entry in the
2003 season, scoring one points finish for sixth place at the
Cyprus Rally. After
Richard Burns was diagnosed with brain tumor in late 2003, Hirvonen moved to take his place as team-mate to 2003 world champion
Petter Solberg in
2004 for the
Subaru World Rally Team. He scored points in ten rallies, but his best event result was only fourth, at the
Rally Argentina and at the season-ending
Rally Australia. These performances were not enough to secure a seat for the
2005 season. Hirvonen then campaigned a two-year-old
Ford Focus RS WRC 03 and led one rally during the course of the year, and scored a career-best third-place finish at the
Rally Catalunya as a
privateer.
2006–07 at the 2006
Rally Japan. It was Hirvonen's showings on such events that brought him back to the attention of Ford, whose factory arm signed him for the
2006 season. Hirvonen drove the new
Ford Focus RS WRC 06 partnered with
Marcus Grönholm. Hirvonen took his first World Rally Championship win at the
Rally Australia, and placed second at the
Rally d'Italia Sardegna, the
Rally of Turkey and the
Rally New Zealand. By finishing on the podium for six rallies in a row, he secured a third place overall in the drivers' world championship. In the
2007 season, Hirvonen started with a fifth place at the
75ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo and a third place at the
56th Uddeholm Swedish Rally. He took his second WRC victory in
Norway and later also won the
2007 Rally Japan and the season-ending
2007 Wales Rally GB. He finished third in the driver's championship, 17 points behind
Sébastien Loeb. With Grönholm, Hirvonen secured the manufacturers' title for Ford for the second year in running.
2008–14 . On 17 December, Hirvonen was officially named as the number one BP-Ford Abu Dhabi factory driver for the
2008 season, after Marcus Grönholm's retirement. His young compatriot
Jari-Matti Latvala was named his teammate in the second factory Focus. In
Sweden, he was considered as favourite, but had to settle for second being unable to keep up with his younger teammate's pace. After
Rally Mexico, where he had punctures and had to change a wheel, and in
Rally Argentina, where he retired from the lead and then re-joined under
SupeRally rules to take fifth place, Hirvonen took his first win of the season at the inaugural
Jordan Rally. . Hirvonen took his second victory of the season in
Turkey. Despite being the favourite to win at his home event, the
Rally Finland, he could not match the pace of his title rival Loeb and finished a close second. In
New Zealand, Hirvonen was leading when he had a puncture and a spin on the penultimate stage, dropping him to third behind the
Citroën drivers Loeb and
Sordo. The stage was a disaster for Ford as Hirvonen's teammate Latvala and
Stobart M-Sport Ford driver
François Duval both crashed out from second and fifth place, respectively. Hirvonen then dropped eight points behind Loeb in the drivers' championship with only four more rallies to go. Loeb soon secured his number one spot in the drivers' championship in
Japan, but the manufacturers' title fight was still open as Ford trailed Citroën by eleven points. That changed when Hirvonen rolled his car onto its roof in stage five of the season-ending
Wales Rally GB. He was bumped down to 44th as a result, but managed to recover to eighth place by the end of the rally. This result meant that Hirvonen and co-driver Lehtinen became the first WRC drivers ever to score points on every round of a season. . Hirvonen started the
2009 season with a third place behind the Citroën duo at the
Rally Ireland. At the
Rally Norway, which he won in 2007, he narrowly lost the win to Loeb after a tight three-day battle. He went to finish second to Loeb also in the following two rallies in
Cyprus and
Portugal. In Portugal, Hirvonen tied the record for the longest points finish streak in the series (22 events) with his former teammate
Marcus Grönholm. In the next round in
Argentina, Hirvonen was six seconds behind Loeb after 14 stages when his Focus RS WRC incurred an engine problem. His retirement saw Loeb take a 20-point lead over him in the drivers' standings. At the
Rally d'Italia Sardegna, Hirvonen and Loeb both dropped time on day one in a bid to gain a better road position. After Loeb incurred a puncture, Hirvonen found himself unable to catch teammate Latvala, who had been pushing in front from start to finish. In the following
Acropolis Rally in Greece, Hirvonen took his first win of the season. With Loeb crashing out, he reduced the Frenchman's championship lead to seven points. At the following
Rally Poland, Loeb crashed again, although recovered to seventh, with Hirvonen winning his second consecutive rally he moved to the top of the standings. In
Finland, Hirvonen took the lead on the first proper stage and continued pulling away from Loeb to take his debut win in his home event. A few weeks later, in Australia, Mikko was again in a tight battle with Loeb, where Loeb eventually won. Unfortunately for Loeb his car was found to have rollbar irregularities, as did Dani Sordo and Sébastien Ogier. They were then given 1 minute time penalties, which handed Hirvonen the win and 10 points. Hirvonen led the 2009 Championship by a point from Sebastien Loeb, and needed a win to clinch the title, but a hard landing from a jump on the penultimate stage caused the bonnet hinge to fail, as time ticked by to get rid of the bonnet cover, the Championship was handed to Loeb. . In 2010, Hirvonen continued his partnership with Ford for the last time with the Ford Focus RS WRC before switching to the new 1.6 Ecoboost Ford Fiesta RS WRC in 2011. In 2012, Hirvonen changed his seat to a Citroën DS3 WRC to partner Sebastien Loeb in the Citroën Total World Rally Team. His first rally win for Citroën was the fourth rally of the 2012 season in Portugal to provisionally take the lead in the championship, but he was later disqualified from the event due to irregularities with the clutch and turbo in his Citroën DS3 WRC. 2013 was a disappointing year for Hirvonen, finishing on the podium just five times, collecting no wins. He ended the season with one of his biggest accidents ever in Wales. He finished the season in 4th place. On 13 December 2013, it was confirmed Hirvonen would re-join
M-Sport, formerly
Ford for the
2014 season. The season was remarkably good for him, as he grabbed two podium places, and three power stage victories meant he was placed fourth in the championship, behind the dominant
Volkswagen trio,
Sebastien Ogier, Jari-Matti Latvala and
Andreas Mikkelsen. On 6 November 2014, it was announced that he would retire from the sport, moments before the start of the Wales Rally GB.
2015-present In 2015, Hirvonen began to compete in rally raid for
X-Raid with a
Mini Countryman, finishing third at the
Baja Aragón with co-driver
Michel Périn. In January 2016 he finished fourth at the
2016 Dakar Rally. In the
2016 FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup, the Finn won the Hungarian Baja and finished third at the e
Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge and Baja Aragón, ranking fourth in the overall standings. The driver finished 13th at the
2017 Dakar Rally. ==WRC victories==