He went on to win the next rally, the 1977 Critérium du Québec, which was only his fifth WRC event and his first outside his home country.

[2] Salonen's factory team career at World Championship level began with Nissan, mainly on long-distance events.

In 1984, however, he achieved a string of top-ten finishes, resulting in Jean Todt inviting him to drive for Peugeot in the 1985 season.

Following his full-time WRC career, he drove for Guy Fréquelin's Citroën rally raid team.

[9] He did still drive for the team during the World Cup, finishing second on the Tunisia Rally Raid, following a penultimate stage crash that robbed him of the win,[10] taking the victory on the Baja Aragón [11] and providing a test drive for Top Gear (1977 TV series)'s Jeremy Clarkson.

[12] In the 1995 Granda-Dakar rally, he finished fifth, after losing over five hours when his ZX lost drive to its front wheels.