Latvala: “I would never have believed it”

Jari-Matti Latvala et le Toyota Gazoo Racing semblent plus que satisfaits de la 2e place acquise par le Finlandais au Rally Monte Carlo. Although the former Volkswagen Motorsports resident had a discreet start to the event, he was one of the only top drivers not to make any major errors.

The Yaris driver WRC certainly finished more than 2 minutes behind the winner Sébastien Ogier, but he took advantage of the engine problems ofOtt Tänak to gain a position in the final stage.

“I am really satisfied with this result, even if I am sorry for Ott Tänak who was in 2nd place before having his problem, commented Jari-Matti Latvala who spoke at the start of the week a possibility of a podium finish at the end of the season. If someone had told me before the start of the rally that I would finish in this position, I would never have believed it. The final stages were very difficult, like the whole event in fact, and my priority was to keep the tires on. »

Tommi Mäkinen, Team Principal of Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC, is also pleased with the result obtained after the project raised many questions.

“This result far exceeds our expectations because we are still in a year of development, underlined the four-time WRC champion. We didn't have much experience, but our rally was close to perfect. Both crews reacted well to the changes in conditions and were able to set times in the top 3, which is encouraging. »

“Jari-Matti had a sensor problem, which distracted him because we feared he wouldn't be able to restart if he stopped in the special. But he was able to adapt very well with that and he was very impressive”, added the director of the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC.

Jari-Matti Latvala occupe la 2e place du Championnat à 7 points de Sébastien Ogier à l’issue de la première épreuve de la saison. Toyota Gazoo Racing occupe également la 2e place chez les Constructeurs à 16 unités de Hyundai, Juho Hänninen n’ayant fini qu’à la 16e place après être reparti en Rallye 2 suite à une sortie de route dans l’ES5.

Discover the analysis of the Monte-Carlo Rally carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2098 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.