He remembered. Of course he remembered. Jari-Matti Latvala might only have competed on a rally based out of Costa Brava once, but he forgets nothing.
It was 21 years ago when the Finn was last in this part of Spain. What was he driving? Now, that’s a solid pub quiz question: Japanese manufacturer, beginning with with S.
Wrong. Not Subaru. He steered a Suzuki Ignis S1600 to a distant ninth in Junior WRC.
The final stage on that 2004 event and the final stage on Spain’s WRC counter before the move south from Loret de Mar to Salou? Viladrau. That name means one thing to rally fans around the world: hairpin.
Latvala smiles at the memory.
“On Saturday after the rally [this year],” he said, “we were going on the road section to the place where [Giles] Panizzi did these donuts in 2002. You can still see the paintings on the bridge. I don’t remember those roads completely from when I competed there, but there were some flashbacks coming to my mind.”
Panizzi made this already famous haripin iconic with his showboating in 2002
The famous stage which sits off the C25 between Espinelves and Vic wasn’t part of the route for the opening round of the FIA European Historic Rally Championship, but it didn’t matter. The roads in this part of the world are all special – especially when you’re wrapped up in a Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD.
Eyeing the weather forecast ahead of last week’s Rally Costa Brava made Latvala slightly nervous. By his own admission, he’d never exactly monstered damp-to-sodden Tarmac down the years and now he was looking to send his own pride and joy up roads which could turn to rivers in the blink of an eye. The first stage didn’t inspire much confidence.
He and Janni Hussi were quickest across Thursday night’s opening 10-miler, but by less than a second from Roman Mühlberger’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI.
“It was almost like Monte Carlo Rally in there,” grimaced Latvala. “So much fog and rain.”
Friday morning was drier and brighter and Latvala got quicker and quicker.
More than two minutes clear of Romain Dumas’ Porsche 911 by the end of the first full day and that advantage was almost doubled a day later. Latvala had achieved a career first.
“I could never win Rally Catalunya,” he said, “but now I have won in Catalunya.”
Latvala and co-driver Janni Hussi celebrate victory to open their EHRC season
That’s not the history bit we were thinking of, but he’s right. Here’s the history.
“I think this is my best start ever for the championship,” he grinned. “I’ve never been winning the first round of any championship, so now we have a good pace and we try to keep going.
“It was a nice event, even if the conditions were a bit difficult and I haven’t been the best driver on the rainy conditions, but somehow I got the good confidence in the rain, and then later we managed to drive a bit on the drier conditions as well.”
He’s right on the championship front. He never won the WRC season opener. He finished second on the Monte twice (2015 and 2017), but he’s never headed into round two at the top of the table. Until now.
Much as we all love this aspect of the sport, this is a historic championship. It’s not the WRC. How much can this mean to Latvala? Plenty.
“I’m very motivated for this championship,” he said. “I really would like to, of course, challenge and fight for the title, because I have been finishing many times second and third in the championships, but I never won in the championships myself. That would be something new to experience.”
Latvala has never won a championship title before, so is very focused on putting that right in his Celica
What’s next?
Back to the day job this week? Not for Latvala. The team principal role is being left in the enormously capable hands of Juha Kankkunen in Kenya. For J-ML, the focus is behind the wheel through the first part of the year.
“In the championship the next one is in Czech, the Vltava Rally (April 26/27). So it’s that one, then there is Antibes Rally and then Ypres Rally. These are the ones I’m going to definitely do. Sardinia [Rally Italy], is the target to be as a team principal and then towards the summer we look what we can do, but now the springtime we are quite focused for the historic championship.
“And I have to be thankful for the team. To be honest, I wouldn’t be able to do this championship without the support of Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team, and generally Toyota Gazoo Racing, because it is still the budget and the testing and work and all logistics. So, big thanks to Morizo-san, to Akio Toyoda, allowing me to do the championship and doing a part-time work as a team principal. So this is something what I’ve been dreaming of and now I can actually make it happen.”
But what about this week? How will it feel not being at a round of the world championship for the first time in five years?
“Definitely I will be following a lot,” Latvala said, “but yeah it’s a strange feeling when I’m not going there and I think when you are watching the stages at home, it will be a different feeling.
“But for sure I’ll be following very carefully and also we can stay in touch with the team, you know, communicating by WhatsApp or making phone calls. So I will stay on the momentum to see how the team is doing over there.”
