Latvala, who serves as Toyota’s WRC team boss, will skip several WRC rounds this season as he focuses on chasing the FIA European Historic Rally Championship title as a driver.
Latvala kicked off his own racing season last weekend at the Arctic Lapland Rally in Rovaniemi. The opening round of the EHRC is scheduled in just over a month in Spain.
“I need to get the feeling and cover plenty of kilometres to get into the rhythm. Arctic Lapland Rally is a good event for that with lots of special stages, which helps to gain that feel,” Latvala told RallyJournal.com during the rally weekend.
“It was clear again that it had been three and a half months since I last drove. I noticed it as soon as we started with the pace notes.”
The European Historic Rally Championship consists of ten rallies, many of which overlap with WRC events. Latvala won’t compete in every round.
“There are also a few other events that I can’t participate in due to scheduling conflicts. The goal is to compete in seven out of the ten rallies,” Latvala explained.
“For example, the round in Portugal (Historic Rally Fafe) is at the same time as Rally Japan. Naturally, I have to be present there for my duties as team principal.”
Only two rounds of the European Historic Championship are on gravel, while the remaining eight are on asphalt. Latvala has dedicated Toyota Celicas for both surfaces.
“The asphalt car arrived from Japan last week, and I’ve only driven it in Japan so far. Naturally, we can’t drive it here in Finland in these conditions. We’ll drive it for the first time in Spain before the rally,” Latvala said.
The season opener will be Rally Costa Brava in Spain.
“When switching to asphalt, the conditions are obviously very different from here (at the Arctic Lapland Rally). But all driving helps maintain the feel. Especially the pace note practice here – it’s great training with Janni,” Latvala emphasised.
Janni Hussi will be Latvala’s co-driver this year.
Next week, Latvala will return to his role as team principal at Rally Sweden, but after that, he’ll shift his focus back to driving in the European Historic Rally Championship. Toyota’s deputy team principal Juha Kankkunen will step in for Latvala for the first time at Safari Rally Kenya in late March.
