Latvala has been delivering a perfect drive in his Toyota Celica at the Rally Costa Brava in Spain. Out of the nine special stages contested so far, Latvala and his co-driver Janni Hussi have set the fastest time on every single one.
With only two stages remaining, Latvala holds a commanding lead of over three minutes ahead of his closest rival, Frenchman Romain Dumas.
Latvala thoroughly enjoyed the morning loop of two special stages on Saturday morning.
“Especially after the first stage of the morning, it really brought back memories of the old Rally Catalonia WRC events. The feeling was exactly the same as driving in Catalonia,” Latvala told RallyJournal.com at the midday service.
“There was camber in the road, and then you would go over it just enough for the car to catch a little air. It was so cool to just let it go.”
On the morning loop, the tarmac roads around Girona were still slightly damp following earlier rainfall, but wet-weather tyres were not an ideal choice for the conditions.
“On the second stage of the morning, the tyres started to push because they overheated. Now the weather has started to dry up, and we are debating whether to go with slicks or stick with wet tyres. At the moment, it looks like we’ll go with slicks,” Latvala said.
With no immediate threats behind him, Latvala can afford to take a more cautious approach on the final two stages of the rally.
“I’ve been trying to drive at my own rhythm. I haven’t taken any risks, just maintained a steady pace. We’ll aim to stick to that. We’ve made some markings in the pace notes after the first pass to make sure there are no surprises on the second run.”
“We just hope the car holds up until the end. Everything has worked really well so far, but you never know with these things. We’ll just stay calm, not overthink it, and focus on the important part – the stages,” Latvala concluded.
Rally Costa Brava, standings after SS 9/11 (European Historic Rally Championship drivers):
| POS | Driver | Car | Tim |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Jari-Matti Latvala | Toyota Celica | 1:11:48.2 |
| 2. | Romain Dumas | Porsche 911 | +3:07.0 |
| 3. | Pascal Perroud | BMW M3 | +3:57.5 |
| 4. | Domenico Guagliardo | Porsche 911 | +4:26.6 |
| 5. | Seb Perez | Lancia Stratos | +4:27.6 |
| 6. | Pieter-Jan Maeyaert | BMW M3 | +4:36.0 |
| 7. | Donagh Kelly | BMW M3 | +4:50.0 |
| 8. | Richard Genesca | Subaru Legacy | +5:22.0 |
