At the season-opening Rally Monte Carlo, a super special stage was run on Saturday through the famous streets of the Principality of Monaco. Before the competitive crews took to the stage, the WRC teams entertained the gathered fans and VIP guests with demonstration runs on a stage built around the Monaco harbour area.
Team principal Latvala had a Hollywood star alongside him, Cody Walker, who appeared in the seventh instalment of The Fast and the Furious film series. Cody Walker stepped in for his brother Paul Walker, who tragically died in a car accident while the film was still in production.
Latvala gave Walker a truly unique experience.
“Cody was incredibly excited and kept asking questions about driving and rallying all the time. When we get famous people like this involved, we can attract a new audience to rallying. This is the right way to take the sport to the next level,” Latvala told RallyJournal.com.
Latvala still thoroughly enjoys driving, and there are few better places to do so than Monaco in front of a huge crowd.
“It was fantastic, of course. But if you then think about having to head out into the slush on the mountain stages, that’s when your foot would start to lift off the throttle. This was great fun here, but I wouldn’t necessarily want to head into the slush,” Latvala laughed.
Latvala’s team is enjoying an outstanding Rally Monte Carlo. With just one day remaining, Toyota holds a one-two-three in the rally.
Toyota’s standout performer has been Oliver Solberg, who was promoted to the Japanese manufacturer’s WRC team for this season. Solberg holds a solid one-minute lead over his team-mates Elfyn Evans and Sébastien Ogier.
“When you have a one-two-three, things have gone right. Based on that, the tests and all the preparations have gone well, and we haven’t had any technical problems.“
“On top of that, the way Oliver Solberg has been driving has been absolutely unbelievable. Nobody expected it, and it managed to surprise all our competitors as well,” Latvala praised.
The final day of Rally Monte Carlo on Sunday will feature four special stages.
