Latvala, competing with his old Toyota Celica and even flirting with the top five in the overall competition, rolled his car on a very familiar road. Latvala is originally from the village of Tuuri and has been training on local gravel roads for decades.
Latvala’s car flipped on the Ritola special stage, a route very familiar to the former top driver and current Toyota team principal.
“On the sixth stage, right where my grandmother lives, that’s where the car flipped. We reached that part of the road where I’ve been practicing driving since I was 15 years old. I decided I would go as fast as I could there. That’s where it slipped,” Latvala chuckled to RallyJournal.com.
“In a right-hand turn, I cut a little too much inside. The bank was so hard that the car immediately started to flip. The car landed on the other side of the road against a bank, but it was so hard that the car stayed on the road.”
Watch the video below showing Latvala’s car rolling over. The article continues after the video.
Although Latvala admitted that dropping out on the penultimate stage was frustrating, he wasn’t too upset. Having experienced numerous crashes in his active career, Latvala noted that it had been a while since his last rollover.
“Of course, it’s annoying. It was foolish to cut into that bank. I tried to go full throttle. It would have been pointless for me to participate in this rally if I didn’t go full throttle. It was a home stage, so I tried. I admit, I drove as hard as the car could go,” Latvala stated.
“It’s been five years since I last rolled, but this time it happened.”
Former four-time world champion Juha Kankkunen also had a tough time on his home stage in Rally Finland on the Lankamaa special stage.
So, you did “a Kankkunen”?
“Exactly. Someone said before the rally that the home road is the worst. You think you remember all the places and you do, but the last time I drove it was in the summer. You should remember that the banks make the road narrower,” Latvala chuckled.
Co-driver Enni Mälkönen had already sighed at Latvala’s speed in the old Celica at the last service break. Apparently, Mälkönen wasn’t able to calm the experienced driver enough.
“Yes, Enni then laughed too. At first, it was a bit bad because we couldn’t get out of the car, and there were no spectators. The snow was so hard that it packed into the car and the doors were stuck. Then, when a couple of spectators came, we got the doors open. It was a bit of a tricky situation at first. We got the stage stopped and other drivers came to help. We managed to flip the car back on its wheels and off the road,” Latvala described.
Although Latvala has been rallying for a long time, this was his first time enjoying a national event in his home area.
“A really great experience. I want to commend this rally, which was very well organized. The race was compact, the spectator stage was in a good location, and so was the service park. The liaisons were short, and the roads were really nice. I strongly hope that this race will continue. There was a nice turnout of spectators, which is important.”
