Latvala hits back with Rally Wales victory

WRC.com9:56am 17 September 2012

jarimatilatvala-wrc

Jari-Matti Latvala has done something he hadn’t managed for 217 days when he claimed victory on Wales Rally GB this afternoon, his first in the FIA World Rally Championship since Rally New Zealand seven months and four days ago.

Co-driven by Miikka Anttila, Latvala took the lead on Friday’s third stage and gradually pulled clear at the wheel of his Ford Fiesta RS WRC, reaching the finish in Cardiff with an advantage of 27.8s.

Sebastien Loeb beat Latvala’s factory Ford team-mate Petter Solberg in a thrilling fight for second place, although the Citroen driver’s sequence of wins – which dates back to Philips Rally Argentina at the end of April – is now over.

Behind fourth-placed Mads Ostberg, who was hampered throughout the final day by an engine misfire, Mikko Hirvonen fought back from a frustrating rally to win the event-closing Power Stage. The result means only Loeb and Citroen team-mate Hirvonen can fight for the WRC drivers’ title on the final three rounds.

“This is a fantastic feeling,” said Latvala. “It’s one of my favourite rallies, I won it last year and it feels amazing to win again after such a big battle. To be honest this victory is for the team. They have done so much work on the car and it was working so well on this rally. I was really happy with the set-up and it was a great performance. I had some doubts after Rally Finland but to come back strong like this is really good for the championship.”

Frenchman Loeb’s capture of second came after an epic scrap with Solberg with the pairing swapping position on three occasions on the final day. Solberg started the last stage 0.1s ahead but was unable to prevent Loeb from moving in front. “I would liked to have beaten him but I lost too much time in the morning,” said Solberg. “I’m very happy for Ford but first and third should have been first and second.”

Russia’s Evgeny Novikov moved into sixth when M-Sport team-mate Ott Tanak tore the front-right wheel off his Fiesta on the repeat of the Port Talbot stage. Thierry Neuville marked his Rally GB debut by finishing seventh following an error-free performance by the Belgian youngster.

Matthew Wilson was eighth on his first start in the WRC since Rallye Monte-Carlo in January. Martin Prokop finished ninth with Nasser Al-Attiyah claiming the final drivers’ championship point when Chris Atkinson was delayed completing the last stage after damaging the left-rear suspension on his MINI John Cooper Works WRC.

Sebastien Ogier topped the Super 2000 class in his Volkswagen Motorsport Skoda as Craig Breen claimed an emotional victory in the Super 2000 World Rally Championship, three months on from the death of his close friend and former co-driver Gareth Roberts.

Brazil’s Paulo Nobre retired his MINI on the road section heading to stage 17 with a battery issue. Jan Habig, from South Africa, restarted under Rally 2 rules following his off on Saturday morning to finish 28th overall.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Super Rally introduced to NZ Rally Championship

1:20pm 8 February 2013

Lance Hastie
0

briangreen-nzrc

New Zealand’s premier rally championship will feature three competition categories for 2013, to include the number of hand-built cars…  More >

Block set to hoon on three rallies in 2013

9:08am 25 January 2013

WRC.com
0

kenblock-wrc

Ken Block is aiming to tackle three WRC rounds in 2013 as part of a busy competitive programme for…  More >

Frenchman takes another Paris Dakar win

9:34am 21 January 2013

NZ Herald
0

parisdakar-winners

Frenchmen Stephane Peterhansel and Cyril Despres successfully defended their Dakar Rally car and motorbike titles yesterday. Peterhansel, leading the race…  More >

Loeb takes seventh Rally Monte Carlo victory

9:31am 21 January 2013

WRC.com
0

sebastianloeb-wrc

A dramatic final evening of Rallye Monte-Carlo ended with the cancellation of the last two stages to enable Sebastien…  More >

Hyundai confirm WRC team details

4:42pm 13 January 2013

WRC.com
0

hyundai-wrc

Hyundai has revealed more details about its plan to return to the WRC at the highest level in 2014,…  More >

10 reasons to get excited about WRC in 2013

9:31am 3 January 2013

WRC.com
0

wrc-citroen

With the start of the 2013 FIA World Rally Championship just around the corner, WRC.com looks ahead to the…  More >

RACE COUNTDOWN

NZV8

Manfield Round 3

V8 SuperTourers

Hampton Downs Motorsport Park Round 1

  • Latest story comments

  • Latest forum comments

  • "));
    Newsletter icon

    Get the latest motorsport news delivered to your inbox