Jari-Matti Latvala becomes youngest driver to win WRC race

1-2 victory in Sweden puts Finnish Ford pair at the head of the WRC table

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Finland’s Jari-Matti Latvala made history by winning the WRC Swedish Rally over the weekend. At the age of 22 years and ten months, Latvala became the youngest driver ever to win a WRC race.
      The late Henri Toivonen, another Finn, held the previous record. When Toivonen triumphed in the Rally of Britain in 1980 he was 24 years and 86 days old.
     
On Sunday, the main concern for Latvala, who led the race from the second special stage on Friday, was to bring his Ford Focus across the finish line intact.
      In the end he beat his teammate and fellow countryman Mikko Hirvonen by 58.3 seconds.
      "This feels absolutely incredible. After the last special stage my dad Jari was waiting for me at the finish. Nothing much was said. He had tears in his eyes", Latvala explained.
      "When Toivonen was his first race he had less WRC experience than I have now. But it still feels great to break his record, for he has been my idol", Latvala continued.
      "For about three special stages worth Jari-Matti benefited from his advantageous starting place on Friday, but not more. I still tried to catch him on the first three special stages on Saturday, but Jari-Matti simply drove too fast and with too much assurance", Hirvonen praised his teammate.
      Gianluigi “Gigi” Galli (Ford) came in third, 2 minutes and 23.2 seconds behind Latvala.
      On Sunday, only five special stages were raced. The special stage number 18 was cancelled due to poor road conditions.
     
Latvala’s effort was made considerably easier by the fact that the current World Champion, Sebastien Loeb (Citroën) of France, crashed out on stage 13.
      Hirvonen leads the current WRC standings with 16 points from two second-place finishes, while Latvala and Loeb each have 10.
      The drivers will next be in action in Mexico at the end of the month.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Jari-Matti Latvala inherits Grönholm´s seat in Ford rally team (17.12.2007)

Links:
  WRC

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