Latvala's Finland outing will help him understand his drivers

The team principal of Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, Jari-Matti Latvala, believes that his participation in Finland will make him understand more his drivers as he has never driven a Rally1 car.

Despite his 209 starts in World Rally Championship, the Finn did not have the opportunity to drive the GR Yaris Rally1 in a rally nor in a test, therefore it is difficult for him to understand what his drivers ask from their car. Rally Finland will be held on August 3-6 and JML's aim is to win his home for a fourth time in his career. Since he has no points on the championship, this means that he will be last on the road on Friday, therefore he will not lose time cleaning the stages, but the key for Rally Finland success is to be very confident in every corner. Finally, it must be mentioned that there has been three years since Latvala competed at the top level as his last event was Rally Sweden in 2020 when he drove a Toyota Yaris WRC as a privateer.

"Sometimes the boys are talking about these things that you talk about, the regen or the deployment and I don’t know what they are talking about", Latvala said. 

"I don’t understand these things.

"This is a very good point, this is something that makes Rally Finland very important – it will help me understand more the car and how everything is working. 

"It’s a golden opportunity for me to communicate with the drivers – this is something that will make my life easier.

"In the last 20 years, I’ve driven everything in World Rally Cars and always been able to talk in the debrief. 

"Now, it’s different.

"I will change the setup for the car.

"If I can, I want to start with Kalle’s setup. 

"Then on the next day I take the settings from Elfyn and then look at what Taka is driving.

"The most important thing is for me to understand how the boys are driving the car and how they’re working with the hybrid – when the boost is being used and how much they need to load the brakes to regenerate the power.

"It’s all of these things. 

"Right now I have the questions".

Source: DirtFish.com

Photo Credits: Toyota