An October day dawns foggy in Bad Griesbach, Germany. It’s 5:35. Toyota team manager Jari-Matti Latvala pulls on the stable’s team jacket and jumps into the rental car in the hotel yard.
It is a ten-minute drive to Karpfham, the service area of the Central European World Rally Championship. Latvala yawns, the night’s sleep has fallen to four hours again.
In the maintenance, the mechanics are already preparing the cars for the day’s dawn. The rest of the team is also gradually trickling in. Latvala pours himself a big cup of black coffee and wakes himself up for the team meeting starting at six.
The drivers will arrive soon and then you have to be in good shape, have fun and guide the drivers to the special tests. It is one of his most important tasks as team manager.
The 2024 season, which ended in November, was Jari-Matti Latvala’s fourth as Toyota team manager.
My more than ten-year career as a driver ended in disappointment in 2019.
The Finn, who won two World Cup silvers, was left without a contract and his career ended there.
The biggest dream, the world championship, was not achieved.
When Latvala started as Toyota’s team manager in January 2021, there were many doubts about him. The appointment of a Finn to such an important leadership position had surprised many.
Inside the team, there was tension as to how the young and inexperienced manager would cope. The opening race of the season in Monte Carlo made everyone nervous.
The new job description at Toyota could not have come at a better time for Latvala. During 2020, he had tried to tour rallies as a private driver, but Korona messed up the race calendar.
– The year 2019 was the most difficult year of my driving career, also mentally. I cared a lot about the team, its success and feeling. My care convinced the Toyota people. They wanted me to be team manager because while struggling with my own career, I was still thinking about the team as a whole. That was the decisive thing, Latvala says.
Toyota’s job offer for the position of team manager was one that could not be refused.
– I didn’t win the world championship as a driver, but now I was in a new role where I could win it, Latvala smiles.
It soon became clear that the uncertainty preceding the opening race of the team manager’s career was pointless.
The morning special tests of the Central European Rally in October have been run and the drivers are giving interviews to the media.
Everyone in turn drives to the media area, where the buzz is loud. Quite a few people also want Latvala’s comments.
When the media crowd leaves, Latvala follows the drivers to lunch. Latvala eats while standing, sometimes outside. He talks to the mechanics and goes through the rest of the day’s program with the communications team.
The drivers are allowed to eat in peace, after the meal the team manager talks to them.
– Some need more support, some not at all. Sébastien Ogier (eight-time world champion) is such an experienced professional that he doesn’t need advice. Sometimes you just have to calm down a hot champion, Latvala says.
Latvala’s goal is to make every driver smile before getting into the car. He seems to succeed in that.
In the service area, Ogier double laughs at the team manager’s obviously funny story. “Japanese power today, Taka!”, the team manager shouts and gets a Japanese driver Takamoto Katsuta to grin.
Toyota’s Finnish star, two-time world champion Kalle Rovanperä is not included in Germany, but the latest Finnish promise Sami Pajari his carter Enni Mälkönen with you get a lot of team manager’s time.
Little by little, the drivers start heading towards the afternoon’s special tests. Latvala sits down and takes a cup of coffee. He spends his break entertaining guests.
An understanding boss
Latvala’s strengths as team manager are his open nature and working with people. People management is natural to Latvala, even though he has no actual training for it.
The jump to a new role was a big one, as the area of responsibility grew from myself to an entire team.
Sports expert Henri Haapamäki according to Latvala, he has done better than well as Toyota’s team manager.
– He is a really respected person in the rally world and one of the nicest people in that environment, Haapamäki describes.
According to Haapamäki, Latvala has been criticized by the same people who also scolded him during his racing career. Now the encouragement comes on a wide front.
– Appreciation is completely different now than in the coachman days. Now he is also encouraged as a driver, as if he had received absolution. He is welcomed everywhere with open arms, says Haapamäki.
According to Haapamäki, Latvala is a good leader who encourages, takes others into account and knows how to create a team spirit.
Driven by Toyota Esapekka Lappi gives praise to Latvala, even though he can’t think of his former colleague as a boss.
– Everyone likes Jari-Mat, he is kind to everyone. He knows how to calm down the drivers and take the pressure off, says Lappi.
Latvala himself feels that his own career, with its ups and downs, has been very useful in the role of manager.
He says he can adapt to the role of driver in difficult situations.
– I always think how I would have felt as a driver when I heard something difficult. It’s easy to give advice and give opinions, but it’s important to remember what kind of pressure there is inside the car to perform and take risks. I have it fresh in my mind, Latvala says.
Leadership is not only about building a positive team spirit. Latvala’s challenge is handling difficult issues in a team.
– Sometimes you have to take negative things to people. Telling is not easy, the words have to be placed correctly. I would like to learn to support people better even in bad times, says Latvala.
Latvala has only realized many things about his own career as a team manager. A step outside the rally bubble and focusing on what you do could have helped you on the road to success.
He is now trying to teach a more relaxed grip and self-confidence, among other things, as a Toyota driver For Elfyn Evans.
– Evans has a lot in common with me as a driver. He is so close to the championship, but doesn’t quite make it. He tries too hard and does too much. The world championship does not come by forcing, Latvala sighs.
Doubts about Latvala as a team manager have diminished year by year. As success began to come, he rose to his current respected position.
Kalle Rovanperä’s doubles championship also took pressure off Jari-Matti Latvala’s shoulders.
I myself was among the drivers who were expected to win. However, it took 20 years until Rovanperä was able to win the championship.
Jari-Matti Latvala
The previous Finnish champion was Marcus Grönholm in 2002. Latvala finished second in the World Championship three times.
In the role of team manager, I have gained respect and people remember my good moments, not just the bad ones. I myself can appreciate my career better now.
Jari-Matti Latvala
Latvala drives the car and the navigator advises the route to the viewing point of the special stage of the Central European World Rally Championship.
The team manager watches clips from the same place as the others, there are no VIP seats available. Sometimes you can watch the race from a helicopter.
The team manager’s phone rings constantly, messages are thrown on the car’s screen. The TV feed of the rally is running on the second phone, the sound of which is heard in the car via Bluetooth.
The third phone updates the result tracking of the special exam. Following them is the responsibility of the fellow passengers when the traffic takes Latvala’s attention.
After a little wandering, a special exam is found, but the orderly person is tight. He doesn’t recognize driving licenses and orders the team manager to park far away. There is a policeman there who tells you that you are not allowed to park here either.
Latvala is endowed with a calm and friendly nature. Backpacking doesn’t suit him. A walk across a dry field is pleasantly refreshing.
There is a good viewing spot on the slope of Pienen Mäki.
Cars come from the edge of the forest to a bend where the speed is ten kilometers per hour. On the straight that opens up after the bend, the speed increases up to 170 kilometers per hour.
Latvala closely follows the behavior of the cars and at the same time looks at his watch.
– Very good, it will be good, at the top, he says.
The team manager, decked out in a cap and sunglasses, can watch the race in peace for five minutes, until one of the spectators guesses who it is. After that, people asking for autographs and selfies flock to Latvala.
At the same time, he chats with Finnish rally people. The team manager has time for everyone, the conversation is almost never interrupted.
Less chief, more driver
Latvala aims to take special tests at every World Cup competition. On the spot, you can better see driving lines, gas and brake use. The sound world of the rally is also important to Latvala.
– It’s nerve-wracking to watch the race when you can’t influence the events yourself. When you drive yourself, you can control the events. A feeling of despair hits when a driver’s car crashes on the last special stage a couple of kilometers before the finish line, Latvala smiles.
Sometimes the team manager gets homesick. When driving in the Swedish World Rally Championship in the middle of big snowbanks with the sun shining in freezing weather. When the rally circus is in Jyväskylä and the drivers are gassing up familiar bits in front of the Finnish audience.
– The World Championship competition in Jyväskylä was so heartbreaking a couple of times that I had to start racing in 2023 and finally the rally2 series in 2024. Fortunately, Toyota’s management was kind. It’s such a difficult race for me to watch from the bench, Latvala expressed.
The increased timing made Latvala make a surprising decision, which Toyota reacted favorably to.
Next season, he will tour even fewer races as team manager and focus on his own driving. Latvala competes in the historic rally EC series for a full season. The karttur is also known from the media Janni Hussi.
– The joy and pleasure of driving had disappeared in 2019. Now the enthusiasm and energy are at the same level as when I was a little boy. It’s been great to drive without feeling forced, the need to show that you have to succeed, Latvala muses.
Another Finnish ex-driver succeeds Latvala as team manager Juha Kankkunen.
The special tests of the day of the Central European World Rally Championship have been run and after the interview rumba, the drivers gather around the same Dining Table.
Latvala sweeps on an electric scooter to the audience area, where he is talked to by the other team managers.
During the maintenance, the mechanics fix the cars and the invited guests watch the maintenance from their own terrace. The team manager comes to monitor the situation and talks to people.
Many people have a thing for Latvala. We go over the driving day, successes and difficulties with the drivers. The last race day always culminates in a podium. The drivers drive to the finish area and the winners get to spray champagne.
The drivers go to rest, but Latvala’s day continues. During the evening, there may be representative meetings, sponsor meetings, or at least checking the next day’s schedules. Race days are round and round.
The rally season lasts from the end of January to the end of November, so the vacation will also be short. During the break, driver contracts for the next season are taken care of, promotional work is done and testing is done. At Christmas time, there is some time to rest.
It is around nine in the evening when Latvala gets to the hotel. He kicks off his shoes, puts his three phones on charge and sits down in an armchair. He closes his eyes for a moment and sighs, tired but satisfied.
– Taival as team manager has been great. I have learned a lot. I am grateful for this new career start. Shared success tastes good.