Jari-Matti Latvala, who now serves as Toyota’s team manager, never won two World Championships in a row in his own successful rally career. Only in his third season has Kalle Rovanperä achieved three consecutive victories.
Emma Hyyppä,
Tomi Tuominen
– This was a great weekend. Again, something came up that I wouldn’t have thought. Kalle Rovanperä was the first car to go to this rally and came, took and won, Latvala tells Sport in Portugal.
After starting Tommi Mäkinen as a successor to Toyota’s team manager at the beginning of 2021, Latvala would not have believed that the World Cup victory in the next season would be realism for a young Finn. The season is only the third in the World Rally Championship for Rovanpera.
– We are now moving in such an area that a Finn is now emerging who can really win the World Rally Championship this year. Much earlier than I could have imagined, Latvala says.
Rovanperä has now won three of the four World Rally Championships of the season and leads the World Championships by an overwhelming 46 points. Thierry Neuvilleen.
Other drivers are already starting to get frustrated
Latvala is excited to compare the situation in Rovanperä Sebastien Ogierin to a tremendous win in the season 2013. Volkswagen driver Ogier won as many as nine of the 13 races of the season. He ended the season with an unstoppable vibe and four consecutive victories.
Latvala, who was a French star’s teammate at the time, won one race and took six other prize places. He was finally third in the 2013 World Cup.
– We are in the same situation with Kalle as Ogier was at Volkkar in 2013. He was so strong that no one could beat him, neither could I. It gnaws and is really tough on the mental side of other drivers when some young guy comes in and pulls that momentum, says Latvala, who ended his career in 2020.
Although Latvala, 36, won 18 World Rally Championships in his career, he never managed to win twice in a row. So what does young Kalle Rovanperä do differently than Latvala once did?
– I got so excited after the victory that in the next I didn’t have any more patience. I tried too much. Kalle has the strength now that he is tempered. Kalle is incredibly good at controlling his temper. He doesn’t go overboard and make no mistakes.
Latvala thinks that victory after victory will feed the self-confidence that manifests itself as Rovanperä’s tranquility.
– When it’s cold-headed, the nerves last and the car works, things just start rolling the right way. In it, you get into the flow state, where everything works, Latvala says.
The driver who had achieved three consecutive victories was Ott Tänak. In 2018, the Estonian won consecutive races in Finland, Germany and Turkey.
Finns have been able to do the same Ari Vatanen (1984), Tommi Mäkinen (1996, 1998) and Marcus Grönholm (2007). Mikko Hirvonen (2009) and Timo Salonen (1985), on the other hand, won as many as four consecutive races.
More difficult starting points in Sardinia
According to Latvala, the fourth consecutive victory in two weeks in Sardinia is under the stone.
– It will be harder in Sardinia to drive for victory. We have to be prepared for the fact that the role of the aura car is even more difficult than here in Portugal, Latvala says.
Toyota took a double win in Portugal when Elfyn Evans was another 15 seconds apart in Rovanpera. Latvala is satisfied with the performance of his team, even though the triple victory crumbled in the last special stage. Hyundai’s Spanish driver Dani Sordo letter Power Stagella Takamoto I look past third.
– Once again, the line was lifted at the manufacturer’s points and it is known that the car is now also fast on the straight line. It gives good confidence in the future, Latvala says.