Jari-Matti Latvala

Fast Facts:

Why support him?

His default driving setting is ‘on the limit’

When he gets away with it he’s unbeatable

He had Loeb worried in 2008

His knowledge of rally trivia is second to none

Career highlights:

Career summary:

Jari-Matti Latvala started driving when he was eight years old, competed on his first rally when he was 16 and has not looked back since. Following his competitive debut, Latvala competed in Finnish National events and some British Championship rallies. He also went to Italy to contest the Subaru Cup challenge, replacing Mikko Hirvonen in the Motoring Club entry, and winning the series.

Soon after his 18th birthday he was given a WRC drive by Ford on the 2003 Acropolis Rally. He finished 10th and picked up three more appearances in a Focus WRC that year. After spending the 2004, 2005 and 2006 seasons building experience in a variety of WRC, P-WRC and J-WRC cars, Latvala also contested four rounds in 2006 with a Ford supported Focus, rounding off the season with a career best fourth overall on Wales Rally GB.

The performance earned him a 16 round programme with the Stobart Ford team for 2007. During a remarkable season in an outdated car Latvala set fastest stage times and produced the drive of his year on the penultimate event when he finished third on Rally Ireland.

For 2008 Latvala was promoted to the factory Ford team, as number two driver to Mikko Hirvonen who had taken over from Marcus Gronholm as team leader. After a disappointing start in Monte Carlo, Latvala won the second round – Rally Sweden – and at 22 become the youngest winner in the history of the World Rally Championship.

On the next round, Mexico, Latvala took the early lead and looked to be heading for another win until a broken turbo pipe dropped him out of the fight. The up and down nature of that event turned out to be typical of much of Latvala’s season; stage wins and rally leads were interspersed with mechanical problems and crashes. The highs of a second place in Turkey were balanced by the disappointment of crashing on his home rally of Finland. And when a win looked all but certain on Rally New Zealand his penultimate stage retirement was almost too much to take.

Dropped by his team in favour of asphalt expert Francois Duval on the two asphalt rounds that followed, Latvala rebuilt his confidence as part of the Stobart team once again. He returned to the Ford squad in Japan and rounded off the year with two second places and a terrific scrap with Sebastien Loeb in Wales.

Back alongside Hirvonen at Ford again this year, Latvala is one of the handful of drivers who can truly worry Sebastien Loeb.