Jari-Matti Latvala has answered Loeb’s opening win of the year by guiding his Ford Fiesta RS WRC to victory at Rally Sweden on the weekend. It’s the sixth time in a row Ford has won the event.
The 26-year-old Finn took the lead on the opening day and enjoyed strong competition at times from former teammate Mikko Hirvonen in the Citroën DS3 WRC. Despite suffering a puncture on the last day, Latvala was able to secure his win with a margin of 16.6 seconds over Hirvonen. Privateer Mads Ostberg rounded out the top three in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC, a further 22.2 seconds behind Hirvonen.
Sebastien Loeb (Citroën) crashed out of contention early in the event and the same fate befell Dani Sordo (Prodrive/MINI).
Loeb was able to recover and finish the rally in sixth place, which keeps him at the head of the drivers’ championship, seven points ahead of Hirvonen and 10 points clear of Solberg.
The Ford World Rally Team isn’t great at making pics easily available, but they do produce a fine highlights reel, which you can see after the break.
The WRC heads to warmer climes for its next event, Rally Mexico (8–11 March).
2 replies on “Jari-Matti Latvala wins 2012 Rally Sweden”
[…] Atkinson’s car, a Ford Fiesta RS WRC, will be prepped by Ford’s M-Sport. He can be assured it be competitive, too, as it will be a like for like example of the car Jari-Matti Latvala just drove to victory at Rally Sweden. […]
[…] 27-year-old Finn has over 100 WRC starts and six wins to his name, including this year’s Rally Sweden, and his added experience would complement Sebastien Ogier well at Volkswagen you would […]