Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team’s Jari-Matti Latvala has admitted that he wanted a better start to the 2019 FIA World Rally Championship.
After finishing fifth on the opening round of the season in Monte-Carlo, Rally Sweden last time out saw Latvala retire from the event after hitting a snowbank and getting his Yaris WRC stuck costing him nearly half an hour in dropped time.
Despite his poor start, the Finn did said he should have a good opportunity for a strong result at Rally Mexico next weekend because of his later starting position compared to some of his rivals such as championship leader and Toyota teammate Ott Tänak.
Discussing his start to 2019 ahead of the gravel event, Latvala said: “I am looking forward to being in Mexico: particularly the warm sun at the end of the Finnish winter! So far, it hasn’t really been the start to the season for me that I would have wanted.”
“If there is one positive from this, however, it is that I will have quite a nice starting position for the first day in Mexico, as the eighth car on the road. I had a good test in Spain last week, using pretty much the same setup that I used to win in Australia (at the end of 2018), with just a few small tweaks.”
Round three of the 2019 FIA World Rally Championship, Rally Mexico, takes place between March 7-10.
