Jari-Matti Latvala says failing to score points for the factory Ford team was the most disappointing aspect of his retirement from Vodafone Rally de Portugal earlier today.
Latvala lost control of his Focus RS WRC barely four corners into Saturday’s second stage and careered backwards into a tree some 40 metres from the road. The Finn fears the damage he inflicted to his car will prevent him from restarting under SupeRally regulations on Sunday.
Although Latvala’s retirement has yet to be confirmed, the likelihood is that only team-mate Mikko Hirvonen is on course to claim manufacturers’ championship points for the Blue Oval. In contrast, the rival works Citroen squad remains in contention for a maximum score with both Sebastien Loeb and Dani Sordo well placed.
“The worst thing is I lost the manufacturers’ points [for Ford] because I haven’t been looking so much at the drivers’ championship this season,” said Latvala. “In the beginning of the year we agreed we would concentrate for the manufacturers’ championship as the second driver. It had been going well but now we’ve made a mistake and we should not be having these problems any more so we have work to do.”
Latvala’s last visit to Portugal also ended in retirement when he rolled almost 20 times during a terrifying crash in 2009. He admitted it hadn’t been a happy return to the country’s Algarve region.
“It’s been difficult,” he said. “Even though we had a big crash last year the speed was there. Now, the first stage on this rally, I was not on the pace, I was sleeping. After that I started to find the rhythm and it was going better. Yesterday afternoon it was going better again but I was too aggressive with my tyres and I lost time. This morning when I started I thought I could be able to climb up in the results. The first stage went quite well, I was quite happy with that but then it ended in the second one. I’ve not been really happy with my driving on this rally because there has been nothing wrong with the handling of my car.
“We need to learn from this but quite quickly I have to put this behind me and start to concentrate for the next rallies.”
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