ADAC Rallye Deutschland / Who’s not?
19/52
Who’s not?
Jari Matti Latvala
VW Polo R WRC
Volkswagen Motorsport
Image: Steven van Veenendaal
It’s clear Latvala is coming to
grips with his 2013 chariot of
fire. He’s feeling more comfortable now and can be really fast.
It is difficult to beat his team colleague. Ogier is simply a very
good driver and he has been
able to set the car exactly as he
wants it to be. But in Germany
Latvala had his big chance. As
we know Asphalt is not the Finn’s
favourite turf. But unlike his early
years he can now be fast on the
sealed surface. So when Ogier
made his early mistake, it was
Latvala who took over. Neuville
was giving him a hard time, but
he could control the Neuville attacks relatively easy, until the
second passing of ‘Stein und
Wein’, the first afternoon stage
of Saturday. Just before the start
an enormous amount of water
fell out of the sky and the stage
became even more treacherous. Then, while braking his car
left the road and broke a wheel.
He limped further but a bit further, right in front of the RallyeMag camera, he ended up in
the bushes. Neuville was taken
by the same corner but was just
a bit luckier and could continue.
The conclusion is that in rallying anything can happen. But
Latvala is a very experienced
driver and he knows the treacherous circumstances in Germany, so perhaps by now he
should be able to cope with that.
Sometimes bad luck is simply
bad luck, sometimes you’ll have
to help Lady Luck a bit by just
marginally lifting you right foot in
uncertain circumstances. If only
to defy his criticasters that say
he is fast but at the same time
claim he can only crash.