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Latvala now understands '09 crash

Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala says he can now see how the biggest accident of his life happened, after driving the Rally of Portugal's Felizes test again this morning

Felizes was the scene of Latvala's terrifying roll down a mountainside in 2009, when he destroyed his Ford Focus in one of the most spectacular accidents in world rallying. Latvala crashed again before arriving at this section of road last year, meaning this morning was his first pass through the left-hander he got so wrong.

"I was way too fast for that corner," said Latvala. "It's obvious now. I was maybe 100km/h too fast. Well, not that much, but you know what I mean... I know what went wrong now!"

Latvala said he had watched in-car footage from the recce of the Felizes stage twice last night to prepare himself and added that the memory of the crash came back to him when he passed through in his Fiesta today.

"I know where I braked this time and then I saw where I braked [in 2009]," he said, "there was no chance of getting around the corner [in '09]. I was much too fast!"

The consequences of Latvala's last two accidents in Portugal also slowed him for the remainder of the stage.

"Because I had been off there," he said, "I did not know the rest of the stage very well and I dropped time to the other cars in the last few splits."

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