Latvala aiming to turn Ford's 2011 season around in Rally Australia
Jari-Matti Latvala is confident he can turn Ford's 2011 fortunes around with a win on this week's Rally Australia
The British-based team has only won one event this season - Mikko Hirvonen's season-opening victory on Rally Sweden - but Latvala is convinced the competitiveness of the Fiesta RS WRC will show through on the fast New South Wales roads this week.
"I enjoy fast gravel rallies and I want to be fighting for victory next weekend," he said.
"There have been some frustrating times this year, because we've lost rallies by small margins, but we know the Fiesta RS WRC is competitive and I'm confident we can turn that around. Australia would be the perfect place to start."
Latvala admitted going to a new venue for the rally meant extra work for him and co-driver Miikka Anttila.
"The preparations must be slightly different," said Latvala. "After the recce we'll take a close look at our videos of the stages.
"When I've competed on stages several times before, the roads are fixed in my memory, so there's not so much to learn from watching the videos. But on new roads, it helps develop and understanding of the characteristics of the stages."
Rally Australia starts on Thursday evening, with two runs at a superspecial stage around Coffs Harbour.
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
The outrageous mountain-climbers that became Pikes Peak legends
Ranking lost WRC legend Richard Burns' 10 best rallies
What to expect from the WRC's venture to the Arctic
Latvala to make WRC comeback at Rally Finland
Latvala: Rovanpera "on another planet" to score dominant WRC Estonia win
Latvala is a victim of blame culture
Dale Coyne Racing retains Harvey for Long Beach IndyCar race
How to watch WRC's Croatia Rally: schedule, line-up and more
McLaren F1 team bracing for "damage limitation" in Chinese GP
How Porsche won, lost and won in Misano Formula E mayhem
How Rovanpera showed his class above his WRC rivals in Kenya
How a new 'old' challenge is capturing the spirit of British rallying lore
How Lappi survived Swedish snow carnage to snap his lengthy WRC drought
The new WRC highs Neuville reached to defeat Monte master Ogier
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments