Jari-Matti Latvala smiles as he reaches the bottom of the stairs. "It was Luis," he laughs. "He burned the toast." On the morning that would potentially define the rest of his career, the Rally Finland leader's journey from bedroom to breakfast had been interrupted by a fire alarm.
All of Jyvaskyla was interrupted by the arrival of a fire engine after two-time world champion co-driver and Volkswagen team member Luis Moya relied too heavily on the pop-up feature of the Sokos Paviljonki toaster.
But nothing, not this, not the loss of brakes on his Volkswagen Polo R WRC and not a lead subsequently slashed from half a minute to three seconds could stop Latvala.