Jari-Matti Latvala warns he'll break WRC radio rules
Jari-Matti Latvala says he is ready to break World Rally Championship car-to-team communication regulations after being placed in what he felt was a dangerous situation on Rally Italy
The Toyota driver was left furious when he caught Mads Ostberg's Ford Fiesta WRC after the Norwegian had stopped to change a puncture last weekend.
In the heat of the moment, at the end of the Monte Lerno test, Latvala lashed out and threatened to quit the WRC.
Current rules state the team can call the car to inform the crew of a safety problem, but not vice-versa.
When faced with a similar situation, Latvala says he will break the rules.
"In the future, I will take the risk, I will call them," said Latvala.
"This is a safety issue.
"I was having to take massive risks in the dust and if you do a mistake in these conditions then it's not only for myself, but also there is the risk for spectators.
"I came on one junction and there was a marshal in the road and running away because he didn't expect me to be coming. This is not good."
Latvala was also frustrated at the lack of a radio in Ostberg's privately-entered Ford, with only manufacturer teams running the official radio system.
"Mads not having a radio is not sensible and this needs to be sorted out," Latvala said.
"Again it's from the safety point, everybody needs to be able to communicate whether they are a privateer or factory car."
Latvala had asked the event organisers to look at his onboards from the Monte Lerno stage in the hope he would be awarded time back, in the same way Thierry Neuville had been on the previous rally in Portugal after encountering a slow-moving Latvala.
Neuville's time was altered, the FIA pointed out, because in that incident Latvala was driving slowly with damage to his Yaris.
In Italy, Ostberg was travelling at full speed having changed his puncture and Latvala's problem was dust from the Ford not being sufficiently far ahead on the road.
That ruling did not impress Latvala.
"I should have had the time back," he said. "I was fighting for the lead."
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