TORSBY, Sweden — Finland’s Jari-Matti Latvala in a Toyota won the Rally Sweden on Sunday to take the world championship lead after pacesetter Thierry Neuville crashed out again. Ford pair Estonia’s Ott Tänak and world champion Sebastien Ogier came second and third trailing by 29.2sec and 1min respectively.
Toyota only returned to WRC in December, replacing the departed Volkswagen, and this was their first rally win since Didier Auriol in China in 1999. “It’s simply magnificent. New team, only the second rally and we’ve got this win,” Latvala said.
“It feels a bit the same as it did in my first victory back in 2008,” he said, explaining that on both occasions it was a surprise. This was Latvala’s fourth win on the ice-covered roads with snowbanks and breakneck speeds in sub-zero temperatures.
Hyundai driver Neuville had been coasting to victory with a 43sec lead over Latvala going into Saturday’s final stage. But the Belgian lost a wheel when hitting a barrier on a simple run around the Karlstad hippodrome.
Last month Neuville looked to have the Monte Carlo Rally wrapped up before a costly error on the final day. But despite Neuville’s misfortune Latvala was a deserved winner after crushing the opposition in all three specials Sunday.
“We had a very good feeling on the stage this morning,” Latvala said, adding team chief Tommi Makinen persuaded him not to take the foot off the gas. “He said, no no no, you keep going with the same feeling that you have, just go there and do your job.”
Defending champion Ogier, who won here last year, blew his chances when he spun his Fiesta through the very first corner on Sunday. “That was a stupid mistake. I caught some fresh snow on the inside and spun. I took it easy afterwards because I knew it was over,” said the Frenchman who had been trailing by just 16 seconds at the time.
The win pushed Latvala up to 48 points in the title race, with Ogier on 44 and Tanak on 33 after the second of the 13-rally season.
After the snow of Sweden next up for the new, bigger and lighter cars is the testing gravel tracks at the Rally of Guanajuato in northern Mexico from March 12.
“When you go the rallies in altitude, it gets more and more challenging, but I like it like that,” Latvala said.
Championship standings
Drivers: 1. Latvala 48 pts, 2. Ogier 44, 3. Tänak 33, 4. Sordo 25, 5. Breen 20 etc.
Teams: 1. M-Sport (Ford) 73 pts, 2. Toyota Gazoo Racing 53, 3. Hyundai Motorsport 40, 4. Citroen Racing 26
