Jari-Matti Latvala is frightening: from Loeb to Hirvonen

The French quadruple world rally champion, Sébastien Loeb, said he was very impressed by the young Jari-Matti Latvala and believes he will have a serious competitor for victories throughout this 2008 season.

The Finn led the first day of the Mexico rally, held this weekend, leaving Loeb with the bitter taste of second place. With the Ford Focus, Latvala started third on the Mexican tracks, taking advantage of the trails created earlier by those ahead of him in the championship, Hirvonen and Loeb.

The second day was tougher for Latvala, who opened the road, and thus logically Loeb took advantage of this to regain the lead position and win the Mexican rally for the third time. The Citroën driver also benefited from a turbo issue encountered by Latvala, causing him to lose second place.

« The absence of Marcus Gronholm has been largely compensated by the arrival of Latvala, younger and much more determined I feel! » comments Loeb. « I expect great feats from him this season. »

Latvala indeed replaced Gronholm in 2007 after he retired. At 22, he was able to take over and already manages to surpass his teammate, Hirvonen, who is leading the championship.

Latvala commented: “I achieved my goal by being on the podium, and it’s still hard to accept this position when we were leading on Friday,” he admitted. “Overall, it was a good weekend, and I have no complaints.”

On his part, Hirvonen stated that he needs to improve his speed if he wants to keep up with Loeb and Latvala.

« Jari-Matti [Latvala] and Loeb were very fast, and I couldn’t match their pace, but I’ll need to find some speed, or I could say goodbye to the championship… »