No Rally Finland-style heroics in Lahti, Latvala insists

The 39-year-old, who finished runner-up in WRC2 on Secto Rally Finland earlier this month, is tackling the FIA European Historic Rally Championship round in a Toyota Celica ST165. Janni Hussi, who normally partners Lauri Joona in FIA WRC2, will co-drive.

“When there is a good feeling with some of the stages and it has a nice flow and you can attack a bit but not all the time,” said Latvala, the former factory WRC driver turned Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT team principal. “For me the most important thing is there is a really nice atmosphere between the competitors and that is the most enjoyable thing because you want to enjoy, you want to drive and then the result comes on top of it, but it’s not the target. The target is to go and make sure the car works well.”

Latvala’s family-owned Celica, built by Toyota Team Europe, dates back to 1990 but has undergone several updates under his supervision.

“It was more like a customer spec originally but I have changed some of the components like the factory was using,” Latvala explained. “When the Celica came in 1988 there were some updates by 1990 and also the differential. It's a very nice car.”

Asked about 12-stage, 139.54-kilometre Lahti Historic Rally route, Latvala said: “We have some of the stages that were in Rally Finland in 2011 and 2012 and all stages are very hard based, fast and flowing. Everybody can enjoy them and the roads won’t wear out at all. There are some sections where you go in the forest over the crests and jumps and some are more flat but there are no rocks or things like that.”