40 Facts About Jari-Matti Latvala

Jari-Matti Latvala is well known for his aggressive driving style, which earns him many plaudits, and comparisons to the late Colin McRae.

Jari-Matti Latvala began driving when he was eight years old, after receiving a Ford Escort from his father Jari Jari-Matti Latvala, a rally driver and 1994 national champion in the Group N class.

At the age of ten, Jari-Matti Latvala started practicing with an Opel Ascona on a frozen lake.

Jari-Matti Latvala finished in 17th position with a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI.

In 2003, Jari-Matti Latvala competed in four WRC events with a Ford Focus WRC, finishing tenth at the Acropolis Rally, 17th at the Rallye Deutschland, 14th at the Neste Oil Rally Finland and tenth at the Rally Great Britain.

In 2004, Jari-Matti Latvala mostly competed with an S1600 class Junior World Rally Championship car.

Jari-Matti Latvala drove the Subaru Impreza WRX STI in six, a Ford Focus WRC in four and a Toyota Corolla WRC at his home event, the Neste Oil Rally Finland.

In 2007, Jari-Matti Latvala competed a full 16-event programme for Stobart M-Sport Ford with Matthew Wilson and Henning Solberg as teammates.

Jari-Matti Latvala started the season with retirements in Monte Carlo and Sweden.

At the Rally Norway, Jari-Matti Latvala was in contention for his first podium place, but had to settle for fifth after a 90 seconds time penalty.

Jari-Matti Latvala did take his first stage win on SS5.

Jari-Matti Latvala later took his first podium at the 2007 Rally Ireland.

In 2008, Jari-Matti Latvala joined Ford's factory team as a number two driver, partnering Mikko Hirvonen and replacing Marcus Gronholm who had announced his retirement from the WRC at the end of 2007.

Jari-Matti Latvala continued to fight and was ninth overall before SS12, but he made another mistake there and heavily damaged the front left suspension in his Focus, forcing himself to retire for good.

Jari-Matti Latvala later had some problems and wasn't the fastest on any of the remaining stages, but managed to keep his position throughout the rally.

However the start of the season became a big disappointment for the team, as Jari-Matti Latvala went off the road in three of the first four rallies of the year.

Jari-Matti Latvala had specifically been focusing to combat his driver weaknesses going into this rally, so the accident put some extra pressure on him for the future, although he admitted that he would fully understand if the team did not require his services because of his erratic reputation.

However, after a consistent, steady drive in Argentina, Jari-Matti Latvala went on to take his second WRC win of his career on Rally Sardinia ahead of teammate Mikko Hirvonen.

Jari-Matti Latvala led from beginning to end, hence driving as first car on the road on both day two and three.

In Mexico, Jari-Matti Latvala came 5th and in Round 3 - Rally Jordan, he came 2nd.

Jari-Matti Latvala crashed on stage 10 in Turkey and he took a dramatic win in New-Zealand.

Jari-Matti Latvala was now ahead of his teammate by 19 points in 4th.

For 2012 Jari-Matti Latvala was promoted to Ford's number one after the departure of Hirvonen to Rival's Citroen Total.

Round 2 in Sweden and Jari-Matti Latvala took his first win of the season and the first as Ford's number one.

Recently Jari-Matti Latvala was injured during the testing for the 5th round in Argentina, he is due to be replaced by Prodrive's Dani Sordo, but should be able to compete by the next round in Greece.

For 2013, Jari-Matti Latvala signed a contract with the new Volkswagen WRC team, announced on October 17.

Jari-Matti Latvala described Ford's decision to end its works programme as the key factor that influenced his decision to change teams.

In 2014, Jari-Matti Latvala won four races at Sweden, Argentina, Finland and Alsace, while collecting eight podiums in 13 races.

In 2016, Jari-Matti Latvala won at Mexico, and finished second in Italy and Finland, but finished sixth in the overall standings.

Jari-Matti Latvala claimed a win at Sweden, second place finishes at Monte Carlo and Italy, and a fourth place finish at Corsica.

Jari-Matti Latvala finished fourth in points, behind Ford drivers Ogier and Ott Tanak, and Hyundai driver Neuville.

For 2019, Jari-Matti Latvala remained with the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team.

Jari-Matti Latvala scored a podium in two events; third place at his home rally in Finland, after colliding with a loose rock during the event.

Jari-Matti Latvala finished the season in 7th position, his lowest since 2007.

The 2020 driver announcements meant Jari-Matti Latvala was struggling to find a seat with Toyota.

Jari-Matti Latvala is confirmed for two events, Sweden and Finland, in a privately-run Toyota Yaris WRC, while looking to finance a further three events at rallying's top level.

Jari-Matti Latvala is registered under the Latvala Motorsport banner, with Juho Hanninen confirmed as co-driver.

In 2023, Jari-Matti Latvala announced a one-off return to WRC competition at the Rally Finland driving a Toyota GR Yaris Rally1.

Jari-Matti Latvala manages the private enterprise Latvala Motorsport with his wife and family, administered from a custom-built location in Tuuri.

Jari-Matti Latvala was engaged to Finnish celebrity Maisa Torppa from 2017 to 2019.