Co-driver Miikka Anttila.
It was great to return to WRC for a long time. First three stages were excellent, except on 2nd stage I braked little too much. As we arrived to service hault we were leading. There was only small gab between us and Kosti Katajamäki and Jouni Ampuja. On stage 4 we suffered from snow dust, because weather was calm. That´s why we tried to tape the lights, but it didn´t help at all. After SS5 there was 16 second deficit to Jouni Ampuja, who set a benchmark on that stage. I thought already that we are going to loose all possibilites to victory. I decided anyway to go flat out and give everything I had. A surprise waited us in the finish. Jouni Ampuja had glid off the road and lost lots of time, so we were the winners. Victory felt enormously good.
1st overall, Class 1st
Toyota Corolla WRC
Service team Latvala Motorsport Oy.
Rally engineer Asko Kosonen