The second round in the Historic Rally Trophy was driven near Korpilahti where the old Jyskälä (a pet name for Neste Oil Rally) stages ran.In the start of stage one we had a bit of a mishap in the form of misunderstanding the right starting time. I asked the stage marshall if I should start on the next minute. I received an answer which was:“On the next” which meant the next lights. So I missed my starting moment and it took me 15 seconds before I realised that I should have been racing already. When I was finally on the road my co-driver Juho told me to take it easy and said that we could catch those missed seconds later on. Hänninen was convincing enough and I did keep my temper so everything went smoothly. We put the mess of stage one behind us before stage two which was Saalahti, a very familiar stage for me both as a test stage or as a WRC stage. I let the car fly but did not take any unnecessary risks. It was great to drive and my Celica ran beautifully on the roads of Central Finland. There was a minor inconvenience because the engine temperature started to rise a bit which took some of the engine power off. Nothing major. The rest of the stages went excellently and we certainly had fun with Juho, we even had time to give some comments during the race. We won our category (Historic) and were second overall. We lost the overall victory by 4,5 seconds which was slightly irritating because without the mishap and my waiting in the start of stage one we might have had a better result in the finish.

Mesikämmen Rally 2020 had to be cancelled because of bad winter (no winterlike conditions) and Mesikämmen Rally 2021 was under a threat of cancellation due to Covid 19, but the organisers did a great job and the rally could be driven without an audience.  There were four stages in the rally. Three of which were driven in the Töysä area and one was driven in Myllymäki, Ähtäri. These roads were homeroads for me.  Stage two went past my Granny’s place using the road where I used to practise when I was 16. I was really looking forward to this rally because it was in 2006 when I had last raced past my Granny’s house. We drove my good, old familiar Toyota Celica, as did my father Jari, too. So Latvala Motorsport had two cars in the race.

The competition went well. It was enjoyable to drive in that wintery scenery. There was enough snow and the temperature was properly below zero. I hadn’t raced for a while so my driving was a bit angulated at first until my co-driver Juho Hänninen told me to keep the front of the car inside and make the car come out of the corners in a straight position. Only one note was too slow which made me throttle down in vain. My Dad was also able to drive a harmonious race although I had to grab some snow and put out a small fire under his car at the finish of the last stage. There was a small crack in the turbo oil pipe.

We won my own category, the Historic. We were the fastest overall, but I was having an advantage of driving on home ground. I was glad to see how my Dad drove after a break of two years in racing: he was second (after me) in his category (the Historic) and 11th overall.

The disappointment in the Top Building Rally in August was so overwhelming that I needed to drive again somewhere and soon. We decided to drive in Kouvola because of the fast and hard surfaced roads in the Kymenlaakso area which we liked. I had driven in Kouvola 2007 so it really was time to go there again. Three stages, each of them twice plus Tykkimäki as power stage. Our starting number was 92 and by the time we were starting the race it was raining heavily making the roads slippery. Right away on stage one a slippery left almost caught me and gave me palpitation. It was a bit stressful to drive on stages one and two because the slippery places changed a lot but luckily the rain stopped before stage three and the driving started to feel fun. My co-driver Juho Hänninen did a good job in reading notes to me and his comments every now and then motivated me to do my best. The car was working perfectly and racing was nice. I did not let the thought of possibly breaking wheel bolts ruin my driving. And the bolts did not break! We took the car intact into the finish and we won our category (no one else in our category) but the most important thing for us was the fifth position overall (had we competed overall). And we would have won the Finnish Championship Category 2 with a 30-year-old car!

The Corona pandemic struck the world on March, 15 and took the rallies out of the calendar. Luckily the situation got better during the summer and finally at the end of the summer some rallies were driven. Lahti Historic Rally was to be driven at first but it was cancelled because of the corona situation. The rally was changed from the European championship rally into a national rally which was driven in Lammi during one day only. There were three stages driven twice each (six altogether) and the reccé was done in the morning of the racing day. I had driven the last time in February so I was a bit excited. My driving was not so good but I was not alone with that problem. The break in driving had done its task. We drove the fastest time on stages one and two. At the beginning of stage three our brakes started to get soft and I thought we had a problem with the wheel bearing but all of a sudden the whole tire came off. Luckily the runaway did not hit anybody and I managed to keep the car on the road. Not much damage but we had to retire. The wheel bolts of the rear tires were changed but the front bolts were old. There was some stretching in the bolts of the front left wheel and they broke down. We had not checked how worn out the bolts were before starting stage three. We have to be more careful in the future and check the parts of our rally car properly.