Latvala Defies The Odd

The telephone rang. A +358 prefix in the middle of last year meant only one thing: more drama in the ongoing soap opera that had become Toyota’s return to the World Rally Championship.

- David Evans

This time? Another engineer had walked out? No. Not quite.

“It’s not a Yaris.” What? “It’s not a Yaris. It’s the new crossover thing.” What, the C-HR?

Another nonsensical call delivered more madness. Very little seemed to make sense for a very long time as far as Toyota’s new Puuppola base was concerned.

And then we got to the launch in December and Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila rocked up in jeans and sweatshirts. They’d dashed direct from the airport, having jetted in from the latest test.

By this point, eyebrows were no longer being raised. Instead there was a growing sense of sympathy at the humiliation awaiting the woken giant on the Monte Carlo season opener just a few weeks down the line.

Then Latvala lucked into a podium on round one. The service park offered a collected, benevolent pat on the head. That was a nice touch. But fortune had favoured the Finns.

Sweden would be different. Just wait and see. This allegedly flawed programme would be blown apart in the snow. Shows what anybody in the service park knows.

Last Sunday afternoon, with the sun high in the sky and the temperature heading south of minus five, the good and the great of the service park gathered to say sorry to team boss Tommi Makinen and his Toyota Gazoo Racing colleagues.

A big screen was showing all the action from the powerstage and, soon enough, Toyota’s first World Rally Championship win since Didier Auriol, and a Corolla in China.

Disbelief gave way to delight at what was a dream result for Latvala and the Yaris WRC. The winner arrived on the podium through a cloud of dry ice with the car in stage mode, popping, banging and loud as you like.

But still the cheers drowned out the engine note.

This most popular of wins meant the rabbits could finally avert their eyes from the headlights. Toyota’s return is now complete.