Ford team boss Malcolm Wilson has backed Jari-Matti Latvala to recover from his final-day retirement on Rally Guanajuato Mexico earlier this month and go on a winning spree in the FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia.
Latvala was heading for a podium finish in Mexico when he crashed after encountering Evgeny Novikov’s similar Ford Fiesta RS WRC stranded at the point where he was preparing to brake for a corner.
“You can see from the television footage Jari panicked when he saw Evgeny’s car in the braking zone,” said Wilson. “He knows he made a massive, massive error and he knows how it happened. But we’re 100 per cent behind him - he’s the fastest guy out there and we know he can come back from this.”
Having failed to score world championship points on two occasions in 2012, Latvala has ground to make up in the race for the prestigious drivers’ title.
“The law of averages will tell you it’s going to come right,” said Wilson. “I hope it’s here and there’s no reason for me why he can’t start here and win the next five rallies. We know the pace is there from him and we know the pace is in the car.”
Latvala was fastest on Wednesday morning’s Qualifying Stage for Vodafone Rally de Portugal and has opted to run 17th on the road on the opening day of the gravel event.