Zoom Latvala ready for first event with the BP Ford team

Jari-Matti Latvala joins the BP Ford team on the back of a superb end to last season, when he claimed his first podium in Ireland and won a string of special stages in Britain with the Stobart Ford team.

He feels ready for whatever the Monte Carlo rally offers.

"I think it will be snowy and icy but rallying is about challenges and in such difficult conditions, if I drive well, then I can gain big time advantages over the others," he explained. "Driving in the dark is also hard but that's another challenge and that's what makes this sport so exciting."

"The new tyre regulations mean I have to get used to Pirelli's rubber, driving without the puncture-resistant mousse and not having the same options as we have had in the past. "

"I've used the new tyres during testing and I could feel they were harder. The ban on mousse means drivers can't cut corners as much as before for fear of puncturing so I will need to be careful going into bends. I learned how to drive like that in the Production WRC so I hope that experience will be useful," added Latvala.

E.A.
Source Ford