Q & A com Jari-Matti Latvala
Autor: Arleth Dantas | Publicado: 2012-04-20T07:23:00-07:00



Where are you in the world right now and how are you feeling? 
“I am in the west of Finland in Tuuri, my home town. I have to say I am 
pretty okay. I don’t have pain in my left arm but it’s still with a 
safety belt around it so I cannot use it. In my mind I am quite good 
too. It’s a big, big disappointment I can’t drive in Argentina but on 
the other hand when I return in Greece I will be more motivated than 
ever.”



We hate to go over this again but can you explain what happened?
 “I was just returning from training. I had been skiing for 18 
kilometres and I just had to make one downhill section of 300 metres to 
get to the road when I fell. When I landed I felt all the weight on my 
left shoulder and I was quickly in really, really a lot of pain. I was 
struggling to get to the road but I phoned my mother who was at our 
winter cottage. Within 20 minutes she had got me to a small hospital 
where they took the x-rays. But the pain was enormous, really, really 
bad.”



The focus must now be on getting fit for the Acropolis Rally. How much hard work is ahead for you?
 “I am seeing a physiotherapist every week. In fact tonight I leave for 
Helsinki for a meeting tomorrow. I want to get the heeling started and 
the movement back as soon as possible. The operation was one week ago 
and I still have to use the support belt for one more week. After this 
there will be more flexibility and I can really begin to work on it. But
 the doctors are confident I will be ready for Acropolis.”



Greece is obviously regarded as one of the toughest rallies in the calendar. How much of a concern is that for you?
 “Well actually Argentina would almost have been possible. The problem 
was the recce. I needed two weeks between the operation and the recce 
starting to have tried to be there but I was three days too late. But 
actually there would have been a lot of stress for the arm over three 
long days and I couldn’t risk it. The doctors said if there had been a 
problem with the steel plate and the screws then everything would have 
had to happen again and it would have been two or three months to 
recover. It was better to miss one rally than the rest of the season.”



It’s good to hear you’ll be ready for the Acropolis but will you be ready for the pre-event test your team has planned?
 “I hope so and the doctors are confident I will be fine. The only thing
 will be the pain.  I don’t know what this will be like but I will just 
have to live with it and hope it won’t cause any problems. I can always 
take painkillers.”




Based on your pace so far this season you’d have been one of the 
favourites to win in Argentina. How much harder does that make missing 
the event? “To be honest I have had a difficult start to the season.
 Okay I have won one rally and I have been leading the others so there 
are many positives but I have to accept this year has been difficult and
 my chances of the title are not very good now. But it’s better to have 
all your troubles in a row.”



Will you follow Rally Argentina next week or will you try to forget it’s happening?
 “I will follow it very carefully. I will get the stage times to my 
phone after every stage. Of course I want to drive and I feel bad that I
 am not because rallying is my passion.”



What do you think of your replacement for Argentina, Dani Sordo? Was he the right choice and what can he do in your car?
 “Dani has been driving very well in Argentina before and showed good 
speed in Portugal. We know he is very quick and I believe the Ford is a 
very strong car and the team is very strong also. Dani has all the 
possibilities to be on the podium.”



And what about Petter Solberg, your team-mate. What can he do on this event?
 “He will be fighting for the victory, no question. He won’t dominate 
because nowadays it is very difficult to do that because it is so close.
 There will be a big fight and you never know about the weather 
conditions. The length of the new stages will also make the rally very 
difficult.”



How frustrating is it to miss out on those new stages? “It would have been very important to see those stages but I am sure I will get some information from my team.”



Your
 team boss Malcolm Wilson says you are still capable of winning the 
world title this season. How good does that make you feel? “It feels
 really, really good to hear that and to know the team is still behind 
me. It’s always good to have this kind of self-confidence but I don’t 
want to think about the title. I want to go rally by rally now, do the 
best I can and see where we are at the end of the season.”



Fonte: WRC.com