Time's Up for Latvala...

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Originally Posted by WRCfan

It's not such a bad thing. The lad is in his early 20's and has many years ahead of him to drive as a #1 driver. He does need to settle down and putting some restrictions on him is probably a good thing for a season.

When he was challenging as an equal #1 driver that is when things went wrong, trying to hard. I feel Malcolm has made a good choice here, the bill for repairs last season would have been horrendous!

JML has proved he is fast, everyone knows that, now he just needs to settle down a little and work on consistency while being quick. Sweden was a promising start for him despite telling us he was under pressure to finish and play his role as Mikko's backup.

He is not the first young driver with speed to come out guns blazing and make mistakes, most of the others ended up world champions, just needed someone to tighten the reigns at the right time.

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Yes but I have yet to see him be both fast and consistent for a space of three consecutive rallies. He was consistent in Sweden but finished over a minute behind his teammate.

It was a good result in Sweden for him but I am still surprised that he didn't go off at some point considering the way he way driving, just the same as I watched him last year. If he could stop going sideways so much, then he would be a heck of a lot faster and probably mless likely to have accidents.

I am still undecided but it will be a good season for him (though I bet he will be frustrated) but tat's how it is and Mikko shows that by improving slowly as long as you mainly keep out of trouble then you can reach the level that nobody else can. Mikko must be champion this year.

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Originally Posted by J4MIE

It was a good result in Sweden for him but I am still surprised that he didn't go off at some point considering the way he way driving, just the same as I watched him last year. If he could stop going sideways so much, then he would be a heck of a lot faster and probably mless likely to have accidents.

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Seems like he's still driving by eyes (so-called rally-raid style), not by ears (using pace-notes to their full efficiency)...

He's driving from "outside" and that's why he's crashing so much..

How can someone drive from the 'outside'?

A steady but somewhat slow drive for JML in Mexico, prehaps Jordan will bring him some speed.

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Originally Posted by Langdale Forest

A steady but somewhat slow drive for JML in Mexico, prehaps Jordan will bring him some speed.

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He can do it quicker but not allowed. In almost all interview he mentione his rule in the team. It's paintfull for him it's very clear, the guy was born to fight for win

Latvala were fastest Ford and did what he should do, Ford is still leading manu championship
Sordo were the "Latvala" of Mexico

Latvala beat Mikko in 10 of the 21 rallies and was ahead of him overall right untill SS21.

It's a sad situation for Latvala, but Malcolm Wilson can apply team orders if he wishes to.