Latvala retires in Finland

Jari-Matti Latvala has retired from Rally Finland after the rear suspension damage on his Volkswagen Polo R proved too great to continue.

The Finn, winner of his home event in 2010, stopped after battling through two stages since swiping a rock and breaking the left-hand rear suspension.

His car will now be brought back to the Jyvaskyla service park and repaired before restarting under Rally 2 rules in tomorrow’s second leg, with an additional 10 minute penalty.

Latvala was second through the opening Himos test but dropped almost 40sec in the following Torittu.

“It happened just before the road widened, on a right hand corner over a crest,” Latvala explained. “The car lifted and went wide and we hit a stone on the outside which broke the rear suspension.”

With four more stages to complete without service, Latvala and co-driver Miikka Anttila worked furiously to repair the car. They started the next test 28 minutes late, incurring a 4min 40sec penalty, and dropped three minutes in the stage itself.

They lost another 2min 30sec in the repeat of the Torittu test, but the writing was on the wall when Latvala admitted the suspension was getting worse. He retired shortly after the finish.