Jari-Matti Latvala has already achieved his mission for 2008: to win at least one World Championship Rally and had nothing but praise for the Pirelli Sottozero-equipped factory Ford Focus WRC.
Latvala became the youngest winner of a WRC event at aged 22 and achieved this impressive result in considerable style, leading virtually from the beginning of the Swedish Rally event.
He said that he was “pleasantly surprised by the performance and grip of the studded Pirelli which turned out to be really effective in the marginal conditions that we found on some of the stages. This is down to the impressive work from all the Pirelli technicians.”
This year’s Swedish Rally was run in tricky conditions, with mud and gravel frequently coming through a thin layer of snow and ice forcing organisers to cancel two special stages. Despite the loose gravel, the Pirelli Sottozero tyres performed beyond expectations, demonstrating admirable strength in conditions they were not designed for.
