Latvala to Drive MK2 Ford Escort This Weekend

Finnish driver Jari-Matti Latvele can't seem to let go of his passion for driving rally cars. Even in his spare time from the World Rally Championship programme, the fresh winner of Rally d'Italia last weekend decided to take part in his native Lahti Historic Rally, counting as round 5 of the FIA European Historic Rally Championship.

The event is to get under way during the course of today, with Latvala being, by far, the biggest name to make the entry list in Lahti. The Ford works driver seems to be having a blast following his recent win in Sardegna, looking more excited than ever after an accident-full start of the season.

Being a huge fan of historical rally cars, Latvala will now have the chance to take the impressive two-litre BDG-engined, rear-wheel drive Mk 2 Ford Escort RS1800 to victory for the first time in career. For this event, Latvala will team up with former co-driver Asko Sairanen.

“The Escort was the greatest rally car of the 1970s, before I was born, and this will be the first occasion that I have driven a rally in one. It's huge fun driving rear-wheel drive cars and I'm looking forward to getting the car sideways and putting on a good show for the fans in the forests,” said Latvala, according to the WRC website.

The Lahti Historic Rally is to crown its winner tomorrow afternoon, from a total of 95 entries. According to the aforementioned source, the Finland based rally is the only one in the EHRC calendar to be ran on gravel surface.