Latvala thanks his team for building a life-saver

Jari-Matti Latvala has paid tribute to his BP Ford Abu Dhabi Team for building a car which kept him and his co-driver safe from harm during a horrific crash on the opening day of Rally Portugal.

Latvala, 24, crashed heavily on Friday’s third stage, his Focus RS plunging over a roadside barrier and rolling 20 times down a hillside, eventually coming to rest 150 metres from the road.

Incredibly Latvala and his co-driver Miikka Anttila escaped without injury. Anttila flew home to Finland on Saturday morning while Latvala will remain in Portugal for public relations work this week.

“I'd like to say a big thank you to the team for building a car that is so strong that we walked away with only a few bruises,” said Jari-Matti. “If we had suffered that accident 20 years ago, we probably wouldn't be alive.

“It is definitely the biggest and the hardest crash I have ever had. I didn’t realise what was happening until we started to roll. It’s a nightmare feeling when you are in that situation because all you can do is wait. As we rolled there was an incredible noise and the roll cage started to fold in around us. It was very frightening,” he added.

Ford team principal Malcolm Wilson echoed Latvala’s comments and revealed that the car had stood us so well to the battering that it might still have a competitive future.

“Firstly, we're all relieved that both Jari-Matti and Miikka escaped injury,” said Wilson. “It was an incredible accident and the fact they are both unhurt is testament to the strength of the Focus RS WRC. They owe their lives to that.

“It is a tribute to the skill and many hours of hard work put in by the team in designing and developing such a robust car that they climbed out uninjured. All the safety systems that have been developed by the teams and the FIA worked in the way they should. The car stood up remarkably well, to the point where - remarkably - it will probably be able to be repaired,” he added.

Source:
http://www.wrc.com