An unusually aggressive Jari-Matti Latvala has said that he will not allow the younger Ott Tänak to depose him as Toyota’s number one driver, following Tänak’s switch from M-Sport, and expects the Estonian will take some time to adapt to the change in team.
Latvala himself joined Tommi Makinen's outfit late in 2016 after Volkswagen quit the WRC and had a big influence on developing the Yaris into a winning car.
Now Tänak will arrive fresh from his first two WRC victories at M-Sport that gave him an outside chance of the 2017 title and Latvala knows Tänak will pose a threat.
"I have worked to make the Yaris my car, and now Tänak will have to adapt to a new car,” Latvala said.
“I think it will be quite a good fight in the team. We have a strong team for next year. I know that I want to be world champion and to be world champion I have to be quicker than everybody and that includes him."
Latvala said his own experience of joining VW after spending a long time with M-Sport meant that Tänak would not find the switch easy.
"When I came from being with M-Sport and Ford it was difficult to jump in the VW,” he added. "But my change to Toyota was easy because I had the experience of moving [before].
"For Tänak the move from M-Sport to Toyota will be his first change and it can be a little difficult to adapt when you have been in one team for so long.”
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