Finland's Jari-Matti Latvala won the Rally of Italy on Sunday after his Ford bosses decided against ordering him to let team mate Mikko Hirvonen take maximum points. A win for Hirvonen in Sardinia could have made a bigger dent on championship leader Sebastien Loeb's advantage but Latvala, who beat compatriot Hirvonen by 29.4 seconds after the three-day rally, was allowed to seal the second victory of his career.
The 24-year-old, who led from start to finish on the gravel roads, became the youngest winner of a world championship race at the Rally of Sweden last year. Latvala went out first on Sunday's opening stage and managed to extend his lead because Hirvonen and other drivers were hampered by dust swirls which affected visibility.

Copyright Reuters, 2009

Comments

Comments are closed.