Jari-Matti Latvala clinched victory in the Rally of France on Sunday to draw closer to World Rally Championship leader Sebastien Ogier.
With two races to go until the end of the season, the Finn is just 27 points behind the Frenchman, who is the reigning world champion.
Ogier had started his home rally with a 50-point lead over Latvala in the overall standings and in position to secure the world title.
But the Volkswagen driver lost four minutes with a gearbox problem on Friday and then was hit with a four-minute penalty for checking in at the third stage too early.
That left him with way too much to do yesterday, and he had to settle for a meagre return of just three points.
Latvala, driving a VW-Polo, took the 12th rally win of his career and the first on asphalt, ahead of Norway’s Andreas Mikkelsen (VW Polo-R) and the Citroen Total Abu Dhabi racer of Kris Meeke.
“It’s true that to wait six years after my first victory in rally [2008 in Sweden], to finally win on asphalt is long. But my dream came true finally,” Latvala said.
“This surface demands maximum concentration and you can’t think about anything else but driving.
“I felt really good at the wheel of the Polo but the championship points, the victory, I didn’t want to think about, only the driving and the roads in front of me.
“This rally in Alsace has shown again that anything can happen in motorsport and I will believe right to the end.
“I will not give up.”
Ogier has to regroup after a miserable weekend on home soil.
“I have never known such a succession of problems in such a short time,” Ogier said. “All I could do was concentrate on the points in the Power Stage to limit the damage. I’ve used up one of my jokers, in regards to the title, and I’ve only got one left now.”
It was the first time since 2004, when Estonia’s Markko Martin triumphed, that a French driver has failed to win the Rally of France. Sebastien Loeb won it six times and Ogier twice.
The two remaining races this year are in Spain and Wales.
“I really like the upcoming races, especially in Catalunya,” Latvala said.
“In Spain, the first day will be very important and to lose time from the start could be penalised.
“It’s not easy to catch up if you lose 20 seconds but I will be going there to win.”
Follow us on twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
Unresolved crisis
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east.
Fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed more than 14,000 people. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kiev of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it in full would hurt Ukraine.
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
