Tommi Makinen and the Toyota team have gifted Jari Matti Latvala another opportunity in 2020 after technical gremlins plagued his Yaris at Rally Sweden.
Latvala has planned to compete in a number of events in a Toyota Yaris WRC, the first of which was in Sweden.
However technical problems stopped his car in its tracks, meaning the 34-year-old did not get a chance to show his true speed.
“There was purely a small human mistake. There was quite an impact directly to the sumpguard and this damaged the main power cable," Tommi Makinen said.
“The impact was nothing to destroy the car, but it destroyed the cable. That’s why it started cutting.
Juho Hanninen and Jari Matti Latvala. Photo: Peter Whitten
“Unfortunately I must say the cable was simply [fitted on the] wrong side of the bracket. All we can do is make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“I am sorry for him and sorry for everybody. This is the first time this has happened.”
Latvala will not compete in day two of Rally Sweden, rather save his running until the sixth round in Italy.
"I lost quite a lot of time in there and it was not possible for us to come back in the top of the overall classification," Latvala explained.
"I’m sorry to retire from Rally Sweden tonight and, at the same time, very happy to say that I’ll see you in Rally d’Italia Sardegna."
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