Finnish Rally: Latvala dominates home WRC

Helsinki, Finland - Jari-Matti Latvala won his home Finnish Rally for the second year in a row on Sunday (August 2) with Volkswagen team mate and double world champion Sebastien Ogier second.

The Finn, who has now won the gravel event three times, beat the Frenchman by 13.7 seconds in the fastest rally yet in world championship history.

125KM/H AVERAGE SPEED

The official wrc.com website said the overall average speed was 125km/h, beating the previous record of 122km/h set in Finland in 2012.

Norwegian Mads Ostberg was third for Citroen, his third podium of the season, 1min36 seconds behind Latvala who stood on the roof of his car in celebration after taking his second win of the season.

Ogier took three bonus points by winning the final power stage, with Latvala second for two extra points. Ogier is now 89 points clear of Latvala in the overall standings with five rounds remaining.

#WRC Congratulations @MadsOstberg and @swerallywrc pic.twitter.com/CSimHlPIzh

— Citroën Racing (@CitroenRacing) August 2, 2015

SOLID DRIVE

Latvala said: "This was a fantastic victory, I had a really, really good drive all through the weekend."

"After Poland (round seven) I concentrated for three weeks for this event. My championship chance is over but I knew if I could win this week it would help me."

The next event is Rally Deutschland (Germany) on August 23. 

VICTORY!!!!!! Just no words! It’s a massive relief! SO HAPPY! Thank you so much for your support! #SISU pic.twitter.com/BwBvfw9EPY

— Jari-Matti Latvala (@JariMattiWRC) August 2, 2015