WRC ace Latvala dominates 40th anniversary Olympus Rally, heads Toyota 1-2

WRC legend Jari-Matti Latvala took a dominant victory on the ARA National Championship’s Olympus Rally.

Making his first U.S. rally start, the 18-time FIA World Rally Championship event winner earned the first win for Toyota’s new GR Corolla Rally RC2 on only its second start in America’s top rally series (above).

The 2026 Olympus Rally celebrated 40 years since the Washington-based event joined the WRC in the final year of the spectacular Group B era in 1986 and, fittingly, Latvala’s WRC experience came to the fore. In a one-off ARA start, the Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team principal and veteran of a record-setting 212 starts at world championship level judged the cadence and conditions of the ARA’s longest-ever event (a WRC-like 198 special stage miles before the cancellation of two of the 18 special stages) to absolute perfection, finishing exactly seven minutes ahead of full-season teammate Seth Quintero in a TGR 1-2.

Latvala is the reigning FIA European Historic Rally Champion, but despite finishing a close second in WRC2 in a one-off appearance in last year’s WRC-counting Rally Finland, this is his first victory in current-spec rally machinery in three years.

“These are fantastic roads – really, really nice roads,” said Latvala. “I’m really glad to experience something new that I haven’t done before. To win here is something special, especially knowing the history of Olympus Rally and its connection with Finnish drivers. Forty years ago [in 1986], Markku Alen won this event [in a Group B Lancia Delta S4] and now to be part of that history with Toyota makes it a very proud moment for me.”

The positives? Jari-Matti Latvala dominated the Olympus Rally, giving Toyota’s new GR Corolla RC2 its first ARA win. The negative? Having to drink a “shoey” on the podium…

FIA World Rally-Raid ace Quintero, who gave the Corolla its competitive debut on last month’s Rally of the 100 Acre Wood, put in an impressively consistent performance as he gets up to speed with stage rallying. But Latvala’s relentless pace – the 41-year-old Finn, co-driven by Tuukka Shemeikka, winning all but the opening stage – provided a benchmark and something of a reality check for the American.

“First podium in ARA, and I haven’t popped a champagne cork in a while, so that was pretty cool,” said Quintero. “It’s awesome to get a result back at home and have some fun with the team; the guys crushed it all week. It’s definitely different [from Rally-Raid] with the pace notes and the shorter stages compared to what I’m used to, but I think we’re learning quickly.”

Lia Block completed the podium in her Hyundai i20 N Rally2, battling back from an early puncture that lost her more than two minutes and dropped her to 13th overall. Returning to rallying after two seasons on track in the all-female F1 Academy, Block sits third in the overall points after three ARA National Championship rounds.

The positives? Jari-Matti Latvala dominated the Olympus Rally, giving Toyota’s new GR Corolla RC2 its first ARA win. The negative? Having to drink a “shoey” on the podium…

Ricardo Cordera’s Citroen C3 Rally2 and Martynas Samsonas’s Open 4WD class Subaru STi completed the top five in an event that saw plenty of attrition among the top contenders on the twisty, technical stages of the Olympic Forest. 

Four-time and reigning ARA champ Brandon Semenuk has chosen not to defend his crown as he looks for Rally2 opportunities in Europe, but the Canadian put a pause on his sabbatical to take on Latvala and arguably the strongest ARA field ever assembled in a Proworx-run Ford Fiesta Rally2. It couldn’t have started any better as Semenuk bested Latvala by 3.4s in Friday’s opening stage, before an overheating rear differential took the eventual winner’s biggest potential rival out of contention.  

Tom Williams ran Latvala closest – a relative term – through much of the three-day event, but crashed out of second with just two of Sunday’s stages remaining. His Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 went into the trees at high speed, but without injury to Williams and co-driver and fellow Brit Ross Whittock.

Also making a spectacular, albeit temporary exit, Travis Pastrana rolled his Limited 4WD class Subaru WRX ARA25L early on Saturday. Rejoining to finish 14th overall, the 100 Acre Wood winner leads the overall ARA standings, ahead of Mark Piatkowski’s NA4WD class-contending Subaru Impreza and Block.

Travis Pastrana started strongly in his Limited 4WD class Subaru (above), but rolled on Saturday. He rejoined to finish 14th and holds the overall ARA points lead after three rounds.

Next up, the ARA National Championship – minus Latvala, but still featuring a burgeoning field of headlining RC2 machinery – is the Chillicothe-based Southern Ohio Forest Rally, June 11-13.