Jari-Matti Latvala says he is determined to keep the Toyota World Rally team centred around him even as Ott Tanak arrives in 2018.
Latvala joined Tommi Makinen’s new Toyota team late in 2016 after Volkswagen’s WRC exit, and played a big role in making the Yaris into a winner in only its second start.
Tanak moves to Toyota from a breakthrough campaign at M-Sport in which he took his first WRC wins and had an outside shot at the championship.
Latvala knows Tanak will pose a threat within Toyota, but he says it will take time for him to settle in after seven years with M-Sport.
“I have worked to make the Yaris my car, and now Tanak will have to adapt to a new car,” Latvala told Autosport.
“I think it will be quite a good fight in the team. We have a strong team for next year.
“I know that I want to be world champion and to be world champion I have to be quicker than everybody and that includes him.”
Latvala said his own experience of joining VW after spending his formative career with M-Sport showed Tanak would not find the switch easy.
“I remember when I came from being with M-Sport and Ford, I was there for quite many years and it was difficult to jump on the Volkswagen,” he said.
“But this change to Toyota was easy because I had the experience of moving.
“For Tanak the move from M-Sport to Toyota will be his first change and it can be a little difficult to adapt when you have been in one team for so long.
“When I went to Volkswagen I went with a little bit of the feeling that this was Sebastien Ogier’s team, he had been there from the beginning.
“If you are quicker [than your team-mate] then it’s OK, but if not then you can stay a little bit in the shadows.”
The 2018 World Rally Championship will be launched at Autosport International, held on January 11-14. For ticket information, click here.