Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala says his disappointing time in qualifying for Rally Mexico this morning was caused partly by himself and partly by running the wrong set-up on his Fiesta RS WRC.
Latvala finished the three-mile stage fourth, 2.371 seconds slower than the benchmark time of his team-mate Petter Solberg, and was mystified by his time before gaining greater understanding in the team's debrief.
"There were a couple of things which were wrong this morning," said Latvala. "I went into the stage with the wrong engine map, I screwed up and took the wrong settings. The engine was OK, but it was too soft - I should have been on a more aggressive programme.
"I thought I drove well, but on this rally if you push too hard and do a little mistake then it costs time. I went a couple of places wide, but I thought: 'It's OK, it doesn't matter,' but now looking at the data I can see I did lose time. Basically the car should have been more aggressive and I should have been less aggressive."
