Driving his Ford Focus, Finland’s Jari-Matti Latvala truly dominated the Rally of Italy-Sardinia to take the racing event. This race was the sixth stage in the current World Rally Championship season, and the first victory for the Finn-dominated Ford team since it took the Japan Rally at the end of 2008.

Jari-Matti Latvala notched up his second career win in rally racing at the Italian event. His first came in Sweden last year, when the 24 year-old became the youngest winner to ever take a WRC event. His fellow Finn, and teammate, Mikko Hirvonen finished just 29 seconds behind Latvala, making this a banner day for Finnish rally racing.

Norway’s Petter Solberg took third, while current world champion and racing legend Sebastien Loeb could only manage a distant fourth. Channel News Asia reports that Latvala completely deserved the win, as he led the rally field from start to finish despite driving out first in line on some incredibly slippery gravel conditions.

France’s Loeb is still the overall leader this season, having taken the first five rallies. But Latvala is the hero of the day. “It’s such a relief!” he gushed. “It’s a great thing for me to win this rally and also for the team with a one-two. It’s been unbelievable, but I’ve been lucky too. I’ve made mistakes earlier this year, so this win has come at a very important time.”