There’s big news coming out of the World Rally Championship here at the end of the 2012 season. Sebastien Loeb has won his 9th World Championship and Ford will be withdrawing as a title sponsor next year due to a slow European economy. Malcolm Wilson’s M-Sport team will continue to campaign Ford Fiestas at the highest level with technical support from Ford. Jari-Matti Latvalla has announced that he will be leaving the Ford team next year to join Sebastien Ogier on the Volkswagen factory team that should be debuting their Polo WRC next year. Ogier has been helping develop the car this year and racing in a Skoda Fabia Super 2000 car.

Putting all of that aside for now, here’s what makes rally fun to watch. This is on-board footage of Jari-Matti Latvalla competing in the Lahti Historic Rally in a Ford Escort MK2. The car has a traditional H-pattern transmission and is rear wheel drive only. A flamboyant modern rally driver in a historic car makes for some excellent action. Sit back and enjoy: