Метка: Takamoto Katsuta

How Katsuta bounced back stronger after WRC benching

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Takamoto Katsuta has explained why he was able to make a strong World Rally Championship comeback at the Central European Rally after being benched.   

The Japanese driver rejoined the Toyota squad for the penultimate round of the season last weekend following a shock decision by the team to bench its full-time driver for last month’s trip to South America.

The decision from the team came after the Acropolis Rally which marked a sixth consecutive result outside of the top five for Katsuta.

The 31-year-old says missing Chile was one of his toughest career moments but he was quickly able to put that behind him at the Central European Rally with a fine run to fourth, including two stage wins.

The five-time WRC podium finisher marked an impressive comeback under pressure by scoring the maximum 12 Super Sunday points for topping the Sunday classification and winning the Power Stage. The points haul could prove crucial for Toyota in its fight with Hyundai for the manufacturers’ title. 

Takamoto Katsuta, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Takamoto Katsuta, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Katsuta believes he wouldn’t have been able to achieve this if it wasn’t for the support from within the team and all the people around him. 

One of the areas Katusta has worked on to fine tune his driving is his pacenotes, by removing unnecessary extra detail that can be harder to process at speed.

“It was big, big pressure before this rally. It was such a difficult moment I’ve had in the last few months and maybe the start of the season, and of course last month was the toughest moment,» he said.

“But I had really strong support from the team and all the people around me. This is one of the reasons I was able to come back stronger. 

«There is massive support from my engineers and my team-mates like Kalle [Rovanpera], Seb [Ogier] and Elfyn [Evans] calling me and messaging me, there has been big support.

“Of course it is easy to say afterwards. It is hard to say [if the decision to miss Chile was correct] as it was really tough moment. I had time to think a lot and I was able to concentrate and do the job.”

Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala labelled Katsuta’s Central European Rally display “superb” as his Sunday points haul helped Toyota’s manufacturers’ title bid after Sebastien Ogier crashed out of the victory battle.

“I have to say massive thanks to Taka. He had an excellent performance and also a very good performance from Elfyn [Evans, who finished third] they both saved us in this situation and we are still in the game for the manufacturers’ championship,” Latvala told Motorsport.com. 

“Taka has been really superb and on Thursday he had quite a bit of pressure and was quite nervous coming back to the car after a one-month break. 

“You could see he was a little bit cautious, then he was lifting up the speed and then he did a fastest time, but when it was tricky he took it easy. 

“He was growing and this is exactly the way we want him to take because we know his speed but the problem before is Taka has been trying to lift up the speed too quickly and now he was progressively building that. It was starting to come naturally.»

Read Also:



Source link

Benched Katsuta sets goals for WRC return at Central European Rally

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Takamoto Katsuta has set out goals after being benched by Toyota for Rally Chile, as he prepares for his World Rally Championship return at next week’s Central European Rally.

Katsuta rejoins Toyota’s line-up after it temporarily dropped its full-time driver for the visit to Chile last month following a rough run of results.

After undergoing a reset, the 31-year-old jumped back behind the wheel of his GR Yaris Rally1 for a pre-event its last week ahead of Central European Rally’s tricky asphalt stages with a clear objective in mind.

“I’m looking forward to being back in the car and driving on a totally different surface for the last two rallies of the year,” said Katsuta.

“I really like driving on asphalt and I hope to find a good feeling and perform well.

“Central European Rally is a big challenge for everybody with a lot of surface changes and dirt on the road. Last year, the Friday on Czech roads was especially difficult with rain and a lot of cuts.

“With that experience it should be easier to return this year but there will still be many new stages, so we need to focus on making good pacenotes and communicating well with our route note crew.

Takamoto Katsuta, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Takamoto Katsuta, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Photo by: Toyota Racing

“I will try to be patient, be there to score points for the team and if everything goes well, it will be easier for me to push at Rally Japan [the season finale].”

Speaking at Rally Chile, Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala empathised with how his driver would be feeling after the decision, but is confident that Katsuta would return stronger.

Latvala also revealed that improving his pacenotes had been identified as area that would benefit the Japanese driver.

“We have had a few phone calls with him and of course it is never a nice situation as he wanted to come to Chile to drive, but after a few days he was thinking about it and understood the situation and was willing to work and try to improve himself to come back stronger,” said Latvala.

Read Also:

“To understand it first is never nice for the driver. But at the end when you do it and come back, sometimes you realise that this is something good. We have seen that in the past with other drivers [that have been benched]. Adrien [Fourmaux] is a very good example and it also happened to Ott Tanak and Elfyn Evans in the past.

“First of all I wanted him to switch off from rallying, then we wanted him to work with the co-driver to try and improve the notes as we realised in Greece that maybe there is too much information in them, which is then taking away the focus on the driving and the road as he has to listen too much.”

Looking ahead to next week’s rally, Latvala added: “The target will be to have a solid rally, score some points and find a good feeling in the car ahead of Rally Japan.”



Source link

Toyota needs three full-time WRC drivers in 2025

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Toyota needs to have at least three full-time drivers contesting the 2025 World Rally Championship, according to team principal Jari-Matti Latvala.

His comments followed a difficult weekend at the Acropolis Rally, where Latvala admitted that the team’s drivers’ and manufacturers’ title were “pretty much gone” following a 1-2-3 for rivals Hyundai.

Reflecting on the way the title race has unfolded to Autosport last Sunday in Greece, the Toyota boss said that the team’s decision to field two full-time drivers in Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta and two part-time drivers in Kalle Rovanpera and Sebastien Ogier has not been enough to challenge for the titles.

Toyota reshuffled its line-up for this season after two-time world champion Rovanpera’s decision to go part-time this year to “recharge his batteries” ahead of a full-time return next year.

When asked for his thoughts on the team’s 2025 line-up, before Wednesday’s shock decision to replace Katsuta at Rally Chile with rising star Sami Pajari, Latvala said: “What I have learned this year is that for 2025 we need to have three drivers who will do the full championship.

“This is clear now that having part-time drivers and if you have only two drivers doing the full [championship], that is not enough to win the title.

“We can have a fourth driver who can do part of the championship, but three drivers need to be doing a full season.”

When asked if he felt there was a lot of work ahead to finalise the team’s 2025 line-up, he added: “There’s things we need to now consider and we need to think about.

Takamoto Katsuta, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Takamoto Katsuta, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Photo by: Toyota Racing

“I can’t speak about the line-up, not yet.”

Rovanpera is contracted and expected to return to a full-time drive with the team next year, which will be a boost for the Japanese brand that has won the last three drivers’ and constructors’ championships.

“Kalle has already mentioned himself that that he is doing a full season and this is what we have been targeting,” said Latvala.

“It is clear that if Kalle drives, then it’s a full season, we just need to check a couple of things. But that is the way we want it to be.”

However, next season poses an interesting proposition for Toyota regarding its driver line-up, with plenty of options at its disposal.

Eight-time world champion Ogier’s future is yet to be determined, although this year he has once again proved to be valuable asset for the team by winning three rallies and scoring three second-place finishes from seven starts.

The Frenchman has committed to seeing out the rest of the season in a bid to keep the heat on Hyundai points leader Thierry Neuville, but is thought unlikely to commit to return to full-time action.

Two-time WRC title runner-up Evans, competing in his fifth season with Toyota, has endured a challenging season attempting to lead the team’s drivers’ title assault. The Welshman has regularly challenged for podiums and copped his fair share of misfortune with arguably the most damaging incident a driveshaft failure in Finland when sitting second to then-leader Rovanpera.

Kalle Rovanperä, Jonne Halttunen, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Kalle Rovanperä, Jonne Halttunen, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Despite the news that Katsuta will be benched for Chile, the team made it clear in its announcement that it will continue to give “its full support” to the Japanese and hopes this short break in an intense and competitive season can provide an opportunity to reset and come back stronger”.

Katsuta piloted a full-time fourth entry from 2021 to 2022, before making the step up to the third car last year.

The rise of WRC2 title contender Pajari offers another option following his impressive run to fourth on Rally1 debut in Finland, which has now led to two more outings in Chile and Central Europe. Latvala told Autosport after Finland that the young Finn was among the team’s options for 2025.

“Of course, Toyota is thinking about investing for the future, like we did with Sami in Finland,” Latvala added when asked about the driver market for next year.

“Those things are what Toyota wants to invest in for the future. But of course, overall, we need to have drivers at the same time that we can win the championship.”



Source link