TOYOTA GAZOO Racing announces 2017 activity and race schedule for its Rally Challenge Program

Toyota City, JAPAN, December 21st, 2016―TOYOTA GAZOO Racing is pleased to announce a 2017 activity and rally schedule for the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Rally Challenge Program, which supports young drivers competing in the tough global arena of World Rally.

Drivers Takamoto Katsuta and Hiroki Arai, who were chosen after auditioning in 2015 and then trained by competing in rallies in Europe during 2015 and 2016, will continue their training during 2017 while based in Finland with the cooperation of Tommi Makinen Racing.

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Challenge Program

During 2017, the pair will take advantage of new opportunities to train by competing in rallies with the goal of boosting their skills in the competitive environment. Currently, they are scheduled to compete in a total of 14 rallies, 9 with R5 cars (Ford Fiesta) and 5 with R2 cars (Ford Fiesta). *Please see the tentative schedule on the following page for details.

Five of the nine races in which they are scheduled to compete with R5 cars are FIA World Rally Championship (WRC2) events, a level at which both drivers competed for the first time this year.

After focusing on training on gravel this season, the two will expand that effort to include tarmac during 2017. Katsuta’s co-driver will be Marko Salminen, while Arai’s co-driver will be Glenn Macneall.

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd that relates to the vision of this activity agreed to support the program in 2017.

■Instructor comments:
In a season full of both downturns and jubilation, we’re proud that both of the drivers set the fastest time in the Finnish Rally Championship. We’re pleased with the calendar we have for the upcoming year, which includes many rallies on various surfaces such as snow, gravel, and tarmac. We’ll pick up where we left off this year with a few basic things including pacenotes. Our goal is for both drivers to continue to make the same kind of progress we saw this season.

■2017 schedule (tentative) *Some rally dates have not yet been announced.

Dates Event Vehicle
class
January
26 to 28
Arctic Lapland Rally
(1st round of the Finnish Rally Championship)
Ice/snow R5
February
9 to 12
Rally Sweden
(2nd round of the FIA World Rally Championship)
Snow R5
March
17 to 19
Rally Del Ciocco
(1st round of the Italian Rally Championship)
Tarmac R2
April
1 to 2
Rallye Di SanRemo
(2nd round of the Italian Rally Championship)
Tarmac R2
April
20 to 22
Rallye Lyon Charbonniere Rhone
(2nd round of the French Rally Championship)
Tarmac R2
May
18 to 21
Rally Portugal
(6th round of the FIA World Rally Championship)
Gravel R5
June
8 to 11
Rally Italy
(7th round of the FIA World Rally Championship)
Gravel R5
July
14 to 16
Autoglym Rally (Finland) Gravel R5
July
27 to 30
Rally Finland
(9th round of the FIA World Rally Championship)
Gravel R5
September
8 to 9
Uusikaupunki Ralli
(6th round of the Finnish Rally Championship)
Gravel R5
October
5 to 8
Rally Spain
(11th round of the FIA World Rally Championship)
Tarmac R5

≪Reference: 2016 results≫

Event Vehicle Takamoto Katsuta Hiroki Arai
Arctic Lapland Rally (August 28 to 29)
(1st round of the Finnish Rally Championship)
R4
Impreza
Retired in SS3 on Day 1 No. 2 in class
No. 3 overall
SM Vaakuna Ralli (February 26 to 27)
(2nd round of the Finnish Rally Championship)
R4
Impreza
No. 5 in class
No. 16 overall
Retired in SS3 on Day 2
Tahko SM-Ralli (March 11 to 12)
(3rd round of the Finnish Rally Championship)
R4
Impreza
No. 4 in class
No. 12 overall
Day-retired on Day 1 (mechanical issues)
Completed Day 2
Sastamala-Huittinen Ralli (June 11)
(4th round of the Finnish Rally Championship)
R5
Fiesta
No. 9 in class
No. 10 overall
Retired in SS7 (mechanical issues)
Auto24 Rally Estonia (July 15 to 17)
6th round of the European Rally Championship
R5
Fiesta
Retired in SS3 on Day 2
Retired in SS11 on Day 3
Retired in SS6 on Day 2
Neste Rally Finland (July 28 to 31)
8th round of the FIA World Rally Championship
R5
Fiesta
No. 12 in class
No. 27 overall
Retired in SS22 on Day 4
SM-Ralli Turku (August 19 to 20)
(5th round of the Finnish Rally Championship)
R5
Fiesta
No. 10 in class
No. 11 overall
No. 7 in class
No. 8 overall
Pirelli Ralli (September 23 to 24)
(6th round of the Finnish Rally Championship)
R5
Fiesta
No. 8 in class
No. 11 overall
No. 3 in class
No. 3 overall

■Profiles of drivers in training

Driver Takamoto Katsuta

Driver Takamoto Katsuta

Takamoto Katsuta
Katsuta was born in Aichi Prefecture on March 17, 1993. He drove in his first race at the age of 12, and at age 18 he won the Formula Challenge Japan (FCJ). He placed second in the F3 series at age 20, and since 2014 he has competed in F3 in addition to notching his first JN5 class win in the eighth race of the Japanese Rally Championship.

Driver Hiroki Arai

Driver Hiroki Arai

Hiroki Arai
Arai was born in Gunma Prefecture on August 2, 1993. Since driving in his first rally race at age 19, he has competed in the Japanese Rally Championship and Rally Hokkaido, the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship. In 2014, he also competed in the JN6 class in the Japanese Rally Championship and in the second race of the Austrian Rally Championship.