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.
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.
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 |
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