Training period 3 (incl. Turku Rally) 24 Aug. - 30 Aug. 2015

2015.09.18

（Instructor：Jouni Ampuja, Jarmo Lehtinen）

【 Training objectives 】

As a part of the third training in Europe, Takamoto Katsuta and Hiroki Arai participate in the Turku Rally, the 5th round of the Finnish Rally Championship after the three days training. This is their first rally participation in Europe through this program.  

Training and Rally summary

Day1 24 Aug. Driving training＠Yijalantie
Driving training on the high speed flowing road with many jumps and crests. This stage was used by many WRC teams at their tests as a preparation to Neste Oil Rally Finland. Concentrated a lot to the pacenote in the morning.
Day2 25 Aug. Driving training ＠Palsankylantie
Driving training on the high speed, wide road with several crests and a very big jump, which has been driven many times as a part of Neste Oil Rally Finland route. The day started again by making pacenote to the stage.
Day3 26 Aug. Pacenote training
Focused on pacenote practice at Mokkipera, Jukojarvi and Kuohu stages. On these difficult stages, drivers are able to see well how much they have developed during the training periods.
Day4 - 6 27-29 Aug. - Turku Rally
Participated in the 5th round of the Finnish Rally Championship as their first rally in Europe in this training program. The rally was held around Turku, a harbor city located in the south-west Finland, and is competed through nine special stages.

■Major events at Turku rally

  1. 27 Aug. Preparation
    - Rally briefing
    - Seat fitting
    - Introduction to co-driver instruments
    - Overall knowledge of car
  2. 28 Aug. Turku Rally Day1
    - Administration check
    - Recce of the stages
    - Ceremonial start
    - Special stage 1-2
  3. 29 Aug. Turku Rally Day2
    - Special stage 3-9
    - Ceremonial finish
    - Prize giving ceremony

Arai/Hall - 3rd in SM 2 class, Katsuta/Adachi - 4th in SM2 class
Day1 started in the evening when the sky starts getting dark. Everything was new for Katsuta as it was his first European rally, the first gravel rally, and even the first time to use the lump pods, but he managed to make good careful approach by cooperation with his co-driver, Sayaka Adachi. He showed nice fighting spirit on the last stage of Day2 and finished as class fourth at the end.

Arai, who intensely concentrated before the start, showed intelligent approach to the first two stages on the Day1. As the co-operation with the co-driver, Phil Hall gets into the right rhythm, he kept a consistent pace throughout Day2 and finished with the third place in SM2 class.

順位 Driver／Car Overall Diff.winner Diff.sec/km
1 Joni Nikko／Mistubishi 48:47.0 - -
2 Teemu Asunmaa／Subaru 48:48.3 00:01.3 -
3 Hiroki Arai／Subaru 50:15.6 01:28.6 0.93 sec/km
4 Takamoto Katsuta／Subaru 50:58.0 02:11.0 1.37 sec/km

Total length of special stages：96.06km, Number of entry in SM2: 10 cars

Day7 30 Aug. - Review training of Turku Rally
Went back to the all stages except for SS2, and checked the pacenotes again for better understanding and further improvements. Drivers could see the strong and weak points of their notes by doing "re-recce" while they still have fresh memory.

Drivers' diary

Hiroki Arai
HIROKI ARAI

written byHIROKI ARAI
I was a bit nervous on day1 as it was my first gravel rally overseas, but I could manage the stages by Phil’s nice leading. Car worked pretty well without any trouble and thanks to everybody including my instructors, co-driver, and mechanics, I finally finished at third in SM2 class and fifth overall. I’m so happy with my completion. But I'm still far from the top drivers. I will improve myself step by step, and would like to reach the top level gradually.

【Comments from instructors】He improved in keeping the car on the clean line and cooperation with co-driver is getting better all the time. His next step is to become able to keep a good routine speed, which will help him trust the car, grip and the pacenotes more.

Takamoto_Katsuta
TAKAMOTO
KATSUTA

written by TAKAMOTO KATSUTA
I participated in a Finnish rally for the first time, and first of all I was surprised by the number of spectators. There was a lot of tension in the beginning so I started the day 1 around 7-8th checking how it goes. I managed to stay calm both at special stages and liaison thanks to my co-driver. I could get faster after each SS and finally finished with class 4th. As I could get this result with my first 4DW gravel rally, I got confident for the next rally which I'm really looking forward to. I will try hard in the coming trainings and do my best towards Tampere rally.

【Comments from instructors】He did very well as his first overseas rally. He managed to get into good rhythm without too many risks. His next challange is to make the pacenote more logical and trustable.

Summary and Preview of the Next Training

lecuture

We are pretty happy overall after the first rally. Of course there are still a lot to do and learn, but compared to the first training both drivers showed a remarkable step. This time rally showed us only the enjoyable side, but the drivers will face difficulties in the future. It is natural, and so we hope they will make consistent progress without feeling rushed.

【Next Training】Drivers will participate in Tampere rally, the 6th round of the Finnish Rally Championship. Before the rally, we will focus on pacenotes and navigation training. We'll also try little changes to the car set-ups.

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