A round of the Italian Asphalt Rally Championship, the event took place in the province of Trentino in the mountainous north of the country. An opening stage on Friday evening was run twice more on Saturday together with two passes of two further stages to form a total of 92.29 competitive kilometres.

While the trio of young Japanese drivers already have some experience of asphalt rallying in their home country, entering this event gave them the opportunity to test and develop their skills on European roads, driving the same Renault Clio Rally4 cars they have already used on gravel rallies in Finland. They would also experience a mix of weather conditions, from fully dry to fully wet roads and often a mixture of the two.

In a close and competitive Rally4 class of 19 entries, all three drivers were able to set some strong stage times against the local competitors from the beginning.

Yamamoto was already second-quickest in the opening stage that was run in dark and wet conditions on Friday night. After setting two more top-three stage times on Saturday, he would finish fifth in the category together with co-driver Miika Teiskonen.

In the rally’s final stage in mixed conditions, Kogure set the second quickest time with Yamamoto third. Thanks to this strong finish, Kogure and co-driver Topi Luhtinen could claim ninth overall in the class, one place ahead of Otake and his navigator Marko Salminen.

Quotes:
Hikaru Kogure:“This was a really good and fun rally and I really enjoyed it, but it was also tough and challenging. The weather was changing all the time, sometimes with a mix of dry and wet conditions in the same stage, so it was difficult. We also didn’t have wet conditions in our test before the rally, so this was a challenge. The most important thing was to gain the mileage, so I left some margin in my driving and I felt the times were a little bit slow. But in the last stage I pushed a bit more and the time was quite good.”

Nao Otake:“This was a nice first rally on asphalt in Europe. The weather was always changing and it was not easy to drive in these conditions but it was an amazing and different experience which I really enjoyed. Compared to my experience in Japan, the roads are not the same and the car is quite different: This was my first time with a front-wheel drive car on asphalt so it was quite different. The biggest thing I think I need to improve on is finding the right braking points, because I was usually a bit too careful.”

Yuki Yamamoto:“I’m really happy with how this rally went because our goal was just to get as many kilometres as I can, so it’s really good to have finished this first rally in Italy. There were a lot of surface changes so it was really difficult to read the road and to work out where the grip is OK and where the road is slippery, especially in the conditions we had when sometimes it was dry and sometimes it was wet. This was the most thing I learned from this rally: That I need to be able to adapt based on what I can see with my eyes to brake and accelerate in the right places.”

Mikko Hirvonen (TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRC Challenge Program chief instructor):“We are really happy with how all three drivers approached their first rally on asphalt with us. With so many new things for them to experience once again, the most important thing was to finish the rally and get the kilometres. But it was also nice to see that all three could do nice times against the local drivers. The pre-event test was quite tough for them but they were able to stay calm for the rally itself and not get too excited. There was heavy rain just before they started the first stage in the dark on Friday night but Yuki did a really good drive there, which we were quite surprised and impressed with. Saturday morning was also still damp in places but Nao and Hikaru – who we could see was really in his element with his circuit racing background – were able to do good times too in those tricky conditions. They were all fairly consistent also and although they still have a lot to learn with their pacenotes for asphalt, their next rally on this surface is going to be easier with this experience.”