The fast and flowing roads of Catalunya hosted the first of two asphalt rallies that will end the 2022 season, and provided Katsuta with the opportunity to develop his confidence and speed on the surface in his GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID with one eye on his home round in Japan next month.

Friday provided a challenging start to the rally, with two brand-new stages opening a loop of four repeated tests and mixed weather conditions creating changeable grip levels. Katsuta initially struggled to match the rapid pace at the front, but already showed improved speed in the afternoon when he set the fourth-fastest time in SS6. That was followed in the next stage by tyre damage which cost Katsuta and co-driver Aaron Johnston more than half a minute, and they ended the day in eighth overall.

Katsuta continued his improved form consistently on Saturday, setting another fourth-fastest time over the longest stage of the rally, the 24.18 kilometres of El Montmell, and running close to the pace of his team-mates, before gaining seventh position overall on Sunday morning.

Quotes:
Takamoto Katsuta:“We had quite a difficult beginning to this rally but at the end I had a very good feeling with the car, with the pacenotes and with everything. It was getting better and better during the weekend and by the finish I felt very confident and comfortable. This was what I really wanted to have from this rally with Rally Japan coming next. My aim here was to build my confidence and I gained a good feeling with my asphalt driving and the car was working very well. There were a few times where I was trying to push too much and making mistakes, but this is good experience and learning for the future. Of course the result was not quite what I wanted but it has still been a pretty good weekend. I’m also very happy for the team to clinch the manufacturers’ title: This triple championship is an amazing achievement and everybody did a fantastic job over the whole season.”

Juho Hänninen (TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRC Challenge Program instructor):“Taka did well this weekend. The puncture on Saturday was a big loss of time, but the most important thing on this rally was for him to build his confidence with the car on asphalt. Friday morning was quite difficult for Taka with the damp conditions and the changing grip levels, but he was able to improve after this and find a better feeling with the car. From then onwards the stage times were quite good against the others and also consistent, which was good to see. So overall this was a nice rally and a good way to go into Rally Japan.”