Mikko Hirvonen (TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRC Challenge Program chief instructor):
“This was the first fast gravel rally in Rally3 machinery for Rio and Kanta. They had some experience already from Portugal and Spain which was valuable, but the roads around Imatra were quite a bit different, and really demanding and technical. Rio was really happy already in testing before the rally after making some changes to the car setup. He was maybe a little unsure when the rally started because the stages were wet after overnight rain, but he settled in well. He did a very consistent drive and was able to challenge the leader very closely in some stages. It was a good performance with good speed and control. This time, Kanta was not really able to reach the level that we know he can do. We had rain in the test too and he wasn’t feeling so comfortable, and maybe we saw that in the first loop of the rally as well, where he wasn’t so comfortable to attack and took a step back. He did some good stages, but couldn’t find a consistent rhythm and performance. So it was a more challenging rally for him, but I’m sure there’s something to learn from that for the future.”

Rio Ogata
“I’m quite satisfied with my performance in this rally. My pacenotes were accurate enough for nearly all the corners and that is really important for these kind of super-fast rollercoaster roads. I did as much as I could but Henri was just a bit faster than us this time. It’s still the start of the gravel season for us and it’s been a while since I drove on high-speed Finnish stages. Considering that, I’m happy about my speed and with the work that we did as a team during the rally week. It was good to know how competitive I can be in this class at the moment and also what I need to improve. The next rally will be in our hometown, Jyväskylä, and I hope we can achieve an even better result there.”

Kanta Yanaguida
“This rally featured very high-speed roads and some technical sections, so the stages were really nice and challenging. Except for getting stuck behind another car on SS4, I felt OK with my pacenotes and my driving, but the time was slower than I expected. I need to analyse more to try to find out why, but maybe I was not using the whole width of the road, and I may need a little more confidence. Still, I feel I improved the consistency of my pacenotes, which is good. I will keep working hard to improve more for the next rally.”