Mikko Hirvonen (TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRC Challenge Program chief instructor):
“This was a good rally for Rio and Kanta and good learning in quite changeable conditions on wet, damp and dry roads. Even though they don’t have much experience on asphalt and in those conditions, they both did well. They are still learning the limits of the car and the tyres on this surface, and after analysing what we could from Rally 1000 Miglia and with the benefit of one more test, they were able to avoid overdriving and drive with better pace. Along with the mixed conditions they also drove with a mix of slick and rain tyres on the car for the first time. There was not so much competition in their class but this didn’t matter; we could compare them against each other and against the Rally2 cars, and they performed well. Rio did especially well with good pace and no mistakes, and Kanta was not bad either; maybe a bit more cautious to start with when it was dark and wet and he unfortunately picked up a couple of punctures which cost a lot of time, but he improved through the weekend and was fastest in the last two stages. Now Kanta and Rio return to Finnish gravel to decide the SM2 championship next weekend. Unfortunately, Jarkko made a small mistake that meant his and Tomiya’s rally ended early, but Tomiya could at least gain some more experience of asphalt rallying in Italy before his next adventure, which will be alongside Jari-Matti Latvala in the Sanremo Historic Rally.”

Rio Ogata
“This was a good rally for me. On our test day before the rally, we were able to try many things to prepare for various different situations and I felt confident and happy going into the rally. When the rally began, we experienced thunderstorms, a mix of dry and damp conditions, and crossed tyres. It was the first time for me to experience these things in an asphalt rally and I was even able to enjoy those challenges. Our speed was not bad and there were no big moments – just one spin at the end of SS3. There are some really positive things to take forward and I’m satisfied with what we could do together with the team during the week.”

Kanta Yanaguida
“This was a very tricky rally. On the first day of the rally on Friday, rain was falling before SS3, and we had to run with a cross pattern of hard slick and wet tyres. These were very tricky conditions but also good to experience for the first time. SS5 also felt like a good stage for me and I really enjoyed it. On Saturday morning, I chose the hard tyre because I expected the stage to dry up more, but it remained damp and it was very difficult. On SS7, I cut a little too much in one corner and got a puncture, but I improved my driving in the final loop and the times were better on the last two stages. I’m happy that I could understand more about asphalt rallying from these last two events and I’ll keep improving for the future.”

Tomiya Maekawa
“On this rally it was interesting for me to get back into the rhythm of competing on asphalt after one year away. Unfortunately, the rally ended early for us when we were too fast in a dirty corner and we went off the road. Still, we were able get some valuable kilometres from this event. Making good pacenotes is never easy on this surface, and it was good to try out some new things which worked especially well on asphalt stages, like some new words, as well as cooperating with our route-note crew which was something new for us in competition. I will try to learn as much as possible from this rally and keep improving my co-driving.”