日本語2016 Training period 5 - ERC 6th round, auto24 Rally Estonia
Toyota GAZOO Racing Rally Challenge Program is well underway in Finland, led by Tommi Mäkinen. Two young Japanese drivers, Takamoto Katsuta and Hiroki Arai made their first entry into the FIA European Rally Championship, auto24 Rally Estonia.
Training Objectives
This is going to be Arai and Katsuta's first entry into the ERC. As it is not allowed for the third person to be in a recce car this time, both crew try the same thing during training days. Main target is to get competition experience by keeping their own level with R5.
Schedule
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- 11 July
- Driving training (Korneti, Latvia)
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- 12 July
- Driving training (Sirvaste-Aiaste/Rua, Estonia)
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- 14 July
- auto24 Rally Estonia (Recce)
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- 15 July
- auto24 Rally Estonia (Qualifying, SS1)
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- 16-17 July
- auto24 Rally Estonia (SS2-16)
11 July - 12 JulyDriving training
As the preparation for the Rally Estonia on the weekend, test driving session also took place in Estonia and in Latvia which has similar kind of roads with Estonia. As the regulations don’t allow the third person to be in a recce car, crew did recce independently and later on they discussed and checked the contents with the instructor who did recce separately. Each driver drove about 150km during the two days. Both tried small setup changes and found the best setups for the rally. They were happy for both driving and pacenotes and got confidence toward the weekend.
Day 1-3, 15 July - 17 July auto24 Rally Estonia
- Arai/Macneall
- Hiroki Arai
- Katsuta/Barrit
- Takamoto Katsuta
Rally Estonia was chosen as their test rally in the build-up for the challenging WRC event, with the length of Rally Estonia and the number of special stages as well as recce and other such practices being similar to those of a WRC rally. Roads in Estonia are also very much like the fast-flowing gravel roads of Rally Finland, and for the young Japanese drivers this was their first full-length rally in Europe driven over several days. An additional challenge for Katsuta and Arai was making their own pacenotes from start to finish, as thus far they have had some guidance with the process by instructors. Rally Estonia proved to be a tough lesson for both drivers. Katsuta’s rally was unfortunately cut short on the third special stage on Saturday when he entered a junction with too much speed, which made him go wide and the car tipped over. Katsuta continued the rally next day under the Super Rally rules, but also that day ended with an off.
At first, things were looking brighter for Arai, as he was running in seventh place until a small error left in the pacenotes made him end his rally on stage 6. However, the trip to Estonia was a valuable learning experience. Arai found his weak spot was in making pacenotes. “I had a problem making pacenotes as I had not been able to evaluate the high speed on such fast roads”, he analyzed.
For Katsuta, the problem was more like to estimate the braking distances. “It was hard for me to evaluate the right places to brake due to the high speed on these roads”, he said. “It was clearly my own mistake. Pacenotes had no problem because of good cooperation with co-driver Daniel. There was a big problem in how to take braking against the road surface with a high vehicle speed range in Estonia. I will never forget this experience and take advantage of that for coming rally.”
“Testing before the rally went really well. Their limited experience of driving in actual competitions however can still easily affect their rallies. The negative things must be accepted as part of the sport and we must be able to learn from them”, said the Chief instructor, Jouni Ampuja.
Plans for the Neste Rally Finland preparations were revised a little bit after the visit in Estonia. In addition to pacenotes-making training, both drivers will also do some testing in order to get a feel for the gravel roads of Central Finland before the WRC event kicks off.
- Arai/Macneall
- Hiroki Arai
- Katsuta/Barrit
- Takamoto Katsuta
Driver's diary
- Objectives
- To finish the rally and accumulate competition experience by steadily following pacenotes.
- What I felt through the rally
- It was the biggest rally I've ever participated so far. The exciting atmosphere and the number of spectators were impressive. It was my first time to experience shakedown and qualifying, and I was astonished by the speed of the local drivers. It was a very good opportunity to know my current position as there were many drivers in my generation.
- What I learned
- I entered into a right hand corner at SS6 with wrong speed and line because my pacenotes information was not correct. I am very sorry that I couldn't meet the expectation of the team and people who support me. I will improve my pacenotes accuracy and will not make the same mistake ever again. Because I could not drive on the last day, I went to the special stages with a stopwatch and studied by watching and timing other drivers. By doing that I could realize I'm losing quite a lot of time at starting points, chicanes and junctions. I will make use of what I learned in this rally for the coming events.
- Objectives
- To complete the rally and accumulate experience. To gradually expand my driving range, and to get a bit more speed while still taking a margin and feeling the difference on the surface on each stage.
- What I felt through the rally
- Every stage was very high speed stage and the surface was more loose and rough than Finnish roads. There were some corners with ruts because of the loose surface conditions, and taking proper driving line on those corners was challenging for me who still have not much rally experience. But it was very good feeling to drive on high speed stages.
- What I learned
- I am very sorry that I couldn't achieve my goal to finish the rally. Things were going well at the training as my driving range was expanded and I got more accuracy in pacenoting. Communication with Daniel was also going well, but I went too wide in a slow right corner in SS3 and rolled the car. The reason was I prioritized the visual information than the information I heard. I should have visualized the pacenote information in my head more clearly and accurately. And I crashed again on SS11, and it was caused by my wrong way of thinking. I realized there were still so many things I didn't understand about rally. I will not forget what I experienced and keep my effort and training so that I won't make same kind of mistakes again.
- Comments from instructors
It was very disappointing result for both drivers and the team. The reason for Arai's crash was a clear mistake in the recce and it's quite normal for unexperienced driver. We are not worried about his ability to understand and control his driving. His driving is constant and he can discuss well with the engineers and mechanics to get the car setups better.
Katsuta understood and agreed to the strategy before the rally, but he couldn't follow the plan. His driving on test stages is on good level and he is fast and constant there. His pacenotes skill is also improving all the time. But what is most important to him at this moment is getting more competition mileage as he still has very little rally experience.
After the change to the R5 cars both drivers had driven 550 test kilometers. We expected the drivers to be able to keep their own level and control their driving without taking any risks. but the result was a big dissapointment this time. They have different kind of challenges and we keep supporting them by offering different kind of supports to each driver toward the next rally, Neste Rally Finland.
Upcoming event is "Nest Rally Finland" on 28-31 August - the 8th round of FIA World Rally Championship!
Link
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2016 Training period 1 - Arctic Lapland Rally
During two days the route covered 829 kilometres, 233 of which were special stages driven at maximum speeds. -
2016 Training period 2 - SM Vaakuna Ralli
Toyota GAZOO Racing Rally Challenge Program is well underway in Finland. So far the drivers of the program, lead by Tommi Makinen, have competed in two events: the Arctic Lapland Rally and SM Vaakuna Ralli, driven in Mikkeli 26 - 27 February. -
2016 Training period 3 - Tahko SM-Ralli
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Rally Challenge Program is well underway in Finland, led by Tommi Mäkinen. Through the program the two young Japanese drivers, Takamoto Katsuta and Hiroki Arai competed in Tahko SM-Ralli held on 11 - 12 March. -
2016 Training period 4 - Enset Oy SM-Ralli
Toyota GAZOO Racing Rally Challenge Program is well underway in Finland, led by Tommi Makinen. Through the program the two young Japanese drivers, Takamoto Katsuta and Hiroki Arai competed in Enset Oy SM-Ralli held on 11 June, 2016.