Good speed unrewarded for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Rally Challenge drivers on Rally Finland
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Rally Challenge drivers Takamoto Katsuta and Hiroki Arai were in action last weekend on Rally Finland, the latest round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Both drivers failed to finish after accidents during the final day of the rally, although they had set competitive stage times despite suffering from technical issues in their Ford Fiesta R5s.
Arai/Macneall
Rally Finland is the fastest event on the WRC calendar, contested over gravel roads through forests with numerous crests and jumps. One of the greatest challenges for crews is to make accurate the pace-notes for the high-speed stages.
Arai, co-driven by Glenn Macneall, enjoyed a strong start to the rally, sitting in third position in the competitive WRC2 class on Friday evening. On Saturday he suffered from a problem with the turbo boost, which limited his speed and caused him to fall back to fifth place. He remained there until the second stage on Sunday, where he went off the road after hitting a bump in a corner and could not continue.
For Katsuta and his co-driver Marko Salminen, what was supposed to be the first full day of rallying ended on a road section after SS2 when the alternator belt broke after a rock went inside the engine bay. He was able to restart on Saturday and soon set the second fastest time over the first pass of the legendary Ouninpohja stage, as well as the third best time on the second pass. Unfortunately, his rally ended on Sunday’s first stage when he had a half-spin and damaged his radiator.
Hiroki Arai
“The pace was strong until we had some problems with the car. This season has been quite tough so far, there has always been something happening on the mechanical side or a mistake on my side. We need to change this routine and end the bad luck. Speed-wise it’s quite good, it’s just been hard to get the car to the finish. It was much easier here than last year because I knew the stages and where the tricky parts were.”
Jouni Ampuja (TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Rally Challenge Program instructor)
“It’s a mixed feeling, because both cars were out before the end of the rally. There were also some technical issues, but Takamoto and Hiroki dealt with these well. Of course we want to see the positive side, which is the speed they both showed this year compared to last year. It’s clear to see the progress: we were losing two or three seconds per kilometre last year and now we are fighting for the top three in WRC2. It has not been long since both drivers found their way with the pace-notes, driving style and car setup in order to drive at these speeds. Now we just need more kilometres to learn how to keep it under control for the whole weekend.”
Katsuta/Salminen
Hiroki Arai
WRC2 Results:
1 Jari Huttunen/Antti Linnaketo (Skoda Fabia R5) 2h39m30.9s
2 Quentin Gilbert/Renaud Jamoul (Skoda Fabia R5) +2m17.8s
3 Tom Cave/James Morgan (Hyundai i20 R5) +3m43.0s
4 Osian Pryce/Dale Furniss (Ford Fiesta R5) +6m08.7s
5 Simone Tempestini/Giovanni Bernacchini (Citroën DS3 R5) +7m56.2s
Retired Hiroki Arai/Glenn Macneal (Ford Fiesta R5)
Retired Takamoto Katsuta/Marko Salminen(Ford Fiesta R5)
What’s next?:
The next event for Katsuta and Arai will be the Uusikaupunki Rally, the next round of the Finnish Rally Championship, on 8-9 September. Co-driver Sayaka Adachi will also be in action on this event alongside Jarkko Nikara.
Quotes:
Takamoto Katsuta
“The rally didn’t start well but after the problem on Friday I changed my focus to try and find a good feeling on these stages and gain experience. After that the stage times were pretty good, particularly on Ouninpohja with the second and third fastest times. On Sunday, it was a very small mistake, even though it was my fault. Of course I wanted to finish this rally but I got very good experience and good confidence on the Finnish roads. There was a big difference here compared to last year, so I’m looking forward to the next rally.”