Katsuta quick but out of luck on Argentina debut
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Rally Challenge Program driver Takamoto Katsuta showed class-leading speed during his first Rally Argentina, even though mechanical issues prevented him from fighting for victory.
Rally Argentina is a classic event in the FIA World Rally Championship that features a variety of gravel stages, from high-speed sandy tracks in the valleys to rocky mountain climbs. This year, prolonged and heavy rainfall in the days before the rally added to the challenge, creating muddy patches in the stages and increasing the depth of the frequent watersplashes. For young Japanese driver Takamoto Katsuta, driving a Ford Fiesta R5 with co-driver Dan Barritt, this was his first WRC start outside of Europe, taking on several experienced South American drivers in the WRC 2 class.
After going fastest in WRC 2 in the opening stage of the rally – a short super special in Villa Carlos Paz – Katsuta battled for the class lead throughout Friday. He was 24.4 seconds ahead going into the day's final stage, when his front-left wheel broke on a right-hand corner, sending his car into a ditch, where it got stuck. With no significant damage, Katsuta could restart on Saturday, but had to drive the morning stages without power steering following a failure. In the afternoon loop and on the final day on Sunday, Katsuta could enjoy a clean run to the finish, winning four out of six stages in WRC 2, and going fastest on seven stages in total across the rally.
Jarkko Miettinen (TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Rally Challenge Program instructor):
"Our strategy with Taka for this event was to reach the finish and collect good points from this rough rally. Taka drove well and it was nice to see him showing his talent, for example on SS1 where he was the fastest R5 driver. This time the roughness of the stages hit our crew as well, even though the pace was aimed at surviving in the worst sections. This was again a new experience for Taka and I am sure he will take this experience gladly and use it in forthcoming events."
WRC2 Results:
1 Pedro Heller/Marc Marti (Ford Fiesta R5) 3h41m09.1s
2 Benito Guerra/Jaime Zapata (Skoda Fabia R5) +9m34.8s
3 Paulo Nobre/Gabriel Morales (Skoda Fabia R5) +11m11.0s
4 Alberto Heller/Jose Diaz (Ford Fiesta R5) +14m06.0s
5 Takamoto Katsuta/Daniel Barritt (Ford Fiesta R5) +18m11.6s
What’s next?
Katsuta stays in South America to contest Rally Chile, a new addition to the WRC calendar for this season, on May 9-12. It will be held on medium-fast gravel roads in forests around the city of Concepción.
Pictures will be uploaded here during the event
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Quotes:
Takamoto Katsuta
"It has been quite a good rally for me. The result is not as good as it should have been, but our aim was just to gain experience from this new rally, which has a reputation for being very tough, and we managed to do all of the stages. The conditions were not easy: the stages were very rough but still high-speed. After the rain, some corners were very muddy: it's the first time I've experienced conditions like this. It was very difficult in the beginning but I'm happy with how I have improved my driving and my speed, and we were leading the class until the wheel suddenly broke. This was disappointing because we didn't hit anything to cause it, but it can happen when the stages are very rough like this. Then we had the power steering issue on Saturday morning, but the team fixed it, and I enjoyed the rest of the rally. I still need to improve to match the level of the most experienced R5 drivers, but I took quite a few fastest times in WRC 2 against drivers who have done this rally many times."