Normally, Katsuta excels in fast gravel rallies, but in Poland, his pace was missing. Katsuta ultimately finished eighth among the Rally1 drivers. On Sunday, the Japanese driver still managed to collect a few additional points, but undeniably, the weekend was a disappointment.
Katsuta himself felt that the race was ruined already on Friday morning. With a significant gap to the leader right away, the rest of the rally was difficult due to his starting position. However, team points were not lost because of Katsuta this time, as his teammates Kalle Rovanperä and Elfyn Evans did their jobs admirably.
“Congratulations Kalle, Jonne (Halttunen) and the whole team for this result. For me, it has been a difficult rally. I was struggling a lot on Friday morning and this cost me afterwards, with a more difficult starting position for Saturday and Sunday,” Katsuta said.
Katsuta was driving in Poland for the first time in his career. On the other hand, the same was true for Kalle Rovanperä, who won the rally, and M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux, who finished third.
“It was hard to do much on the final day and get the good result we wanted for the team. At the same time, I was learning a lot about how to drive well in this kind of condition.”
The Japanese driver also hinted that the car might not have been set up as desired.
“We had some good sections and some good feelings and we need to bring that to the next rally in Latvia,” Katsuta told.
“Also we need to improve the things that were not so good so that we can be better there.”
Rally Latvia is approaching quickly. The event starts in just over two weeks on Thursday, the 18th of July.
