However, his dream of winning the rally shattered on the 10th special stage when he crashed, ending his battle with Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi.
Katsuta faced the media in a highly emotional state.
“Obviously, I wanted to push today after a very tough yesterday, and we, of course, wanted to continue pushing and fighting with EP,” Katsuta said.
Katsuta had started the morning well, managing to close the gap to Lappi to under a second on the morning’s first stage. However, ultimately, pushing too hard proved costly.
“I was trying very hard and wanted to win every single corner. I carried a bit too much speed, and then the rear snapped, and after that, we basically hit the snowbank from the rear. And then we got stuck in the snowbank and couldn’t get away,” Katsuta lamented.
The emotional Japanese driver let his disappointment show.
“It’s hard to find the words,” Katsuta said, swallowing his emotions.
Is this the biggest disappointment of your career?
“I’ve had a few disappointments, of course, but I can’t think of anything comparable, so maybe this is the biggest disappointment of my career,” Katsuta stated.
