Katsuta’s season has been very difficult. After disastrous performances at the Rally Finland and Rally Greece, Katsuta was essentially sidelined and did not compete in the Rally Chile. Instead, Finnish driver Sami Pajari took his place in the Toyota Rally1 car.
However, Katsuta will be on the starting line in Central Europe and Japan.
Katsuta emphasises that he has not lost the support of the Toyota team at any point, despite the challenges of this season.
“Honestly I really feel the team behind me and now I have to make the result to pay them back for this support,” Katsuta said in an interview with Dirtfish.
“I really appreciate [the support] from the guys, the drivers like Séb [Ogier] and Kalle [Rovanperä] and Elfyn [Evans] – but also I want to tell you about people like Tom [Fowler, technical director], Kévin [Struyf, engineering manager] and the other engineers,” Katsuta continued.
Katsuta also stressed that the team’s engineers and leaders have been behind him as well. He gave special thanks to Toyota’s technical director Tom Fowler and head of design Kevin Struyf.
“You know, these people have been around the sport for a while now – they have so much experience from this team and others and from other drivers. The way they have helped me has been incredible, they have worked with me outside of their engineering side and helped me on a personal level. I feel very humble and very happy to have them with me.,” Katsuta expressed his gratitude.
Katsuta feels that now it’s his turn to give something back.
“To know they still believe in me means so much from people who see this job from a different way to me. They see through the eyes of the engineer and they could tell me different things to what I was thinking for myself. It’s with their help that I will be able to come back stronger. I want to do a good job to pay back everything they did for me,” Katsuta emphasised.
Katsuta admits that the season’s difficulties have taken their toll.
“The situation has felt very, very difficult and it’s been a very, very tough moment for me. Life is hard sometimes, but we just keep working.”
Setbacks are part of life, and you can often draw something positive from them. This has been the case for Katsuta as well.
“Honestly, as difficult as this time was, it also showed me where the support was coming from – you know who was helping me and who I should trust and appreciate in these tough moments. There were many people from outside the team – some from the other teams – who were calling me and helping me. Like I said, now I want to repay those people who have supported me,” Katsuta explained.
Katsuta is trying to approach the Central European Rally as calmly as possible and focus on his own performance. The result will follow if it’s meant to.
“I have been really stressed and frustrated with myself. This is because of the mistakes, but also because I feel I have the speed and I’ve got to do a better job to turn that speed into a result – that’s the frustrating part. But, like I said, for next week it’s a time to build,” Katsuta stated.
The Central European Rally will take place from 17-20 October. The season concludes in Japan in November.
