Though the Japanese driver secured a podium finish once again in Kenya, he crashed his car in Sweden and Portugal, and a technical fault ruined the competition in Sardinia at the beginning of June. Clearly, both Katsuta’s and Toyota’s goals have been higher.
The WRC series continues in Poland next week. Fast gravel rallies are to the liking of Katsuta, who currently resides in central Finland, Jyväskylä, but he faces a significant handicap in Poland. Katsuta, along with Ford driver Adrien Fourmaux, is the only Rally1 driver who has never driven on Poland’s gravel roads.
The last time a WRC event was held in Poland was in 2017, but since then the race has been part of the European Championship, so there is plenty of video material available from the stages. However, mere videos can never replace real experience of the special stages.
“For sure, Poland is going to be big challenge for me because I’ve never been there. Everybody else, except maybe me and Fourmaux, has been there. So, yeah, it’s quite a big advantage (for them). So I don’t expect too much,” Katsuta says on Dirtfish’s website.
Katsuta has shown speed in all the rallies where he has had to retire. Competing in Poland against more experienced counterparts might be too tough, but the most important thing would be to see the finish flag without major issues.
In Sweden and Portugal, Katsuta led the rally, but a driving error ruined everything. In Sardinia, however, it was down to a technical issue, so the Japanese driver does not need to bear the burden for that.
“I didn’t push too much. OK, pace was a bit lacking compared to Ott (Tänak) and Seb (Sebastien Ogier), but I was not pushing like that. So it’s all OK. The positive is, that I was in control around the podium places but, unfortunately, caught out by a technical issue,” Katsuta explains.
“The result didn’t come this time because of this. But for the future, I just try to continue like this and, hopefully, at some point get a good result.”
At least in Poland, Katsuta’s starting position favours him, as the Toyota driver will start the rally as the sixth car.
“Of course, I try to do my best, try to watch the onboard from other drivers, but we don’t have pacenotes, obviously. So just accept at some point how much I can do.”
