Katsuta was still in the fight for victory after the morning loop, but the first stage of the afternoon – the 21.74-kilometre Mt. Kasagi – proved to be his downfall.
Katsuta made several impacts in the spectator area and badly damaged his car. He and his co-driver Aaron Johnston managed to repair the broken power steering later on a road section, but they arrived 34 minutes late to the next stage start. That resulted in a time penalty of just over five minutes.
Toyota’s team principal Juha Kankkunen did not agree with the stewards’ decision – and made his opinion very clear.
“He did all those stages, but he was delayed when plugging in to the time controls, because there was quite a lot of traffic. So we made a protest, as some of the time penalties were cancelled today due to the traffic. But they didn’t accept it. Anyway, he can restart the rally under Super Rally rules tomorrow, so that’s okay,” said Kankkunen.
Katsuta took the disappointment very hard – and understandably so.
“Disappointed. What do you think? It’s the home rally, and he did very well,” Kankkunen said.
The four-time world champion and experienced rally man hurried to comfort his heartbroken driver.
“Not smiling, definitely. He was crying there, but I gave him a hug and said, “Don’t worry, tomorrow is another day”,” Kankkunen revealed.
Overall, Toyota’s situation remains positive. Championship contenders Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans fought fiercely throughout Saturday for both the rally lead and, naturally, the world title.
In the end, the battle turned in Ogier’s favour. The Frenchman leads the rally by 6.5 seconds over Evans, with only one day of competition remaining.
“I’ve just been laughing about it,” Kankkunen chuckled.
“Let’s say, of course, a bit nervous — nervous, but on the other hand, it has been quite a relaxing day, because you can see two of the best drivers in the world fighting each other in two similar cars. So it has been a good day for us,” Kankkunen summed up.
