Katsuta’s season in the World Rally Championship had been difficult. By autumn, he had already recorded five retirements, leading Toyota to sideline him during September’s Rally Chile. Katsuta returned to the lineup at the Central European Rally in October, where he notably secured valuable manufacturers’ points for the team, especially on Sunday.
However, heading into his home event in Japan, Katsuta knew his future with Toyota was on the line. The driver admits as much himself.
“For sure before the rally when I heard this, straight away I thought if I do something wrong or crash, it will be my last rally, so there was huge [pressure]. Like, this is my career of course, but this is also my life,” Katsuta told DirtFish.
When his life’s work was essentially on the line, Katsuta admits that many thoughts crossed his mind—even the idea of walking away.
“I wanted to run away. No, seriously, it felt like this at some point. I didn’t of course, but it feels like it a bit, you know. But this was kind of a big test for me and I have to make a next step forward to take a stronger mentality, so hopefully this kind of experience helps for the future. There will always be tough moments,” Katsuta reflected.
“Everyone in the team is giving me the right, straight information of what I should do, It’s even more now clear than before,” said Katsuta. “In the past when they told me something, I was rushing myself too much: no, I need to win, I need to win, because otherwise the team doesn’t need Taka anymore, so I need to show what I can do, otherwise I have no future.’”
Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala acknowledged that Rally Japan was a crucial test for Katsuta. If the hometown driver had failed, his full-time position with Toyota would likely have been in jeopardy.
“I must say, in one sense, [Rally Japan] was a little bit like a test as well. It’s not good to say this, but sometimes you need to see a bit of a change. I remember once a good engineer said to me that, ‘Jari-Matti, you can do a mistake, but if you do the same mistake again, that’s just stupidity’” Latvala explained.
“I think with Taka, we know with what he’s been doing he’s really fast. But if there’s been similar mistakes happening, that is the moment we need to learn from them. And that was the point that I think he proved, that he can learn from it. That’s the most important thing,” Latvala concluded.
