Takamoto Katsuta has set out goals after being benched by Toyota for Rally Chile, as he prepares for his World Rally Championship return at next week’s Central European Rally.
Katsuta rejoins Toyota's line-up after it temporarily dropped its full-time driver for the visit to Chile last month following a rough run of results.
After undergoing a reset, the 31-year-old jumped back behind the wheel of his GR Yaris Rally1 for a pre-event its last week ahead of Central European Rally’s tricky asphalt stages with a clear objective in mind.
“I’m looking forward to being back in the car and driving on a totally different surface for the last two rallies of the year,” said Katsuta.
“I really like driving on asphalt and I hope to find a good feeling and perform well.
“Central European Rally is a big challenge for everybody with a lot of surface changes and dirt on the road. Last year, the Friday on Czech roads was especially difficult with rain and a lot of cuts.
“With that experience it should be easier to return this year but there will still be many new stages, so we need to focus on making good pacenotes and communicating well with our route note crew.
“I will try to be patient, be there to score points for the team and if everything goes well, it will be easier for me to push at Rally Japan [the season finale].”
Speaking at Rally Chile, Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala empathised with how his driver would be feeling after the decision, but is confident that Katsuta would return stronger.
Latvala also revealed that improving his pacenotes had been identified as area that would benefit the Japanese driver.
“We have had a few phone calls with him and of course it is never a nice situation as he wanted to come to Chile to drive, but after a few days he was thinking about it and understood the situation and was willing to work and try to improve himself to come back stronger,” said Latvala.
“To understand it first is never nice for the driver. But at the end when you do it and come back, sometimes you realise that this is something good. We have seen that in the past with other drivers [that have been benched]. Adrien [Fourmaux] is a very good example and it also happened to Ott Tanak and Elfyn Evans in the past.
“First of all I wanted him to switch off from rallying, then we wanted him to work with the co-driver to try and improve the notes as we realised in Greece that maybe there is too much information in them, which is then taking away the focus on the driving and the road as he has to listen too much.”
Looking ahead to next week’s rally, Latvala added: “The target will be to have a solid rally, score some points and find a good feeling in the car ahead of Rally Japan.”
