Toyota driver Takamoto Katsuta has admitted he still has a lot to learn about getting the maximum out of a Yaris WRC following a debut win in the car on Saturday’s Itaralli in Finland.
Katsuta won the final winter round of this year’s Finnish Rally Championship by edging Emil Lindholm’s Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 by 0.8 seconds on the Joensuu-based event.
Co-driven by ex-Elfyn Evans co-driver Dan Barritt, Katsuta was fastest on four of the six stages, most of which were run in blizzard conditions, where his position of first on the road didn’t help as he acted like a snowplough for the crews following.
“From my side, I learned a lot about how to adapt my driving style to the car, but of course I still have a lot to learn,” said the 25-year-old Katsuta, who will also drive a Yaris on the Finnish gravel-based SM Riihimaki Rally as part of an increased 2019 programme.
The F3 convert carrying a nation’s WRC hopes
“I had an amazing experience and enjoyed driving the Yaris WRC so much.
“But at the same time, it was very challenging: the car is so fast.
“I only had one day of testing, and I was the first car on the road – sometimes it was like a snowstorm!”
The Yaris WRC ran on Pirelli’s Sottozero tyre for the first time in Finland. Katusta used Pirelli tyres to take his first WRC 2 win, on Rally Sweden, in 2018, while in the WRC the Yaris uses Michelins along with the rest of the top-class WRC manufacturers.
For the remainder of this season, Katsuta will focus on a Ford Fiesta R5-based WRC 2 programme.
He and Barritt had been expected to start in Mexico this week, but will return to the world championship in Corsica later this month.
