Takamoto Katsuta owned up to a mistake that led to his retirement from Saturday at Acropolis Rally Greece, but felt he was also unlucky.
The Toyota driver had been fifth overall and fighting to keep Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville behind, but just three corners from the end of SS11 he ran too deep into a left-hand corner and beached his GR Yaris Rally1.
“Basically the car was bumping a bit under the braking, then didn’t really stop,” Katsuta told DirtFish.
“I nearly got round the corner, but then the front just couldn’t turn. I was only very few km/h over speeding and then outside there was like a gravel bank so unfortunately we just got stuck on top of this bank, and then we couldn’t get out.
“So I don’t know. My mistake, but also there was quite bad luck with that, so it feels very stupid.”
Katsuta doesn’t feel he was pushing too hard.
Katsuta was on for a top-five until it all unravelled
He added: “For sure I was not trying to push a lot but still felt very good with the car and everything was under the control, then only this one braking caught me like that so it’s very difficult to accept, but yeah.
“Anyway for me we were fighting for the position for tomorrow against Thierry, so it felt quite good before that moment, but yeah, sorry for the team about this of course.”
Katsuta’s team-mate Kalle Rovanperä also retired on the same stage with what’s understood to be a brake-related issue, but Katsuta confirmed he had no such problem.
“I think it’s just myself,” he said. “Car was good and working fine. Yeah, unfortunately Kalle was also off the road, but I think there was some issue, I guess. But for me, it was clearly my mistake. Nothing wrong with the car.
“Maybe I had to be a bit more cautious under the braking, it can be rocky like this, but obviously I was not like any later braking than the morning loop, nothing crazy,” Katsuta continued.
“I just had to do a bit more care, probably. But that’s a mistake. Maybe I didn’t care enough.”
