Takamoto Katsuta is hoping to get seat time at the wheel of a GT3 racecar.
The erstwhile World Rally Championship points leader fell to second place in the standings after finishing fourth – and slowest of the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1s drivers – at last week’s Rally Islas Canarias as he struggled to manage front tire temperatures and fought understeer throughout the rally.
Despite starting his career as a circuit racer in junior-level single-seater formula, Katsuta’s aggressive approach to asphalt driving proved ineffective on the circuit-like roads. He is now looking for way to adapt his driving style.
“I’m quite happy with the behavior of the car, so that’s not a question,” Katsuta told DirtFish. “The main issue for the moment for me is if you look at the long stage [Moya – Gáldar], [it was a] quite OK time in the beginning of the stage, then towards the end, I’m losing so much time. It’s quite obvious that I’m using tires way too much.”
When asked how he planned to adapt his driving for the future, Katsuta replied: “I was thinking to drive a GT3 or something. That would be an option.
“I’m trying to be efficient, but it’s still maybe not good for this tire. It’s very small things, but it can affect the tire’s performance. So I think this is what I need to find out.”
“I will ask [about driving a GT3] but let’s see.”
Katsuta’s pace deficit on Friday was not entirely self-inflicted; he was “a bit concerned already” after his pre-event test due to the road used being a “very different type of road” to those used during the rally.
While changes to his GR Yaris Rally1’s differential at Friday evening service helped alleviate some of the issues, Katsuta still has plenty of pace to find by better managing front tire temperatures.
Kalle Rovanperä – who’d been remotely assisting Katsuta by receiving onboards and analyzing them with the two-time WRC winner at day-ends – had already pinpointed front-end management as a key place to improve.
“He already mentioned that compared to others my front end is really not looking good,” said Katsuta of Rovanperä’s feedback. “For sure he can see it and we’re going to work on it.”
Managing the tires was Katsuta's greatest struggle in Gran Canaria
Despite his struggles in Spain, Katsuta isn’t worried about a repeat of those issues in Japan – an event he’s had front-running pace on in the last two seasons.
“I’m quite sure that [tire] wearing can be a bit less than here [in Spain], so I’m not too worried,” said Katsuta. “Of course it’s nice to have a better feeling with how to use the tires and driving style for matching for this tire, so that’s the main topic now to how to work on it for Japan.”
