Toyota Gazoo Racing has confirmed Takamoto Katsuta will tackle the final round of this year’s World Rally Championship, November’s Ypres Rally Belgium.
The Japanese is now confirmed for three of the remaining four rounds of the series, with only Turkey missing from his program. Katsuta has already demonstrated his pace on gravel, which is why he’s keen to focus on driving as much asphalt as possible.
That said, the 27-year-old knows he’s in for a baptism of fire when he takes his Belgian bow in what are sure to be some of the trickiest conditions in the history of the Ypres Rally.
“I never even went to Belgium for a visit yet,” Katsuta told DirtFish. “I’m looking forward to this one. Dan [Barritt, co-driver] has told me a lot about the [corner] cutting and how narrow the road can be in places.
“I think it will be a big challenge, but driving on Tarmac is the area I’m trying to make the biggest improvement in. I need to drive more in the really slippery places and I think Ypres will have some of these.
“I think it can rain quite a lot in November and this will make it interesting. I’ve watched a lot of videos on YouTube of this rally and already I can see it will be a big challenge.”
Katsuta finished 10th in Germany last year and seventh in Monte Carlo earlier this season in a Yaris WRC. His finest asphalt outing to date came with a four-minute win over Hiroki Arai’s Citroën C3 R5 at the Central Rally Aichi in Japan last November.
Katsuta won’t be alone in learning Ypres in a Rally1 car – none of his Toyota team-mates have entered Belgium’s most famous rally before.
