Not many people truly knew what Takamoto Katsuta was going through on Wednesday. Benched and told he wasn’t wanted for Toyota’s next World Rally Championship outing, the Japanese was understandably suffering. His team principal – one of the team who’d broken the news to him – could empathize.
Rewind to Finland in 2008 and Latvala’s factory Ford Focus RS WRC07 is off the road. Crashed. A fortnight and a day later, Birkenfelder and Latvala’s caught out under braking for a chicane. The Focus is ditched for a couple of minutes before he can get back on the road. A possible top-five is gone.
The worst, however, was yet to come. New Zealand and Ford pair Mikko Hirvonen and Latvala are running one-two with just a couple of Raglan stages and the Mystery Creek superspecial left. Staying ahead of Citroën’s Sébastien Loeb and Dani Sordo is vital in the race for the manufacturers’ title. Hirvonen punctures and Latvala crashes.
Cue a slightly apoplectic Malcolm Wilson.
Katsuta’s situation? Latvala gets it.
Latvala was dropped to Ford's second-string Stobart team for Corsica (pictured) and Spain in 2008
“In 2008, those rallies were not going so well for me,” he said. “I was dropped from the factory team to Stobart team (M-Sport’s second-string WRC squad). So I wasn’t taken out from the event, but I was taken away from scoring the manufacturer points. This was helping to take away some of the pressure at that time.
“I’d had some tough rallies, but I was really struggling on the Tarmac, so for Spain and Corsica I was taken from the team. I needed to improve and I needed to work. And actually it went quite well, I was sixth in Catalunya and fourth in Corsica – this was after I crashed in Monte and Germany when I was on Tarmac in the main team.
“For me that was positive. It was a break, a chance to think outside of the box, to think about what needs to be done and what can be improved. At the moment, it’s rallies all of the time and Taka doesn’t really have so much time to think about the things. When it’s like this, some of the problems, you don’t have time to face them and they pass you by. This will give him some time before CER (Central Europe Rally).”
Latvala being Latvala has, of course, dived deeply into the data.
“I have looked and analyzed the accidents for Taka,” he said. “I spoke with him and Aaron [Johnston, co-driver] and I felt in some places there is too much information in the pacenotes where some of the mistakes are happening. This is something to think about.
“But the important thing is for Taka to know, we are behind him. We want him and we want him to succeed. We take this moment as a moment to invest into the future. I know he wants to drive in Chile, of course he does – all drivers want to drive, but this can be a good time for the pause.”
And to save you all diving into eWRC to find out… François Duval stepped up from the Stobart team to join Mikko Hirvonen in the factory for in Spain and France in 2008. He finished fourth and third respectively.
