Toyota development driver Takamoto Katsuta admitted that his accident on Rally Estonia last weekend was “a mistake made on the recce”.
Katsuta had been running strongly as the FIA World Rally Championship returned following its shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic but crashed out on Sunday morning after misjudging the sharpness of a corner.
As a result, his Yaris WRC rolled spectacularly out of the event, but both him and co-driver Daniel Barritt walked away uninjured.
The Japanese driver said on the incident: “The corner where I crashed was a bit tighter than the angle that I had in my pace-notes, this was my mistake on the recce.”
“I had too much speed and went wide into a ditch and we rolled maybe three or four times. It was a big crash but Dan and I were both OK. The team made a great car and I was enjoying it until this happened.”
He added: “But there are positives I can take from this weekend and I am sure I will learn from this and it will make me even stronger for the future.”
Despite it being just his fifth top-level WRC appearance, Katsuta had been competing closely against his more experienced teammates Sebastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans on the timesheets and he went on comment on his overall weekend: “On some stages (on Saturday) I was quite close to the times of my Toyota team-mates, who are some of the best drivers in the world.”
“It was very nice to be able to compare myself against them with the same car. The conditions were consistent so I was able to feel the grip easily. On Sunday the road was changing quite a lot and there was a lot of rain overnight so it was pretty slippery.”
Katsuta had been making his third appearance of the 2020 season for the Japanese manufacturer after agreeing a part-time deal for this season in the championship.
