Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT announced today that Takamoto Katsuta will drive the fourth hybrid Yaris GR Rally1 car next season as Aaron Johnston will be his new navigator as the replacement of Daniel Barritt.
The Japanese driver finished in second position overall for the first time in his WRC career in Kenya while he finished five times in top six in 2021 so far.
However, he was forced to withdraw in two events [Rally Estonia, Acropolis Rally Greece] due to co-driver issues whereas he crashed out three times this season [Ypres Rally Belgium, Rally Finland, Rally Spain].
Moreover, Aaron Johnston will be alongside Katsuta next season who co-drived the last one in Spain and in Finland after Keaton Williams left.
Firstly, Barritt was the initial co-driver of Katsuta for 2021, but the first one was injured in his back at Rally Estonia and he should recover from this injury, therefore Williams was his replacement at Ypres Rally Belgium.
It was tipped that Williams would have continued with Katsuta in the upcoming events, but the first one received an emergency call just one day before the start of Acropolis Rally Greece and he had to return home, so Katsuta's participation had to be cancelled.
Eventually the Toyota driver decided to choose Aaron Johnston as his new co-driver for Rally Finland after the last one parted way with Oliver Solberg after Acropolis Rally Greece.
"I’m looking forward to next year and the new generation of car, which will be very interesting and challenging", said Katsuta.
"A lot will change and I’m really excited to see how it all feels in the car and also what we can achieve.
"I’m also looking forward to continue working with Aaron; we already have a very good relationship and I am sure we can make it even stronger as we do more rallies together.
"I want to thank Dan very much for his huge support since 2016.
"Without it I wouldn’t have achieved any of the good results we have managed together.
"He has given me so much advice and we had many fun moments, and we will still be working closely outside of the car.
"Thank you to Toyota Gazoo Racing for their support.
"I’m very happy to be working with this team and I will continue to work hard to get good results".
Photo Credits: Toyota
Post a Comment