Katsuta could not slow down his Yaris before crashing in Japan

Takamoto Katsuta describes what happened in Stage 11 of Rally Japan which led him to drop outside the top three.

The Japanese driver had only one stage win so far at Rally Japan and managed to fight with Elfyn Evans for the second place until the time Katsuta had a crash. More specifically, he was third overall at the end of Saturday morning, but he was forced to drive slowly after his accident in Stage 11. The incident happened when Katsuta was not able to slow down his Yaris resulting in hitting a water barrier with the front of his Yaris. After that, his Yaris was damaged to the cooling and the power steering systems, but he managed to keep driving in the stages and to complete the afternoon loop of Saturday. Unfortunately, he dropped from third to seventh after Stage 11 while he lost one more position over Kalle Rovanpera at the end of Stage 14 meaning that Katsuta is now eighth overall.

"This morning we were closing the gap to the lead, even though it didn’t feel so fast in the car", Katsuta said. 

"Then in the first stage of the afternoon, I don’t know exactly what happened, but I couldn’t get the car slowed enough for the narrow entrance to this arena section. 

"I hit the barrier and it damaged the cooling and power steering systems. 

"We tried what we could to fix the car; Aaron did an amazing job together with the information the team was giving us. 

"We were able to finish the day, but lost too much time. 

"Right now I just feel so sorry for the team and especially the fans who are supporting me".

Photo Credits: Toyota