Takamoto Katsuta reveals that he misunderstood a pacenote in Stage 3 of Acropolis Rally which led him to retire for rest of Friday.
The Janapese star moved up to second place overall after his setting the fastest time there and was just two tenths of a second behind the rally leader Ott Tanak before the start of Stage 3. However, he stopped 5.1 Km into SS3 as he misunderstood a pacenote from Aaron Johnston resulting in going wide and breaking the rear right wheel of his Yaris. The crew was unable to fix their car and to continue, thus Toyota decided to retire their Yaris for the rest of Friday. However, the Toyota mechanics managed to repair the car for today and Katsuta restarted under the SuperRally regulations while he was the driver who opened the roads on Saturday.
"It had been a pretty good start to the Friday morning", Katsuta said.
"The car felt amazing and without a big push I was able to set the fastest time in SS2.
"Of course, there was some road cleaning effect which helped, but overall I was happy.
"So I just continued to drive in the same way in SS3.
"Unfortunately, in a twisty and forested section I misunderstood the information in the pace-note.
"So what I had in mind going into the corner wasn’t correct, I went wide and got damage on the right-rear.
"It’s a really hard moment but I just try to move forward and keep working hard".
Photo Credits: Toyota
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