Rally Portugal 2022

[EstWRC]

I don't believe this excuse. With "no power" he had equal time with Thierry and lost only 3 smth sec to Rovanperä.

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i guess he meant more like less power, not no power at all

that i believe, look how much faster he was on first run comapred to Sordo and etc

[focus206]

And yet if you'd told me 2 years ago, hell, even last year that he'd be fighting for a podium with Dani, one of the most experienced drivers out there, I'd think you're kidding, so huge kudos to him, sure he's still not exactly there yet but he's making huge gains as the time progresses, something you can't yet say about Greensmith for instance.

I'm not that surprised. If you'd told me he'd fight for the podium driving a fast and bulletproof Toyota against Sordo with a slower and unreliable Hyundai (and getting into the podium fight only because other Hyundais kept having problems), I would have found that entirely possible.
With that said, Katsuta drove very nicely this weekend, good job to him. But he missed the podium while driving the best car, I feel more sorry for Hyundai drivers who deserves much better...

[cali]

i guess he meant more like less power, not no power at all

that i believe, look how much faster he was on first run comapred to Sordo and etc

I did get it yes, but if anything he's baffled by Rovanperä's dominance and it' s hard to swallow.

But Ott had proper Sunday, it makes me feel more positive towards the things to come

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[EstWRC]

I did get it yes, but if anything he's baffled by Rovanperä's dominance and it' s hard to swallow.

But Ott had proper Sunday, it makes me feel more positive towards the things to come

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yep, today was very promising https://www.ewrc-results.com/leg/733...al-2022/?leg=3

So you think the radiator filled with sand and missing front splitter didn’t affect the performance?

[Eli]

I'm not that surprised. If you'd told me he'd fight for the podium driving a fast and bulletproof Toyota against Sordo with a slower and unreliable Hyundai (and getting into the podium fight only because other Hyundais kept having problems), I would have found that entirely possible.
With that said, Katsuta drove very nicely this weekend, good job to him. But he missed the podium while driving the best car, I feel more sorry for Hyundai drivers who deserves much better...

Again, not that surprised, that’s exactly my point, he’s starting to impress, I mean last year the Toyota was also better than the troublesome i20 and you still wouldn’t see Katsuta challenging for a podium like that.
I do agree of course that the Hyundai drivers are being over and over again let down by their car for the last couple of seasons now, I can’t stress this enough, I hope Hyundai get their sh*t together, pardon my french.

[dimviii]

[Danny0405]

Great job by Kalle with a Seb-like performance and puts a big hit to the helmet to Evans and Neuville here.
For Evans, rather good after a bad stint but not enough against Kalle. But big result in the manufacturer championship for Toyota.

On Katsuta, I’ll be a little harsh but it’s only an average result. He was better during the first 2 days last year (team orders on last day) and when you’re competing for a manufacturer job, you have to deliver in that type of situation. A rusty Sordo teaches him a lesson about what it takes to be a real manufacturer driver here whereas he did his first top-3 of the Rallye in the power stage (+ a RC1 Top 3 in the Mickey Mouse stage yesterday). And it is quite coherent with the beginning of the season of the Japanese which is a little lower than last year. The only positive is that he is the best of youngster (except Kalle) and he is 3rd in the championship; but it’s because the others screwed up and I’m not sure it’s a gift with Sardinia and Kenya coming.

For M-Sport, disaster rallie even if 3 cars finished in top 10. Loubet shows some pace sometimes but not regular enough at the moment (but only 2nd race this year). And for Fourmaux, ok, he did it finally to the end but with awful times; reminds me a lot of Camilli.

In WRC-2, excellent and clever job by Rossel even if he was no match for Suninen and Mikkelsen. Big mistake for Suninen and with some consequences: even if he’s fast, why a manufacturer would give a job to someone who screwed a result like this (exactly the difference with Sordo).
Good job by Kajto also.
Ingram a little further but good job also; but not that much points taken to the competitor because of the number of withdrawals.

[WRCStan]

A rusty Sordo teaches him a lesson about...

... what over a decade extra top level experience and 140 extra WRC starts means. One driver is Next Generation and one is retiring.

2.1 seconds is the difference between an average result and a lesson in delivering results? Very harsh.

[cali]

yep, today was very promising https://www.ewrc-results.com/leg/733...al-2022/?leg=3

So you think the radiator filled with sand and missing front splitter didn’t affect the performance?

Everything matters, also air pressure, humidity, road conditions etc.
I just don't find it to have any value as we don't know if there was sand and how much bcs basically every car has some portion of dust/sand in air filter.

The other question is why Rovanperä didn't have any negative comments. I can answer that as well when your confidence level is so high all the small things don't bother you. Been there and done that, so this comes from my own experience, although in a totally different sport.

It was his frustration speaking.

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[Danny0405]

... what over a decade extra top level experience and 140 extra WRC starts means. One driver is Next Generation and one is retiring.

2.1 seconds is the difference between an average result and a lesson in delivering results? Very harsh.

First Rallye for Sordo in the hybrid car and he was clearly rusty; for the Spaniard, it was clearly more preparation for Sardinia.
Katsuta was globally faster than him during the weekend (13 stages above for the Japanese I think).
And Katsuta is not a pure newbie now: more than 40 starts in WRC including more than 20 in RC1, more than 70 starts outside Japan.
So yes it’s harsh but Sordo teaches him what is needed to be a manufacturer driver and to deliver a result (for sure experience matters but when competing for a seat, you must beat old drivers at on moment). At that time of his career, Katsuta must win that type of fight if he wants to deserve a spot in the main team; he might achieve it even without deserving it as he is Japanese but it would not give something good in terms of result.