Takamoto Katsuta has described the crash he suffered on Sunday as one of the biggest of his entire rally career. The Toyota driver was in so much pain that he couldn't even get out of the car.
The incident happened on the penultimate stage, in a fast sequence of corners. His Toyota slid, clipped an inside bank, and rolled heavily. The impact was so severe that Katsuta and co-driver Aaron Johnston were taken to hospital for checks. Fortunately, both escaped without serious injuries.
“It was a really big accident. I would say the impact was one of the biggest I have experienced in my career,” Katsuta said. “I couldn't get out of the car. I was in so much pain. But at least we're here,” he added.
Katsuta also praised the safety of modern Rally1 cars, highlighting the car's safety structures and the quick medical response. “It shows that the car is extremely well built from a safety perspective. A big thank you for the safety regulations and measures. They work. Everything was also organised well so that we could get to hospital quickly enough,” he explained.
The Japanese driver was unsure why the situation escalated so quickly. According to him, the car began to slide slightly in the fast corners. He tried to correct it, but clipping the inside bank changed the car's direction. “It felt very strange. The car just started to slide slightly. I tried to correct it, but I clipped the bank on the inside and the car began to drift further in,” Katsuta said.
After that, his chances of recovery diminished rapidly. “I still tried to get the car back under control, but there was also a bank on the outside, so I could no longer turn left. It was only a small slide, but somehow that was enough to send the car rolling,” he recounted.
Katsuta then wondered whether another course of action could have been possible. But the outcome might have been just as violent. “Maybe if I had dared to turn towards the wall, I could have avoided rolling. But then we would have gone straight into the wall. At that point, there really wasn't much more I could do,” he said.
One thing, however, he did not try to explain away: “It was my mistake,” he admitted frankly.
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