Johnston and Katsuta keen to bounce back in Spain

AARON Johnston is looking forward to Rally RACC Catalunya this coming weekend where he and Takamoto Katsuta will aim to put a disappointing non finish last time out in New Zealand behind them.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing Team Next Generation crew went into the round ‘down under’ with high hopes given its similarity to Rally Finland on Katsuta’s favoured gravel surface. Unfortunately, in tricky conditions on the Saturday, they rolled their Rally1 Yaris down a hillside and sustained rollcage damage which ruled them out of the remainder of the event.

That was the pair’s first non-finish of the season and the first time they hadn’t picked up any points during what has been a hugely promising first full campaign together and because of that, Johnston isn’t feeling any added pressure ahead of their trip to Spain.

“There’s no added pressure,” he stressed.

“Accidents are part of the sport and we did ten rallies in a row with points finishes, the worst being eighth.

“It was going to happen sooner or later, everyone understands that and accepts that it’s part of the game, so I don’t think it has changed anything for ourselves or the team.

“It’s just business as usual, we go again in Spain and we’ll try to finish and finish strongly. New Zealand is over now and I don’t think it will be thought about again, Just move on.”

Spain is an event where Johnston is looking forward to doing just that, particularly after last year’s disastrous outing which ended with retirement on the first stage in one of his first events alongside Katsuta.

And while that remains fresh in their minds, the fact that the opening day’s action takes place on all new stages means they can go in to the rally with a clean slate.

“The route on Friday is totally different to what it was last year, which is good for us because we retired on the first stage!

“It makes it very fair and level for us and then you have Saturday and Sunday which are just re-runs of the 2021 route,” explained the Fintona co-driver.

“We’re looking forward to it and hopefully we can get back on track and get a good points scoring finish moving into Japan for the finale.”

As well as targeting a haul of points this coming weekend, Johnston and Katsuta are looking forward to gaining more tarmac experience, especially for the talented Japanese driver.

“Coming from here where the majority of the rallying is tarmac, it’s a surface that I enjoy but maybe Taka is more comfortable on gravel,” Johnston added.

“But the only way to get better is to gain the mileage and the experience and that will be the aim but I think we will be there or there abouts come the weekend.”

Also competing in Spain this weekend is Strabane’s Ryan Caldwell, who is keen to take another huge step forward in his rallying career when he makes his European Championship debut in Spain behind the wheel of one of M-Sport’s Rally4 Ford Fiestas.

He first sat behind the wheel of a rally car in September last year and since then he has gone on to win the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship ITRC3 title and RC4 Challenge, as well as his class in the Irish Forestry Rally Championshi, all at the first time of asking, with the prize for the former including this opportunity in Spain.

And while he knows the step up to European level will be another thing entirely, he’s confident that if he brings the pace he started the season with then he may well catch the eye at Rally RACC Catalunya, which is also the penultimate round of the World Rally Championship.

“I can’t believe how well this year went,” beamed the 20-year-old. “It has clicked really fast and we’re glad it has.

“I had a real good start to the year, I had all my work done. I drove really hard at the start of the year, which meant I didn’t have to drive as hard at the end, it was just about finishes. So, I want to prove now that I still have that pace and it’s a great opportunity to be able to do that in Spain during a round of the European Championship.

“And I’m looking forward to seeing what it’s like being at a round of the World and European Championships, it’s a great opportunity and one you don’t get offered too often.”

Caldwell’s prowess behind the wheel is no real surprise as during his teenage years he proved to be one of the UK and Ireland’s premier drift drivers. And while he admits that rallying takes a little more precision that his former sport, he has adapted to the significant drop in horsepower and looking out of the windscreen rather than the side window with ease.

“There was a wee bit of a difference going from drifting to rallying, you need to be a bit neater and tidier in your driving for one thing,” he explained. “There were things you could do in drifting and get away with it but in rallying you won’t so you have to be more precise.”

Caldwell admits that to get to this stage in his career so quickly wouldn’t have been possible without the help of a host of O’Briens – co-driver Grace from Cork and Mountfield’s clan who run R317 Motorsport.

“It takes everybody,” he acknowledged. “Grace has been fantastic and the O’Briens at R317 Motorsport have been great,.

“They know how I like the car, which is why I’m bringing them over to Spain with me. They have been first class. I couldn’t thank them enough because they have brought me on a long way.

“The first time I sat in a rally car, Kevin O’Brien sat alongside me and he said ‘we’ll make it work’ and they have, they have spent a lot of time on me.”

While this weekend’s opportunity has been partly funded by his Irish Tarmac Championship success, Caldwell has had to fund the remainder and he is incredibly grateful to his personal sponsors, C&M Motors. C&M Motorsport Sales,
Decky Contracts, DMC Modular Design, and Taggart Homes Designer Builder, who have helped him finance his trip to Spain.