Disappointing end to Monte Carlo charge for Johnston

AARON Johnston and Takamoto Katsuta endured a frustrating end to the World Rally Championship’s opening round in Monte Carlo.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC crew started the event tentatively, finding their feet in incredibly difficult conditions on the Thursday night and throughout the Friday’s stages when black ice made the already challenging stages even more of a battle.

But having come through the first nine stages unscathed, they upped their pace on the Saturday when they earned the fourth fastest times on the opening two tests of the day before picking up their first stage win of the season with a blistering run over La-Batie-des-Fonts, leaving reigning WRC champion Thierry Neuville in their wake by almost one and a half seconds, with their team-mate, Sebastien Ogier, who went on to win a 10th Monte Carlo crown on Sunday, more than a second adrift of the Belgian.

Their fast pace continued throughout the three remaining stages on Saturday when they recorded two third fastest times to end the day comfortably in sixth position overall.

Unfortunately, disaster struck on the first stage of the final day on Sunday when they were caught out by some ice and ended up beached in a ditch, much like what happened at last year’s Ralllye Monte Carlo when they were stuck on a small snow bank.

And while disappointed with how the event ended, Fintona co-driver Johnston was taking positives from the weekend and he’s already looking forward to round two in the snow and ice of Sweden next month.

“Unfortunately it wasn’t the end to Rallye Monte Carlo that we were hoping for,” he acknowledged.

“Generally, we had a pretty positive weekend with the speed we showed on Saturday including the stage win and consistently fast times.

“We got caught out this morning on the first stage in the dark on a tricky icy right-hander and got stuck in a small ditch with very little damage to the car.

“We’re already looking forward to getting back in the car at next week’s pre-event test ahead of round two in Sweden.”