Relief and joy for Johnston after challenging weekend in Croatia

AARON Johnston’s main emotions after a challenging Rally Croatia were relief and joy – relief to have finished and joy to have done so in the top six to earn some vital Championship points.

Like all crews involved in the event, Johnston and driver Takamoto Katsuta struggled to find their feet on the treacherous asphalt that lacked any grip due to several torrential downpours throughout the weekend and the mud that was strewn across the roads after each competitor’s car passed.

That turned the stages into something of a lottery so the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team Next Generation crew took an early low risk strategy. And as some of their rivals fell to the wayside, they retained their pace and their midfield position which they gradually improved as the weekend wore on, despite suffering two punctures and an overshoot, before claiming a superb sixth overall to leave them well placed in the overall standings.

“I think it’s maybe the most challenging rally I have ever done, quite similar to Monte Carlo with the level of grip changes over the three days,” the Fintona co-driver acknowledged.

“Overall we’re really happy to finish in sixth position and bag some strong points towards the Championship moving into rallies we are more familiar with over the summer.”

The next event Katsuta and Johnston will tackle is Rally Portugal on May 19th to 22nd where they will hope to continue, not only their run of finishing every event this term, but doing so well up the points.

So far they have finished eighth in the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally, fourth in Sweden and sixth in Croatia to leave them on 26 points overall, just one point behind joint fourth placed Seb Loeb and Ott Tanak, and four adrift of third placed Craig Breen.

Being so close to the overall top three in the World Rally Championship standings is certainly a bonus for Johnston and Katsuta, who suffered a disappointing end to last season.

Having taken on board that conclusion, they have adapted and got used to the new Rally1 hybrid machinery quickly and they will be keen to continue their progress in Portugal.

However, they will know that earning valuable points there will be more difficult than at the last two rounds as two of the sport’s legends, nine-time World Champion Loeb, who won the season opener at Monte Carlo, will be back in action behind the wheel of one of M-Sport’s Ford Puma’s, while eight-time champion, Johnston and Katsuta’s Toyota colleague, Sebastien Loeb will be in situ in a Yaris.

“For sure, Portugal is an event where we want to continue our good form and hopefully we can earn more points for ourselves and Toyota,” Johnston said.

“Of course, with the two Sebs being back it adds more competition and will make things tougher, but those are challenges we enjoy and we look forward to the extra competition as always.”