ERC Portugal: Ogata scores class win on classic gravel stages

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRC Challenge Program drivers Rio Ogata and Kanta Yanaguida gained further experience on classic gravel roads at Rally Six Cities North of Portugal, the final round of the FIA European Rally Championship season.

Ogata secured victory in the ERC3 category for Rally3 cars after winning six stages in the category and despite losing close to one minute due to a puncture in Saturday’s final stage.

Yanaguida also showed strong performance, setting the fastest time on nine stages and leading the category until the end of Saturday, when he had to retire on the road section back to service due to damage. After restarting on Sunday, Yanaguida ultimately finished third in ERC3.

Information

Results (ERC3 class)
1 Rio Ogata/Mikael Korhonen (Renault Clio Rally3) 2h16m40.3s
2 Kalum Graffin/Rhodri Evans (Ford Fiesta Rally3) +5m21.1s
3 Kanta Yanaguida/Ville Mannisenmäki (Renault Clio Rally3) +9m36.4s

Quotes:
Mikko Hirvonen (TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRC Challenge Program chief instructor):
“After the great season Rio and Kanta had in Finland, the idea here was to experience rougher and tougher conditions, where you can’t always push flat-out and you need to look after the tyres and the car. The roads, many of them used in WRC like the famous Fafe stage, were very technical and demanding for making pacenotes. Rio had a difficult pre-event test and maybe didn’t start with the same pace we’ve seen recently, but even with a few issues and a puncture, he kept his cool and came through to take the victory. It’s a good lesson that a smart approach can also pay off at the finish. Kanta continued the step-up in pace he showed on his last rally in Finland while still driving cleverly. He was leading until this issue on the road section, when there was damage to a wheel and a mistake that prevented the crew from fixing it, but knowing how to handle these situations is another thing these guys have to learn. The main thing is that Kanta could drive all the stages with good pace. Both did well to get through all the stages without major damage and gain valuable experience ahead of next year in how to manage longer rallies in tougher conditions.”

Rio Ogata
“This was probably the roughest rally of my career. Rally Estonia was rough too, but I retired quite early there, so I’m happy that this time I could finish the rally. When we came to Portugal earlier this year in Aboboreira, I wasn’t able to find a good feeling, so we tried some different things in the test before this rally. Unfortunately I went off at the end of the day, and the mechanics did a great job to ensure we could start the rally, but I still wasn’t feeling so comfortable on Saturday morning. The stages were very rough and rocky and tough for the car, and although I felt I could have driven faster, I tried to manage my speed and avoid issues. Unfortunately we had a puncture on SS9, which I think came from my lack of experience in these conditions. Managing our limited tyre allocation was also difficult, so I tried to take a similar approach into Sunday. Some stages were sandier and less rocky and I could enjoy those more, and I’m happy we could finish the year with this result.”

Kanta Yanaguida
“This was definitely the toughest rally I’ve ever done. The conditions were crazy sometimes and very tough for the car, and we had quite a few issues during the rally. We had some slow punctures on Saturday but could get through the last stage of the day still in the lead. We still had a long road section to survive, and unfortunately sustained some damage to a wheel. We tried to find a solution and fix the damage, but we couldn’t do it and couldn’t get back to service. On Sunday we had a big impact on SS11 and lost the power steering, but we were able to get it back for the remaining stages. There were so many big rocks and such deep ruts that it was very easy to pick up punctures or damage. I enjoyed the last stage, which is usually run as Fafe in WRC, and our times there were good. It was such a tough rally, but I’m satisfied with our pace, which was better than on other rallies. I had a good feeling from shakedown and could keep a good rhythm throughout the rally.”

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