Katsuta impressed after TGR's pre-Monte test

The Japanese completed his day of running with a smile on his face – despite typically tricky and mixed conditions which delivered snow, black ice and slush.

Katsuta’s performance on the final round of last season was one of the service park’s talking points. He's now hoping to pick up where he left off in his homeland two months ago.

“It was nice to be back in France in the mountains,” Katsuta said. “Always this rally is the start of the season and the car feels amazing. Last year in Monte Carlo, there was a good feeling from the car and now I feel even more – everybody in the engineering room is working very hard. I am quite confident we are even better than we were last year.

“Every time you come back to this car, you can feel some differences, something is better with the car. This feeling is nice and it comes from the hard work from the team. We know that Monte is one of the tricky rallies, for things like the tyre choice – but we are very motivated and excited for the news season.”

Katsuta, who starts his first full season as part of the factory Toyota team, has posted a top-six finish on two of the last three Rallye Monte-Carlos.