… EuroRallye/K’s World Rally Team …
… Japanese hotshot throws his hat into the ring for RSAC Scottish Rally …
Rising Japanese rally star Kenta Izuno will join the ranks of young hopefuls vying for success on the RSAC Scottish Rally later this month. The twenty-four year-old driver from Okayama wants to compete at world championship level, and has been lured to Scotland by the reputation of the country’s stages as a proving ground for future champions.
Izuno was a winner in the Toyota-backed TRD Rally Challenge in his native Japan in 2011, and has since stepped up to competing in the full Japanese Championship. Now the junior is looking to gather experience – and success – overseas as he plots a path to his eventual goal of challenging for an international rally championship.
Kenta is supported by the K’s World Rally Team, who also contested the RSAC Scottish Rally last year with veteran Japanese driver Motoharu Kaseya at the wheel and Kohei Izuno – Kenta’s twin brother – co-driving. This time round, the team will be using the same EuroRallye Honda Civic Type R that brought them a class win and the Spirit of the Rally Award twelve months ago. Co-driving will be Junichi Mima, who already has experience at the highest level having twice contested the Japanese round of the World Rally Championship.
“I’m now at a stage where I want to move beyond Japan and build my rallying career overseas”, says Kenta. “My eventual goal is to be able to run for at least one season in an international championship, but to do that I first have to get experience of competing in Europe. That starts with the Scottish Rally this year”.
“After speaking to my teammate Motoharu Kaseya about his experience in Scotland, I’m confident that doing the Scottish in the EuroRallye Civic is the best way to start”, he continues. “Not only do the stages look very technical and challenging, but I have heard the whole atmosphere around the rally is terrific. I’m very much looking forward to it”.
The RSAC Scottish Rally will be held in the forests around Dumfries and Galloway, and runs from Friday 27 to Saturday 28 June. The rally is the third round of the British Rally Championship, and past winners include Colin McRae, Ari Vatanen and Hannu Mikkola – who all went on to become world champions. This year marks the second year of collaboration between two-wheel drive rally specialists EuroRallye and Japan’s international K’s World Rally Team.