{"id":78109,"date":"2022-12-22T15:24:31","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T15:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/karan-impresses-winter-instructors-in-the-toyota-gazoo-wrt-pre-season-test"},"modified":"2022-12-22T15:37:54","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T15:37:54","slug":"karan-impresses-winter-instructors-in-the-toyota-gazoo-wrt-pre-season-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/karan-impresses-winter-instructors-in-the-toyota-gazoo-wrt-pre-season-test","title":{"rendered":"Karan impresses winter instructors in the Toyota Gazoo WRT pre-season test"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Kenya. <\/strong><\/span>Newly crowned Kenyan champion Karan Patel has impressed winter instructors in Jyvaskyla, Finland where he spent three days with Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team in a championship celebration and pre-season test.<\/p>\n

Karan, who is Kenya\u2019s first Red Bull driver, noted that the rare snow driving experience is not only a challenge for every rally driver but also an indescribable experience that is known to improve driving on other surfaces.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy that I was able to impress the instructors with my precision and pace, and they rated me among one of the top drivers they\u2019ve trained. That was a real confidence boost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hosted by team principal Jari Matti Latvala, the youngest ever world champion Kalle Rovanpera and his Toyota teammates Takamoto Katsuta and Elfyn Evans\u2014the three-day event featured a series of experiences that inspired the Kenyan champion.<\/p>\n

One such experience was co-driving Takamoto Katsuta on the icy stages of the manufacturer champion\u2019s test site near Jyvaskyla.<\/p>\n

With temperatures dipping below 16 degrees, the duo shook off the cold while blistering through the 17km test loop in the snow-spangled Finnish forests.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was inspiring to sit alongside \u2018Taka-san\u2019 in the Toyota GR Rally 1 car and experience firsthand the pace and sheer skill it takes to succeed at the pinnacle of the sport.<\/p>\n

“The Hybrid Rally 1 car is worlds of difference from my R5, and Taka\u2019s footwork and instinct on ice are impressive,\u201d said Patel after the experience.<\/p>\n

The Japanese driver, who has lived in the Rally Finland host city Jyvaskyla, close to the Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team base for several years and competed regularly on Finnish roads earlier in his career, calls Rally Finland his \u2018second home rally\u2019.<\/p>\n

At the team\u2019s base, Patel went behind the scenes of the team’s preparations ahead of the new season that kicks off with Rally Monte Carlo in January.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old speedster Patel also spent a day training on the ice behind the wheel of a Toyota Yaris GR with instructors from the renowned Esko Reiners Training School.<\/p>\n

Patel is no stranger to driving on mixed surfaces and he fondly recalls his time in the Drive DMack Cup (Junior WRC Championship) in 2016, where he competed in 5 WRC rallies across Europe, including Rally Finland and Rally Poland.<\/p>\n

The trip culminated in a colourful celebration by the world champions hosted by the City Of Jyvaskyla at the iconic Pavijionki square.<\/p>\n

In addition to world champions Kalle Rovanpera\u0308, Jonne Halttunen and the Toyota Gazoo Racing team, various rally legends took to the stage, with top Finnish artists ensuring rally fans got into true party mode.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Kenya<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Kenya. Newly crowned Kenyan champion Karan Patel has impressed winter instructors in Jyvaskyla, Finland where he spent three days with Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team in a championship celebration and pre-season test. Karan, who is Kenya\u2019s first Red Bull driver, noted that the rare snow driving experience is not only a challenge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":78108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[6857,7003,544],"class_list":["post-78109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-kenya","tag-kenya"],"yoast_head":"\nKaran impresses winter instructors in the Toyota Gazoo WRT pre-season test - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Newly crowned Kenyan champion Karan Patel has impressed winter instructors in Jyvaskyla, Finland where he spent three da ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/karan-impresses-winter-instructors-in-the-toyota-gazoo-wrt-pre-season-test\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Karan impresses winter instructors in the Toyota Gazoo WRT pre-season test\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Newly crowned Kenyan champion Karan Patel has impressed winter instructors in Jyvaskyla, Finland where he spent three da ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/karan-impresses-winter-instructors-in-the-toyota-gazoo-wrt-pre-season-test\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-22T15:24:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-22T15:37:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671710081.77.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"666\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/karan-impresses-winter-instructors-in-the-toyota-gazoo-wrt-pre-season-test#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/karan-impresses-winter-instructors-in-the-toyota-gazoo-wrt-pre-season-test\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Karan impresses winter instructors in the Toyota Gazoo WRT pre-season test\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-22T15:24:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-22T15:37:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/karan-impresses-winter-instructors-in-the-toyota-gazoo-wrt-pre-season-test\"},\"wordCount\":460,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/karan-impresses-winter-instructors-in-the-toyota-gazoo-wrt-pre-season-test#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671710081.77.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Kenya\",\"Kenya\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/karan-impresses-winter-instructors-in-the-toyota-gazoo-wrt-pre-season-test#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/karan-impresses-winter-instructors-in-the-toyota-gazoo-wrt-pre-season-test\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/karan-impresses-winter-instructors-in-the-toyota-gazoo-wrt-pre-season-test\",\"name\":\"Karan impresses winter instructors in the Toyota Gazoo WRT pre-season test - 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