It hasn't been an easy day for anyone - but particularly Takamoto Katsuta who's not been feeling well Words by Friday’s gruelling 98-mile leg through rock-strewn roads menacing piles of fech-fech and arduous terrain was punishing enough The Toyota driver started this year’s event with an enviable Safari record of three podiums and a fourth place finish but it’s been far from straightforward so far in 2025 with three punctures (two on one stage) besetting him on Friday But the biggest challenge of all has been combatting a severe lack of sleep “Last night I got sick basically with food poisoning had a big fever and I didn’t sleep at all,” Katsuta told DirtFish “It’s been a quite challenging day co-driver] did a great job supporting me and we were able to go through the stages.” Opening up on the challenge of the day while feeling unwell Katsuta added: “Especially the first one – even in 100% condition myself probably it’s going to be quite tough and is not sitting too badly – fifth overall and 3m26.4s off his rally-leading team-mate Elfyn Evans we got two punctures this morning and another puncture this afternoon anything can happen still here [at this rally] because tomorrow it’s going to be raining or something “I’m looking forward to sleeping [tonight]!” Sign up today and be the first to know about special offers Katsuta fails to make the finish of Safari Rally The Toyota driver retired after the final stage following a roll on the powerstage Takamoto Katsuta retired from Safari Rally Kenya after the final stage following a roll on the powerstage The Toyota driver had been fourth overall after a mixed event with strong pace but a load of punctures holding him back However he was pushing hard for Super Sunday and powerstage bonus points lying just 0.3 seconds shy of Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux in the Sunday classification prior to the powerstage But Katsuta rolled his Toyota on the final test losing over a minute with the crash before giving up more time with a car that was slowly expiring Although he made it to the end of the stage in what would have been fifth overall he did not make it back to service in Naivasha and therefore scored no championship points His retirement is a particular blow to Toyota as it had already lost Kalle Rovanperä earlier in the day Elfyn Evans took victory but he was the only points-scoring GR Yaris Rally1 and Hyundai has therefore closed from 48 points behind to just 26 Tags: , , , , 2025 DirtFish https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/03/mQKfWEIk-Katsuta03KEN25cm556-780x520.jpg March 23 Legal Toyota taking responsibility for Katsuta’s latest crash Jari-Matti Latvala says nobody can blame Takamoto Katsuta for what happened in Kenya because the team told him to push Words by Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala has absolved Takamoto Katsuta of blame for the final-stage Safari Rally Kenya crash which cost the Japanese driver fourth place Katsuta had been pushing for top Super Sunday points but lost the rear of his Toyota through a medium-speed right-hander and rolled he retired ahead of the finish and therefore failed to contribute to either his own or Toyota’s tally of points from the African event he was kept across decisions and strategies made by the team’s management team on the ground which came on the back of two stage wins on the final morning Latvala offered DirtFish an insight into what had been shaping up to be a strong Sunday “The one thing I want to make clear,” said Latvala “is that he had [a] free hand to push on the last stage – that was from the team But nobody can blame [him] because he had the right to push.” Katsuta has been absolved of any blame for his Safari tumble It wasn’t a bad event at all for him we believed that he could help us on that Sunday He was in a strong position before the powerstage and we knew he could win that “We knew the value of the points from the powerstage and the Sunday we decided to take that risk and this time it didn’t pay off.” Katsuta is seventh in the world championship standings with all of his points so far collected from finishing second place at Rally Sweden but lost 22 points from its advantage in Kenya Tags: , , , , , 2025 DirtFish https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/03/op2k3rot-KATSUTA03KEN25cm460-780x520.jpg April 1 Rovanperä in trouble as rain arrives Takamoto Katsuta is now just 15.9s adrift of third place after dominantly winning Sleeping Warrior 2 Takamoto Katsuta has made up over a minute and a half on third-placed Ott Tänak on a single stage while Kalle Rovanperä hit trouble as the rain arrived at Safari Rally Kenya The threat of rain had hung over the afternoon loop of stages and the clouds delivered in time for the first repeated test of Saturday: Sleeping Warrior And with conditions evolving from car to car there were big swings in the split times as different drivers faced the worst of the rain in different sections of the stage it was Katsuta who emerged a dominant fastest – winning the stage by 15.3s and with a 1m47.7s deficit prior to the stage he is now only 15.9s behind Katsuta picked up some greenery on his way to a commanding stage win That was despite a wild moment towards the end of the stage where Katsuta see-sawed across the road as co-driver Martin Järveoja was seen cleaning the windshield which had misted – a problem that also affected Hyundai team-mate Thierry Neuville who arrived at the end of the stage with his rear-left toe link seemingly broken – despite setting the second fastest time Even rally leader Elfyn Evans wasn’t immune as he suffered a spin on the same water-logged section that caught out Katsuta His rally lead however is still a healthy 1m20.8s Rovanperä's rear-left corner isn't looking too pretty after SS14 Tags: , , , 2025 DirtFish https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/03/1lOVDpNy-KATSUTA03KEN25mr404-780x520.jpg March 22 Rovanperä’s noticed a difference in Katsuta The two-time world champion was "sad" his friend didn't win Rally Sweden but was proud of his performance regardless Few could doubt that Takamoto Katsuta’s Rally Sweden performance which netted a close second to Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans was one of the best – if not the best – of his World Rally Championship career The ever-smiling Japanese driver has done much of his learning over the past five years in rallying’s top tier in the public eye netting five podium finishes before last week’s event while suffering a number of heartbreaking moments along the way But from the despair of crashing out of last year’s Rally Sweden lead battle Katsuta bounced back to be a genuine contender for the top step of the podium throughout this year’s edition After snatching the rally lead on the final morning Katsuta ultimately fell just 3.8 seconds short of snaring his maiden WRC rally win and becoming the first Japanese victor since Kenjiro Shinozuka more than 30 years ago He might have been pipped by a resurgent Evans – himself arguably in the form of his life – but Katsuta had proved that he truly can deliver at the highest level Katsuta fought for the win all-weekend long for the first time in Sweden The service park was united in its joy for the hugely likeable 31-year-old who bears the weight of an expectant nation on his shoulders and is desperate to repay the faith shown in him by his Toyota paymasters But no-one was more delighted for Katsuta than his two-time world champion team-mate While stuck in a something of a rut with his own travails adapting to the WRC’s new Hankook rubber Rovanperä admitted on Sunday that his attention was diverting to the thrilling lead battle all that mattered was securing a third consecutive 1-2 finish and a hugely impressive maximum points haul from the event But Rovanperä was willing Katsuta to go all the way and secure a milestone victory simply a reflection of his affection for his good friend Taka Rovanperä has noticed an improvement in Katsuta Rovanperä told DirtFish he was “really proud” of what he had achieved I was really hoping that both of the guys bring home the really good points for the team championship,” he continued “Then I was hoping that Taka would also get his first win He’s been doing a really good job now “You can see that he’s having a good flow and he’s really confident of course I was really hoping the guys do a good job and I was a bit sad when he didn’t come [out on top] But at least they both got on the podium so that’s the main thing.” Rovanperä has noticed a new mental strength in Katsuta that enabled him to stay in the fight right through to the bitter end I think he has a bit better mindset also that he knows how to approach different kinds of things,” he explained “and he knows where to keep the pace and he’s much more consistent you can see that he’s been at least now really consistent.” In what could be a watershed moment for his career Katsuta’s relief that he had been able to deliver under pressure was palpable any joy was as much about repaying others’ faith including Rovanperä – “one of my best friends” – as conquering his own self-doubt Tags: , , , , , 2025 DirtFish https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/02/fxLEtln3-KATSUTA02SWE25tb357-1-780x520.jpg February 18 Pajari and Katsuta crash out on Monte final day opener Icy conditions caught out two Toyota drivers on Monte's first stage of the final day Words by Two Toyotas failed to complete the opening stage of the Monte Carlo Rally’s final day with both Sami Pajari and Takamoto Katsuta going off the road Pajari overshot the entry to a bridge and clattered into it destroying the fencing on the left side and rolling into the ditch underneath Both driver and co-driver were OK but their rally ended on the spot – and sixth place disappeared with it seventh-placed Katsuta had been first to crack: he slid wide early in the test on a right-hander clipping a wall and coming to rest just to the side of the road Overnight rain had subsequently frozen in places putting traction at a premium: this didn’t help Katsuta’s case as he tried to extract the stricken GR Yaris Rally1 Spectators drew co-driver Aaron Johnston’s attention to the front-left wheel Katsuta remains without a top five finish on the Monte after seven attempts Sébastien Ogier extended his lead to 24.3s with a stage victory though put his fastest time down to tire choice: “The tyre choices are different we will need this gap for the next one,” he explained after setting the scratch time with studded snow tires fitted on every corner Four crews went for a cross-pattern of studded snow tires with slick supersofts: Pajari and Katsuta were two of them as were Adrien Fourmaux and Kalle Rovanperä That choice proved detrimental for Fourmaux who conceded third place to Hyundai team-mate Ott Tänak by 4.5s Thierry Neuville has moved up to sixth place while Josh McErlean shifts up to seventh place in the lead M-Sport entry Katsuta was not registered for manufacturer points on this event; Pajari was though with Toyota’s secondary manufacturer entrant Tags: , , , , , 2025 DirtFish https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/01/cHaopMvt-Pajari01MC25cm150-780x520.jpg January 26 Japanese driver now holds a 4.5-second advanatge over team-mate Evans Takamoto Katsuta has moved into the lead of Rally Sweden with just two stages to go a few places are quite slippy than what I expected so I had to use the banks but it wasn’t so bad so maybe I don’t need [to] – I don’t know.” dropping 7.5s while Ott Tänak has closed to within just 1.8s of Thierry Neuville’s third place “just struggling for confidence with the front end and then not carrying the speed I’m not sure why it’s feeling so different today.” Neuville complained of “understeering all the time” while Tänak was second fastest and happier to be running the engine map he wanted And his team-mate Josh McErlean lost 49 minutes after getting stuck in a snowbank Katsuta currently also leads the Super Sunday standings by 0.9s over Tänak Toyota was ready to demote Katsuta but he saved himself Takamoto Katsuta could have been dropped to a part-time program had he made a mistake in Japan Toyota headed to its home round of the World Rally Championship knowing it needed a near-perfect rally to retain the manufacturers’ championship That meant Takamoto Katsuta needed to deliver A spate of crashes earlier in the year had led to him being dropped from the lineup entirely for Rally Chile He put 12 points on the board at the penultimate round of the season But the stakes in Japan were simply too high – he had to execute whatever the team told him to or it would be curtains for his WRC ambitions It may seem like hyperbole to suggest that one slip up in Japan would simply be the end of the road. But when asked by DirtFish if that was the case “For sure before the rally when I heard this straight away I thought if I do something wrong or crash How real was the threat to Katsuta’s future at Toyota Katsuta suggested after the powerstage that his career dependended on his Japan drive - and it was true It’s often assumed that his nationality aligning with Toyota’s and being the first graduate of the Challenge Program system designed to find the next WRC winner from Japan would give him a level of protection against the sack But team principal Jari-Matti Latvala confirmed to DirtFish that there was no guarantee Katsuta would end up with a full-time drive in 2025; a demotion to part-time status had been discussed internally [Rally Japan] was a little bit like a test as well,” said Latvala but sometimes you need to see a bit of a change I remember once a good engineer said to me that we know with what he’s been doing he’s really fast But if there’s been similar mistakes happening that is the moment we need to learn from them And that was the point that I think he proved The pressure Katsuta had faced was immense he was revealed as being part of Toyota’s lineup full-time for next season Such were the stakes during the rally itself Katsuta didn’t find this out until 24 hours before the big reveal “Now it was the moment that we also need to know that Taka needs to take a step forward on his career,” said Latvala Latvala has deliberately put Katsuta under more pressure towards the end of the season to see how he'd cope We were going through a little bit [of a] different strategy for him for Central European Rally and also then for Japan he needs to take a little bit off the speed The sense of relief on hearing the news was huge the trademark Taka smile had finally returned His usual self had temporarily disappeared in a metaphorical sense With his life’s dream under existential threat he also had to resist the urge of simply vanishing into thin air to escape the pressure But this was kind of a big test for me and I have to make a next step forward to take a stronger mentality so hopefully this kind of experience helps for the future Katsuta must now focus on righting the wrongs which put him in the firing line to begin with He will be called into action to score manufacturer points for Toyota no earlier than mid-February next year – Sébastien Ogier will take on the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally in Toyota’s fifth part-time entry and score points rather than Katsuta or Sami Pajari No decision has been made on which rounds Katsuta or the newly promoted Pajari will be chosen to score manufacturers’ points when Ogier is absent But Katsuta has already learned one lesson from the year just completed: he must stop trying to hard to prove his worth That impulse is what put his WRC dream in such a precarious position to begin with “Everyone in the team is giving me the right It’s even more now clear than before,” said Katsuta because otherwise the team doesn’t need Taka anymore “When I had difficult situations this year I spoke a lot with team guys like Tom [Fowler technical director] and I understood that this was not the case in the beginning of the year they were not hoping that this [leading pace] happened But I was always thinking that I need more Then eventually I made a mistake and created a more difficult situation myself I can be calmer and make a plan more progressively So I think I’m mentally more stable already before the rally to set a good target so I’m pretty sure that next year will be a really good season.” Katsuta is lowering his expectations for 2025 - not targeting a win so desperately There were hints of potential rally-winning pace in 2024 – albeit always followed by some sort of car-breaking incident more measured Katsuta isn’t setting that same target for 2025 – and he has the team’s support in that respect “First of all I need to do a very stable job like I did last two rallies,” said Katsuta of his 2025 objectives For sure it would be nice to fight on the podium in some rallies “At some point when I have a chance to fight something bigger But before that I need to look at the whole week strategy I also learned from Séb quite a lot in these difficult moments and Séb gave me much advice I really appreciate it; I was so happy how he helped me – of course not only Seb Without this I don’t know if I could manage or not.” 2024 DirtFish https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2024/11/KATSUTA13JAP24TB601-780x975.jpg December 1 After being in contention for victory all weekend in Sweden the Japanese driver believes he can take the next step Now that Takamoto Katsuta has fought for a World Rally Championship victory all-event long he has vowed to push even harder in the future Katsuta grabbed the lead of the rally on the first stage of Sunday morning but lost too much ground on the next meaning he was consigned to second place with just the short Umeå powerstage to go But this was an important performance from the Japanese driver who sustained his speed but also managed the risks to help deliver a 1-2 for his team “It’s been a quite strong weekend for me,” Katsuta told DirtFish It’s very nice to finish and I’m quite happy for the team “I was able to bring the car back and at the same time bring the points quite a lot That’s one of the happiest points for me Katsuta and Aaron Johntson joined team-mates Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin for a Toyota 1-2 I’m really disappointed in myself I was not able to push and take risk on second-last stage and at the same time Elfyn did an amazing stage “So I just decided to bring the car back and at the same time push if I feel comfortable for powerstage points “The whole weekend felt quite consistent and good but I had also quite strict strategy to bring the car back But we did it with this strong performance which I’m very happy [about].” Driving with that level of pressure – knowing he had to go fast but not make a mistake – has often been where Katsuta has cracked let’s say it’s the first time ever I’ve been in this kind of so tight battle whole weekend between Elfyn and the world champions [Neuville and Tänak],” he said there’s no [room] to make any mistakes and there was some pressure all the time I was really relaxed and I didn’t feel that I going to make a mistake I just drive with my feeling and then time is coming at some points I was struggling a bit with the car and things but this is quite normal – like not only me “But overall I’m pretty happy how I managed this pressure and the things so when I next time am coming then I continue to have a clean rally Katsuta feels he has turned a corner with his performance in Sweden Where he was “too hungry” to take his first victory before “I’ve been working quite a lot with my engineers and also Tom Fowler and Séb Ogier was also helping a lot he’s one of my best friends,” Katsuta revealed Séb was always helping me and we talk quite a lot on the phone And next time I try to do an even better job.” Katsuta dropped for Pajari at Rally Chile Sami Pajari has been called up to compete in Chile in place of Takamoto Katsuta Toyota has benched Takamoto Katsuta for the next round of the World Rally Championship in Chile – with rising star Sami Pajari taking his place aboard the factory GR Yaris Rally1 in South America The beleaguered Japanese has struggled for form this season with a solitary Safari Rally second being his only visit to the podium through 2024 Pajari impressed hugely on his Rally1 debut finishing fourth at Secto Rally Finland and winning his ninth stage in the car Since then he delivered a similarly surefooted drive to bring a GR Yaris Rally2 to the same overall result in Greece last week team principal Jari-Matti Latvala said: “It has been a tough season but he has the full support of the team and everybody knows that he has the speed he has a chance to reset and recharge ready for the last two events which will be important – especially Rally Japan of course where we hope he can be fighting for the podium places again.” When talking ahead of last week’s Lamia-based event Latvala told DirtFish not to be surprised to see Pajari back in the factory car before the end of the year The thinking was always a seat for Central Europe Rally which fitted more comfortably with the team’s logistics DirtFish understands the decision was taken on Sunday evening to install him alongside Sébastien Ogier Elfyn Evans and Kalle Rovanperä for round 10 Latvala added: “After the great performance that Sami Pajari showed at Rally Finland we wanted to see more of what he can do in a Rally1 car The main goal in Finland was to gain experience but he already demonstrated his high potential he again showed the high level he’s been driving at with the GR Yaris Rally2 car “As we look to invest further in talented young drivers for the future it’s important to learn more about Sami’s abilities firstly on some different gravel roads on the other side of the world in Chile so there is no pressure upon him to contribute towards the championship For us it’s more about investing in the future and gaining that experience.” Pajari is delighted with the chance to drive the GR Yaris Rally1 on two of the remaining three events He said: “It is amazing to have this chance to drive the GR Yaris Rally1 on two more events this season It feels really nice to know that TGR-WRT is putting this trust in me “Rally Finland was like a dream come true for me and after that of course I just wanted to drive a Rally1 car more and more but I could not have expected that the opportunity would come again so soon “I’m really looking forward to Rally Chile with some nice gravel roads that are mostly flowing and high-speed CER will be Pajari’s asphalt debut aboard the Rally1 car and he’s well aware of what a tricky event it can be He added: “Central Europe can be even more demanding given how wet and muddy we saw it can be last year For my first time in a Rally1 car on asphalt on such a rally it could be quite a challenge but it’s one that I’m really happy to face Katsuta will return to compete in both CER and his home event in Japan He wrote on social media: “We will have a short break from competition after an intense summer that maybe didn’t go as planned can help me reset and come back stronger for CER and Japan “Of course it’s tough and I am really disappointed with myself but the team is supporting me to find again the good feeling “Sami and Enni are really great and I wish them all the best for the rally.” Tags: , , , , 2024 DirtFish https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2024/09/TIAHFZqr-Katsuta0GRE24cm639-780x520.jpg September 11 Latvala: Katsuta ready to win WRC events Toyota team principal reckons Japanese driver's Sweden showing proves he has what it takes One year ago, Takamoto Katsuta’s world was collapsing around him He’d gone toe-to-toe with Esapekka Lappi for the lead of Rally Sweden verging on tears when speaking to the media once he’d returned to the service park his mood couldn’t have been more different He hadn’t – but he’d scored a major victory in his development as a rally driver Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala might have been happier His young Japanese charge finally demonstrated the sort of pace that his team needs from its regular third driver “Taka did the performance that we’ve been a little bit waiting for to happen,” Latvala told DirtFish you could see there was a change within Taka and now he had a different approach.” Elfyn Evans pulled a barnstorming penultimate-stage performance out of the bag to pip Katsuta to the top spot in Sweden last week But Latvala isn’t at all disappointed by that outcome Katsuta demonstrated a stronger winning mentality than ever before – one which Latvala believes means he is finally ready to take the next step he attacked and he went off,” Latvala continued “Now he was holding his mind back and decided that he will secure the podium “So now overall I would say Taka is ready to win rallies.” Katsuta’s confidence-boosting Sweden performance means Latvala expects that win could come as soon as the next round of the season at the Safari Rally in March “This will definitely give him good confidence,” said Latvala so I think that’s an event which he can actually win.” Tags: , , , , , 2025 DirtFish https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/02/Katsuta01MC25mj0207-780x975.jpg February 19 Evans extends WRC lead with Safari win Elfyn Evans took victory at Safari Rally Kenya as his team-mate rolled on the powerstage Elfyn Evans has claimed back-to-back World Rally Championship wins for the first time in his career with victory at 2025’s Safari Rally Kenya while Takamoto Katsuta crashed on the final stage The Toyota driver backed off to secure the win on the final day beating Ott Tänak by 1m09.9s with reigning world champion finishing third – his first Safari podium that also gave Hyundai its first ever double podium in Africa Despite Neuville and Tänak outscoring him in terms of Super Sunday and powerstage bonus points Evans’ championship lead has grown to 36 points over Neuville Two-time World Rally champion Kalle Rovanperä is some 57 points adrift after he was forced to retire on Sunday morning with an electrical issue on his Toyota In the manufacturers’ battle Toyota’s lead has been slimmed to 26 points as it was outscored by Hyundai to the tune of 22 points in Kenya Evans’ route to victory was as straightforward as it can be on the Safari Minor problems like a 360-degree spin and a helmet swap on Friday due to an intercom beginning to fail were all he had to deal with as he managed things perfectly from the front “I want to say thank you to everyone in Kenya for a very warm welcome they did a great job and I’m proud to be a very small part of Toyota’s history at this special rally.” Tänak had been the early leader across Friday but was pegged back when a driveshaft broke aboard his Hyundai who drove two stages on Saturday with broken suspension allowed him to sneak back up to the runner-up spot Neuville’s weekend started badly when he left Friday morning service six minutes late due to a transmission and driveshaft change He then picked up a 10s penalty for a jump-start and a further 50s for arriving to a stage due to clearing his air filter of fech-fech and then spent most of Friday night on the toilet instead of sleeping But multiple punctures and changes for Katsuta prevented the Toyota driver from getting ahead He was on to secure fourth place and protect his record of finishing in the top four on every visit to the Safari but in a push for bonus points he rolled his Toyota on the powerstage Nearby spectators were able to help the car back onto its roof but Katsuta dropped three minutes and therefore position to Sami Pajari That all became academic when he was forced to retire after the stage with too much damage “I don’t know what’s happened,” a disconsolate Katsuta said M-Sport’s Grégoire Munster was fifth but had a late scare when his Puma Rally1 dramatically slowed on the final stage of Sunday morning It was an emotional finish for the Luxembourger who won his second WRC stage this weekend and revealed his grandad passed away on Wednesday Munster’s team-mate Josh McErlean lost half an hour when a steering arm broke and he stopped to change it mid-stage – leaving him 10th overall privateer M-Sport Ford of Jourdan Serderidis was eighth Adrien Fourmaux meanwhile endured a disastrous weekend – retiring on Thursday with a master relay failure and then again on Friday as a puncture broke his suspension Hyundai therefore chose not to send him out for Saturday’s stages focusing on an all-out attack on Sunday which did bear fruit Carrying just one spare for the final loop Fourmaux topped both Super Sunday and the powerstage to bag himself 10 consolation championship points Gus Greensmith topped WRC2 at the Safari for the second year in succession as Jan Solans and Fabrizio Zaldivar completed the podium Solans had been just 6.2s behind Greensmith until he rolled his Toyota on the day’s second stage but he kept hold of second despite losing three minutes Oliver Solberg finished fifth – leading comfortably on Friday afternoon before he got beached in a section of deep fech-fech Tags: , , , , 2025 DirtFish https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/03/qpX28BGz-Evans03KEN25cm711-780x520.jpg March 23 Katsuta into second Top five covered by less than 10 seconds heading into Friday's superspecial Words by Ott Tänak leads Rally Sweden by just 0.5 seconds from Takamoto Katsuta heading into Friday evening’s superspecial stage after three lead changes during the afternoon Early leader Elfyn Evans is just 1.4s further adrift while Adrian Fourmaux and Thierry Neuville complete a top five covered by 9.9s Evans held the lead going into the afternoon’s stages where a lot more gravel had broken through the ice after the morning loop He and second-placed Fourmaux both suffered overshoots and dropped more than 14s in total on the long 17.5-mile SS5 as conditions improved for those further back It was Evans’s Toyota team-mate Katsuta who set the fastest time on the test catapulting him from fourth overall into the rally lead as Evans was among those to risk using both his fresh spares A stall on stage for Katsuta contributed to his 8s loss as he slipped back to second 1.9s behind Evans but still 1.7s ahead of Tänak The Hyundais of Neuville and Tänak set the pace through the shorter SS7 Bäck Neuville in particular benefiting from fresh rubber to go 0.8s quicker than his team-mate Katsuta brielfy led the rally and remains just 0.5s off the pace Tänak was 2.2s faster than Katsuta and 5s quicker than Evans as he leapfrogged the pair to take the rally lead by just 0.5s from Katsuta “I tried hard on this stage,” Tänak admitted “I’m not sure we got it right with the tire strategy – we used quite a lot on the previous ones I tried hard and we had some quite fancy moments as well but we are here.” The “fancy moments” included Tänak approaching a square left with far too much speed He threw the car sideways and used the snowbank to stop it before powering away with minimal time loss Despite dropping time over the three stages Evans remains within touching distance of the lead “The rear of the car is very loose now but it’s sort of to be expected,” he said Fourmaux had looked set to challenge for the lead himself but is still only 5.8s behind Evans in fourth He regretted making a setup change for SS6 where he dropped over 5s to both Tänak and Evans going just 1.9s slower than the new leader “Now we are back with the feeling I like,” reported Fourmaux “We’ll see for the last one – I tried also to manage my tires After struggling with understeer through the morning lunchtime setup changes helped Neuville find more pace through the afternoon “I wasn’t pushing that much but I had a good stage,” Neuville reckoned I just tried to be efficient with the car and the grip it’s a lot of ice and the studs are quite worn But it seems like so far not a bad afternoon He too managed to find more confidence in the car through the afternoon and reckoned his strategy of saving rubber would pay dividends on the evening’s icy superspecial stage The Ford Pumas of Mārtiņš Sesks and Josh McErlean complete the top eight Sesks impressed with the third fastest times through SS5 and SS6 to move ahead of his team-mate who was another to suffer an overshoot on the loop’s opener which cost time But a smooth run through SS6 gave McErlean the fifth best time to help consolidate his position Sami Pajari is 11.3s further back in ninth overall with two top-four times in the afternoon helping to claw back some of his deficit from a tire leaving its rim in the morning Grégoire Munster is another 8.6s back in 10th after losing time on the gravelly sections Oliver Solberg continues to lead the way in WRC2 despite hitting a number of problems then lost power for much of the loop’s second stage before describing the car as “undriveable” on SS7 Solberg’s Toyota still leads Roope Korhonen’s similar car by 20.7s with Georg Linnamäe completing a Toyota top three Tags: , , , 2025 DirtFish https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/02/4zGQIcQB-2025SWEDEN-_FD_-087-780x520.jpg February 14 Takamoto Katsuta has never been as close to a maiden WRC victory as he is now - but will he able to do it Takamoto Katsuta is arguably closer than ever to his first World Rally Championship victory But can he make up the three second deficit required – and more importantly While he was second overnight at 2021’s Safari Rally Kenya and ended up leading the rally on Sunday morning he has never been as close to the lead time-wise at this advanced stage of a WRC weekend The victory is there for the taking – but he’s in a complicated situation Katsuta won’t directly be asked to hold station and not challenge Evans tomorrow Thierry Neuville is well and truly in the hunt Katsuta can’t really back off even if he because a Hyundai is lurking so close behind him a little bit up and down because I was struggling in the car in the morning and afternoon,” he told DirtFish “I stalled and reversed once and I lost some seconds there it’s still interesting situation going on and I just try to focus my own driving and own job and try to do my best.” “On my feeling of course I want to do something push or something because I’m hungry But I just need to follow the team strategy of course “But we cannot forget that Thierry is just behind us and not so far we need to do a good run and a good push tomorrow and [there’s] Sunday points of course and also keeping our position at least.” Katsuta is "hungry" to finally grab his first WRC victory had a word with him on Friday – reminding him that he needs to prolong the fight we don’t have any team orders,” Latvala told DirtFish there’s a good point to have some discussion with the drivers And just to think about both sides that you have a lot of points at stake for the drivers’ and the manufacturers’ and do you want to risk it for the victory it’s important to raise up because what we have clearly seen is we don’t have so much data with the tires and how much you can bring the limit with the tires when you start to attack “I think that is the question mark which even drivers don’t know when you have to start taking those last points so that is something we have to bear in our minds.” Latvala reiterated “it’s a driver’s choice how he wants to go” “But it’s something that I want to raise up,” he added “just as a reminder how you want to see the rally finishing.” Neuville thrives when he's in a position of attacking But a couple of small mistakes on the final two stages of Saturday proved nothing is guaranteed yet “We’re going to have to just give it our best shot and see what comes at the end of it,” he said Neuville’s grin on Saturday night said it all “Happy to be there after a bit more difficult start we were capable of understanding the tires We still need a little twist on the setup to make it perfect but we’re not far away.” Neuville has strong history of conquering Evans on final day shootouts as well “It’s obviously visible that the pressure is there,” he smiled So let’s try to give them that extra pressure they need tomorrow morning and try to do our best.” Jari-Matti Latvala has given the home hero the all-clear to go for it this week But it’s one that will be music to the ears of Japanese rally fans ahead of this week’s World Rally Championship finale: Takamoto Katsuta you are cleared to shoot for the stars in Toyota City because team principal Jari-Matti Latvala told DirtFish Katsuta’s return to a GR Yaris Rally1 at the Central European Rally couldn’t have gone better he went from steady to less steady to fastest Latvala was quick to underline the approach for the 13th and final round of the season definitely,” was the answer to the obvious question “Taka is allowed to push for the win in Japan Thousands of fans will line the roads in and around Toyota City next week hoping for a repeat of the form their man showed through the weekend After going off on the Friday morning run through Isegami’s Tunnel Katsuta was an absolute sensation through Saturday winning every stage of significance in the strongest single day of his career to date times three would go down very well this week Will Pajari take Katsuta's place or will Chile on the bench be just the fillip the Japanese needs As the World Rally Championship heads west across the Atlantic for Rally Chile Toyota has made the bold decision to replace Takamoto Katsuta with Sami Pajari in Concepción While Katsuta’s inconsistencies have been well documented this year His latest mistake at last week’s Acropolis Rally marked a turning point for the Toyota Gazoo Racing team and team principal Jari-Matti Latvala picked up the phone to Pajari who had finished the event in an astonishing fourth overall and top of the WRC2 results The second shot for Pajari was telegraphed when Latvala told DirtFish he wouldn’t rule out seeing Sami back in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 before the end of the year This has been a torrid year for the 31-year-old with Katsuta promising pretty much at the end of every rally to go away have a think about things and come back stronger Katsuta knows how close he is to a maiden world championship win then it would be hard to sympathise with his plight he’s been given – and is enjoying – a very fair crack of the whip with the Finnish-based team Katsuta made his WRC debut eight years ago Originally a race driver who made his name in karting and Formula 3 he eventually decided to follow his father Norihiko to the stages He was selected as one of the original Toyota Gazoo Racing Challenge Program drivers in 2015 and enjoyed a breakthrough WRC2 win in Sweden The even bigger breakthrough came a year later After a couple of Finnish rounds (one on snow and one on gravel) Taka was handed a WRC debut at the all-asphalt 2019 Rallye Deutschland He started his first full campaign in 2021 and finished fifth overall in the championship a year later after a stellar season of consistent points finishes Registered for manufacturer points on the odd event last year but he drove well across the second half of the year and ended with a sensational Rally Japan – which could well have ended in a maiden win had he just kept the car on the road in some of the worst conditions imaginable on the opening morning A broken #18 Yaris being loaded into the back of a trailer has been an all-too common sight this season going to be the stimulus for more podiums and a likely first win this season but he hasn’t been able to sustain it and put a trouble free 200 miles of competitive motoring down without a mistake Rear-ending a fairly well-known tree on the outside of a Ruuhimäki corner was a particular frustration in Finland Pajari’s rise through the ranks has been rapid Two years ago he was still driving a Ford Fiesta Rally3 on most events he’d won the Junior World Rally Championship title when he moved up to a Toksport Škoda and faster still when he switched to a Printsport Toyota and was recognized as Finland’s new rising star Finns Pajari and Latvala have already demonstrated a good working relationship within Toyota The right connections have doubtless worked in his favor but ultimately none of that mattered come seven o’clock on the first evening of August Sitting on the startline of the Harju stage Secto Rally Finland this year was very definitely divided into Friday morning… and the remainder of the rally where he spun and then sent the GR Yaris Rally1 off the road The rest of the rally was about a Ruuhimäki stage win and a smile that just kept on getting wider and wider all the way to fourth overall on Sunday afternoon But Chile and CER haven’t been offered up on the back of one blinder of a rally he’s been consistent and demonstrated pace and maturity beyond his years in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 car That kind of depends on the Toyota play next season The expectation is that Kalle Rovanperä will be back full-time in 2025 And what about Japan’s understandable desire to see a Japanese driver in its car he’s under contract and he’s grateful to Toyota for giving him some breathing space this year Ogier will likely be on a part program – or he might decide to call it a day Monte Carlo is the problem for the Gap superstar But he’s still showing more than enough speed and bringing enough points with enough experience to keep his place It’s possible Katsuta and Pajari could share the events Ogier’s not doing with a couple of five-car entries thrown in here and there We can’t underestimate the Japan factor here Katsuta is so close to winning a WRC round and for Toyoda and Toyota that would be a huge story and a significant return on that investment We saw last year what a curved ball this event is capable of throwing so he needs to keep the car on the road and his focus on the finish it’s kind of key for him to keep his fellow South American Rally1 first-timer Mārtiņš Sesks behind him If the pair of them run problem-free for the duration Pajari’s pace needs to reflect the fact he has a battery and 134 electric horses on tap every other minute Should he look to beat Katsuta in Central Europe But he probably should identify the odd stage where he could turn it up and take it to Taka Much of the Sami speed will be determined by the conditions; if it’s on-off rain and muddy corners galore It will take an awful lot of confidence to commit to the aero with the grip changing meter-by-meter beneath you Switch off the phone (but not until you’ve spoken to DirtFish) and focus on family time Put all of this out of your mind and try to avoid tuning in to Chile that’s all very much easier said than done But what Taka needs to remember is his spellbinding speed in Japan last year the 33 stage wins and two powerstage wins he’s already scored he has the capability and he still very much has the belief of a team a manufacturer and a nation to come through this Rally Japan has started horribly for Toyota Sébastien Ogier and Takamoto Katsuta have suffered disastrous starts to Rally Japan as both punctured on Friday’s first stage That’s particularly bad news for Toyota’s manufacturers’ championship hopes as it already trails Hyundai by 15 points and i20s are currently locking out the top two places with SS2 winner Thierry Neuville just half a second behind his team-mate and title rival Ott Tänak “No idea [how it happened],” a tight-lipped Ogier said “The first few corners were very slippy and I was understeering but… yeah.” Katsuta’s time loss was less severe as he didn’t stop to change But the effect was the same as it further damaged Toyota’s hopes Neuville’s stage win was largely unexpected given his comfortable lead in the championship but road position played to his advantage on a still-damp road Despair for Ogier as he lost over two minutes Tänak was the only driver to get close to him losing 1.2 seconds with third-fastest Elfyn Evans 5.0s down Fourmaux explained: “There was a lot of leaves on the road and the cars in front are bringing on the leaves which is normal Neuville and Evans are seemingly already clear at the front separated by 4.2s with a chasm of 45.2s back to Fourmaux 7.3s down on Fourmaux but 4.4s ahead of Mikkelsen who overshot a corner but admitted the stage was also messy WRC2 leader Nikolay Gryazin is an incredible fifth overall splitting the two Rally1 Pumas after beating them both on the stage – setting the fourth fastest time outright 2.8s adrift of Gryazin after losing just 0.8s to him on SS2 The Japanese driver said he felt under more pressure than ever before in his life at Rally Japan Takamoto Katsuta has opened up about a Rally Japan week which he says was the most pressured of his life The Japanese bounced back strongly at Central European Rally with fourth place overall and all 12 points from Sunday’s powerstage and Super Sunday format but has never felt such pressure in a rally car before than at his home event in Japan this weekend Katsuta suggested “if something happened this could be the last rally for me” – indicating that any kind of error would have spelled the end of his career with Toyota crazy weekend,” Katsuta told DirtFish I’ve never been in this kind of feeling in a rally car or even in my life Katsuta has never experienced pressure like he did this weekend before “But same time I cannot make any stupid things and OK puncture and some spin but somehow I managed to come back here Toyota’s 2025 driver lineup is yet to be officially confirmed but traditionally it makes an announcement just after Rally Japan “I think tonight I will hear something.” Toyota driver beat team-mate Katsuta by just 3.8 seconds to bag a maximum points haul from the weekend Elfyn Evans resisted the pressure from his Toyota team-mate Takamoto Katsuta to win Rally Sweden by just 3.8 seconds after an incredible final morning The powerstage was a longer version of the Umeå test that had been run as a superspecial on each of the three previous evenings where a late mistake cost him powerstage victory last year to clinch the victory and maximum points on Super Sunday too He now holds a 28-point lead over Sébastien Ogier in the drivers’ standings with Kalle Rovanperä a further two points back “I made life difficult for myself on that first stage this morning,” smiled Evans “But at least it focused the mind and got a good run over the last couple of stages there now and obviously very happy with the end result.” who was also second on the powerstage and Super Sunday overall having snatched the lead on the morning’s first stage He could still be proud of a very assured performance over the weekend “Many people sending me message last night giving me some extra energy to stay on the road!” laughed Katsuta Unfortunately I was not ready to fight for the victory on this Elfyn did an amazing stage on the last [penultimate] one Toyota secured its third consecutive one-two finish but this time I wanted to stay on the road and bring her back.” “We have done a good rally,” summarized Neuville “Some ups and downs but overall I think we can be pleased with our performance We saw that road positions were changing throughout the whole weekend It’s very hard to know what would have been the best start position We kept fighting and I think we can be proud of the result.” Tänak was more despondent after completing the powerstage “This stage was like the rest of the rally – quite complete disaster,” he said It’s just when you come with the high hopes and you get a rally like this Just over 30 seconds covered a top five completed by Kalle Rovanperä after an incredibly close event that had featured six lead changes in its 18 stages who has struggled to get the best from the new Hankook tires on both events so far this year “But we need to go to the next one and hope that on gravel we have a better pace with this year’s stuff.” A strong drive through Sunday’s stages meant that Mārtiņš Sesks comfortably held off his former Junior WRC rival Sami Pajari for sixth overall Both were happy with their performances over the weekend although Pajari continued to rue the time lost to a tire coming off the rim on Friday Sesks was quicker than Pajari through Sunday's stages to clinch sixth position The second M-Sport Ford Puma of Grégoire Munster was eighth after a steady run hampered by his road position Team-mate Josh McErlean had earlier lost more than 45 minutes in a snowbank on the day’s first stage The Super Sunday standings mirrored the overall top five except for Neuville and Tänak switching positions Securing the class win for a third consecutive year taking his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 to victory by 42.5s The similar car of Roope Korhonen was second holding off Mikko Heikkilä’s Škoda by 25.8s The Toyota driver tells DirtFish his approach as he prepares to return for Central Europe and Japan Speaking for the first time since sitting out last month’s Rally Chile Takamoto Katsuta has told DirtFish how he plans to return to Toyota’s factory team stronger than ever at next week’s Central European Rally I didn’t get to drive in completely dry conditions which is maybe better for the road [condition] It was good to be driving and getting some mileage again.” Katsuta admitted he’d been moved by the support he’d received from the team Katsuta returns to the GR Yaris Rally1 for the last two rounds of the season “I really feel the team behind me and now I have to make the result to pay them back for this support I really appreciate [the support] from the guys the drivers like Séb [Ogier] and Kalle [Rovanperä] and Elfyn [Evans] – but also I want to tell you about people like Tom [Fowler engineering manager] and the other engineers “To know they still believe in me means so much from people who see this job from a different way to me They see through the eyes of the engineer and they could tell me different things to what I was thinking for myself It’s with their help that I will be able to come back stronger I want to do a good job to pay back everything they did for me.” Katsuta admitted his plan to steer clear of DirtFish didn’t work Katsuta is grateful for the support he's received from inside and outside Toyota He said: “Through Chile I was trying to switch off and not to watch But you cannot switch off the passion we have for this sport so I was automatically going and watching a little bit on DirtFish it also showed me where the support was coming from – you know who was helping me and who I should trust and appreciate in these tough moments There were many people from outside the team – some from the other teams – who were calling me and helping me now I want to repay those people who have supported me.” Katsuta admitted he will take a measured approach to next week’s CER with the aim of building his confidence towards his home rally in Japan next month not think about that and just focus on my driving and if I can do that then I think the result will be OK “I have been really stressed and frustrated with myself but also because I feel I have the speed and I’ve got to do a better job to turn that speed into a result – that’s the frustrating part Asked if Toyota’s hopes of a fourth straight manufacturers’ title added pressure in Toyota City Katsuta said: “Japan anyway is going to be huge pressure with or without the championship situation the undoubted star of last year’s Rally Japan dominating the weekend stages in a scintillating fightback after being caught out by horrible conditions on the event’s opening morning Get quick access to your favorite articles Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers Make your voice heard with article commenting A dramatic final-stage roll has forced Takamoto Katsuta to retire from fifth position at Safari Rally Kenya after failing to reach the final time control Katsuta appeared to be on course to finish a highly commendable fourth in Kenya before drama struck on the 21st and final stage of the event the Japanese driver lost control of his Toyota GR Yaris which then pitched into a roll with the car coming to a rest on its roof early in the 10.53km Hells Gate Power Stage Katsuta and co-driver Aaron Johnston were able to roll the car back onto its wheels and began to continue through the stage the car began to lose power before crawling across the finish line The incident cost the pair three minutes, dropping them down a position to fifth behind Toyota team-mate Sami Pajari nothing else," said a visibly upset Katsuta at the stage end the damage sustained to the car meant Katsuta was unable to drive back to the service park and reach the final time control which is required by the rules to secure the finish “It was very unexpected and I don’t know exactly what happened and I feel very sorry for the team,” he said after the finish “The pace was good and it was a strong performance but at the end I am very frustrated and not happy with myself."    The retirement means Katsuta loses the 10 points on offer for finishing fifth under the new-for-2025 points system It comes as a bitter blow after an eventful weekend that witnessed Katsuta battle through a bout of food poisoning and a series of punctures the latter preventing him from starting the final day in third position Katsuta’s exit means M-Sport-Ford’s Gregoire Munster has now inherited fifth Munster was also emotional at the finish after revealing his grandfather had passed away at the start of the rally WRC2 winner Gus Greensmith finished sixth ahead of fellow WRC2 rival Jan Solans Fabrizio Zaldivar and M-Sport rookie Josh McErlean completed the points-paying positions.  From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport In order to keep delivering our expert journalism we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker Thierry Neuville has moved up the leaderboard while Takamoto Katsuta dropped on SS3 Thierry Neuville has moved from eighth to sixth despite checking out of Friday morning service six minutes late and incurring a one-minute time penalty – while Takamoto Katsuta fell from second to seventh with a puncture Punctuated by plenty of rough sections and generally constant slow-speed corners the stage took the best part of 26 minutes for the Rally1 cars to complete And it was rally leader Ott Tänak who was fastest by 2.1s over his team-mate Neuville whose Friday morning was frantic as the Hyundai team changed the driveshaft and transmission on his i20 But despite the time loss for leaving service late Neuville moved up the standings – both due to his strong SS3 time Katsuta was not the only Toyota to puncture as Sami Pajari also collected a flat on the stage losing over three minutes while Katsuta lost over two But Pajari caught the ire of M-Sport’s Grégoire Munster who fell from third to fifth overall because he was hampered by dust thrown up by Pajari’s GR Yaris Rally1 Munster dropped the collective stance from WRC drivers to not give stage-end interviews in English and when you lose three minutes you go on the side to let past,” said a frustrated Munster “We are one minute from the fastest but just because I couldn’t see a thing.” Munster is exactly one minute off Tänak’s lead which is now held over Elfyn Evans by 13.1s with M-Sport’s Josh McErlean in fourth place Katsuta 2m36.4s down and Pajari 3m34.0s adrift – precisely 0.1s behind M-Sport privateer Jourdan Serderidis Oliver Solberg is a fine seventh overall and leading WRC2 by over 35s from Kajetan Kajetanowicz Just 3.7 seconds separates Toyotas of Evans and Katsuta heading into powerstage Elfyn Evans has responded to Takamoto Katsuta’s Sunday morning challenge grabbing back the lead of Rally Sweden with just one stage to go however turned the screw on the second pass to win the stage by a massive 6.7s over Thierry Neuville “I didn’t know how it went,” Evans admitted at the stop-line “It felt better [than the first pass] but Neuville holds a 3.3s advantage over team-mate Tänak in the battle for third Katsuta looked dejected to learn he had lost so much to Evans Neuville meanwhile beat his Hyundai team-mate Ott Tänak by 1.5s to strengthen his grip on third place Just 3.3s splits the two heading onto the powerstage Neuville and Kalle Rovanperä completing the top five Takamoto Katsuta's team-mates have all been in touch with him and offered advice after he was benched for Chile Words by Alasdair Lindsay & Colin Clark With eight world championship titles to his name there are few better people in this world to deliver sage rallying advice than Sébastien Ogier dropped for Rally Chile in favor of Toyota’s young prodigy Sami Pajari Crashes from promising positions in Sweden Finland and on the previous round in Greece meant Katsuta is absent in Chile and won’t be back until Central European Rally in mid-October Ogier has been on the case to offer Katsuta some pointers of how to rebuild his confidence – even if that means dispensing some tough love Katsuta is sitting out this week's Rally Chile after a disappointing run of events it’s hard to take,” Ogier told DirtFish “I think he’s not having the best time at the moment but he has to try to use that as a reset to come back on the next one “You were in a position where you had good tires so maybe sometimes a punch in the face helps us to restart.” and he has proved since now quite a while in terms of speed So I think as a team now everybody will try to support him I think you shouldn’t see it only as a punishment that he’s not here I think there is really a wish for us as a team to help him to turn the thing around “There’s many drivers who’ve been in these situations but it’s in this situation that you get better The first message I sent to Taka was: what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger it’s Katsuta and reigning world champion Kalle Rovanperä who are closest Both live in Finland and spend time together away from the stages – so Rovanperä has been on the phone to Katsuta plenty Katsuta has been receiving plenty of advice from his team-mates “I talked with Taka many times after the decision and I think this is going to be a good chance for him to reset a bit,” was the world champion’s verdict As much as Katsuta might be tempted to follow Rally Chile live the one piece of advice Rovanperä gave was to do exactly the opposite: switch it off and forget about the WRC not keep working all the time more and more because at some point it’s too much,” said Rovanperä I think that’s the biggest thing I told him Take a few beers and enjoy life for one weekend without rally.” Elfyn Evans meanwhile backed Katsuta to make the most of his unexpected break “Of course Taka will bounce back,” he said “He’s shown a lot of potential this year “He has the full support of everybody behind him and yeah I’m sure good times will come for him.” Rebooted Katsuta delivers on plan Returning to the team's line-up Toyota's Japanese driver did everything asked of him on Central European Rally Saturday morning and the Central European Rally’s only all-Austrian stage was being beamed into Toyota’s corner of the service park Cut to a shot of Takamoto Katsuta drifting beautifully across the grass far from the only driver to spend time on the grass last week but it’s fair to say the stakes were probably higher for the Japanese were he to find an immoveable object buried in the turf Back after being benched for the South American trip to Chile Taka was a man with a three-day plan for the WRC’s cross-border adventure he delivered on that plan quite brilliantly By the time he reached DirtFish on Sunday evening landing his first 12-point Sunday with two scratch times from four and the all-important high five from the powerstage Katsuta delivered an almost perfect performance on CER [Toyota technical director] Tom Fowler about the plan this morning He said to me: “You can push now…” I said I would I was waiting for this moment for the whole weekend “We followed our strategy and the plan and this is why I was able to push today otherwise a mistake could happen yesterday or two days ago and [the rally would be a] different story I have to say a huge thanks to the whole team and how they supported me and how they gave me this car that was really working well “I must say it was not really easy and I would say I could still do something better for the future; I’m still looking at what I can do for the future to be better Katsuta now heads to his homeland reinvigorated “I was already thinking a lot but then I had time to think more with all the people around me and I was able to see that who is really supporting me and who I really need to listen to “That was a nice kind of moment with what kind of people I have around and I really appreciate all of them Life is tough so some tough moments can happen in the future still But last month and two months ago was kind of one of the toughest moments of my life.” It was a nice drift… But it felt like I was on the grass for 10 minutes!” Tags: , , , , 2024 DirtFish https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2024/10/x54VpN0E-taka_off-780x613.jpg October 22 Toyota signs Pajari for fourth full-time 2025 seat Sami Pajari will graduate to a full-time seat at Toyota after his WRC2 title – while Katsuta keeps his seat and Ogier remains part-time Twenty-four hours on from sealing the WRC2 title A fifth GR Yaris Rally1 will be fielded on selected rounds for Sébastien Ogier but the Frenchman has told DirtFish he wants next year to be quieter than 2024 Pajari’s arrival in the factory squad was largely expected following strong performances from the 22-year-old in Finland Chile and at the Central European Rally this year Katsuta’s continued participation was also widely predicted until his comments at the end of last week’s Rally Japan where he told DirtFish he was unsure if he would be retained for 2025 Katsuta was informed later on Sunday night that his contract would be extended with the factory squad As well as announcing its factory driver line-up, Toyota also confirmed Juha Kankkunen as deputy team principal at its Nagoya press conference Pajari impressed on his WRC debut in Finland winning a stage and finishing fourth despite an early off A predictably delighted Pajari said: “This is a dream come true for me and Iʼm really grateful to Toyota Gazoo Racing and the team for giving me this amazing opportunity There have also been many important people who have been helping me and making this possible “It has been an incredible year for us in the GR Yaris Rally2 and in our first events in the Rally1 car and although we have now reached the place we were aiming for I also know that this is where the hard work really starts to learn and to push for good results in the future.” Pajari’s replacement co-driver for Enni Mälkönen has yet to be announced A relieved Katsuta admitted his season had been a difficult one but said he would be chasing more podiums into 2025 “Iʼm really happy that I will continue driving with the team in 2025,” said the Japanese “It has been a challenging season for me this year and I want to thank the team and everyone who has been supporting me in the difficult moments “I feel I have shown my speed on most of the rallies so the confidence is growing and I just need to find the right rhythm through every rally – this is my main target next year The returning Rovanperä said his motivation was high to chase a third drivers’ title in four years He said: “Iʼm really excited that I will be driving in the full WRC season again next year driving a few different cars and still winning some rallies at the same time Katsuta has retained his full-time drive for 2025 despite being dropped for Pajari in Chile earlier this season but itʼs also given me a lot of motivation to return for the full season to push together with Jonne [Halttunen] for championships.” the TGR WRC Challenge Program continues next season with second generation drivers Hikaru Kogure and Yuki Yamamoto continuing to drive GR Yaris Rally2 cars on selected WRC rounds in 2025 The third generation: Shotaro Goto and Takumi Matsushita step up to four-wheel drive Rally3 machinery The search for the fourth generation is underway and following an initial selection event at Fuji Speedway seven drivers will take part part in the final part of the selection process in Finland next month Jari-Matti Latvala’s efforts in the European Historic Rally Championship with his Celica ST185 will also be run under TGR colors with former WRC2 co-driver Janni Hussi confirmed as his navigator for that campaign Tags: , , , , 2024 DirtFish https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2024/11/85RxncpT-PAJARI12CER24TB244-780x520.jpg November 25 Takamoto Katsuta is feeling the pressure with Toyota's manufacturers' title push going down to the wire Takamoto Katsuta has admitted he feels “very nervous” about making an error that could cost Toyota the manufacturers’ championship at Rally Japan After Ogier lost two minutes changing a puncture Katsuta – who also lost time with a tire off the rim – has found himself in a critical position for Toyota’s title bid Pre-rally anticipation was high over Katsuta’s potential Japan performance given he won 10 of the 17 full-bore special stages on last year’s edition of the rally He hasn’t quite matched those highs in 2024 – which he admitted was due to a fear of mistakes creeping back into his driving I was enjoying a lot,” Katsuta told DirtFish “But now it’s a totally different feeling I am very nervous because I don’t want to make a mistake and be more on the safe side all the time.” Katsuta’s 2024 season has been blighted by incidents crashing out of podium positions on three occasions so far this year (Sweden just a tenth behind M-Sport's Adrien Fourmaux He will begin Saturday’s action 0.1s behind Fourmuax but still intends to push to take third place back from the Ford Puma driver; the extra three points from ending Saturday’s action on the podium would narrow the gap to Hyundai in the manufacturers’ title race to 13 points “It’s not going to be easy [to beat Fourmaux] but I still believe that our package should be able to catch him but he's learned his lessons and looks readier than ever to win in Japan Irrespective of the 12 World Rally Championship rounds that precede it Takamoto Katsuta always arrives home to Rally Japan under pressure Katsuta has already been in Japan for a good while performing PR activities for Toyota and various partners but took some time out to speak to the world’s media ahead of next week’s season finale The major takeaway is Katsuta’s using the pressure to fuel him where he came back off the bench from Rally Chile and seems ready to produce the goods both for himself Katsuta is thriving under the pressure he's under in Japan - largely thanks to a confidence-boosting CER but this rally is a little bit more than other rallies for sure,” Katsuta opens “I really wanted to make it last year It’s like a kind of good pressure.” Perhaps he wouldn’t have said the same had CER not gone the way it did Katsuta barely put a foot wrong as he finished fourth overall and scored a full 12 points from Super Sunday – of particular importance given Sébastien Ogier’s exit on the penultimate stage Katsuta approaches Japan with a positive mindset and knowledge of what not to do in pursuit of a dream victory “Everything is possible,” he says “but as you know this year also that I made a bit too many small mistakes then I was already out in the beginning of the rally So I think the most important thing is that especially in the beginning of the rally I try to see the situation and how everybody going and then I try to be a bit similar than Central Europe Rally Could a home win be on the cards for Katsuta in Japan “But of course I need to a bit more risks in the beginning and try to use my performance in some stages where I feel confident but I’m still hoping that I can perform well like last year Katsuta does himself a slight disservice there as he was basically helpless to avoid hitting the three that he did last year But his rally-winning speed is a major sign of encouragement heading into 2024’s instalment of Rally Japan As was spending some time at the racetrack watching some of his old rivals perform well “I have been some spectating some racing last weekend and I have met a lot of my old rivals and they were doing very well Unlike Hyundai which can win both world titles no Toyota can win the drivers’ title for the first time since 2018 But that does somewhat simplify things for the team as it can throw all of its energy into the manufacturers’ race It trails Hyundai by 15 points ahead of Japan but says he won't take as many risks as his team-mates Does he sit back and let his two team-mates push on “It’s a very important rally for the team and for myself,” Katsuta acknowledges the easiest way is just pushing a lot and winning the rally And there is a lot of fast drivers and difficult condition if it’s raining especially so I don’t want to make similar mistake to what I have done this year at the beginning of the rally and small mistake It’s a bit stupid to make same thing especially in this last rally so I think for sure there will be no team orders but one thing that’s a bit obvious is that I need to stay in the fight until the end do something stupid in the beginning and go out somewhere else So I will just focus on my own job and do my best – a little bit reducing the risk in some places definitely I need to push and I will push.” Katsuta suggests it will be up to Ogier and Evans to push on without consequence describing their situation as “a little bit different” He says: “For sure if it’s easier conditions like if it’s dry condition and sun is shining it’s going to be easier for everybody this is at least my position of the approach for Rally Japan because for sure Seb and Elfyn is a little bit different “I will take a risk as well for sure but still I need to see how everybody is going and especially my team-mates but like you said I feel quite confident and good feeling from the car and from the all like atmosphere in the team so now I just try to focus for preparing well like the pacenotes and everything let’s see in shakedown how I feel in the car.” Once the helmet’s strapped up and he’s belted into his GR Yaris Rally1 Katsuta’s only focus is on everything he’s just talked about – delivering the result he and Toyota need for the championship it’s enlightening to hear him talk so openly about trying to grow the sport of rallying in Japan It’s no longer the country he calls home (Katsuta has lived in Finland since 2015) but Katsuta cares deeply about inspiring the next generation and increasing the awareness of local people – something he says all motorsport has struggled with in Japan but in Japan Toyota and myself are also trying to make rallying and motorsport more popular in Japan,” he says I feel kind of pressure and also kind of responsibility of this job to make it more popular for the future in Japan Katsuta says motorsport is “still far away” from benefiting from widespread popularity in Japan There are some famous players but never been many famous drivers from the motorsport,” he explains this is also kind of a big task for us to make it more popular not only rallying and also Formula 1 but some other racing drivers are trying very hard to do many events.” The Toyota Stadium superspecial returns to the itinerary this year having debuted last year and Katsuta believes stages like that are crucial in this objective – pointing to his own example watching what used to be the old Hokkaido-based Rally Japan when he was a youngster on the racing “I still remember when I went to Rally Hokkaido for the first time ever in my life That moment I did not know about the rally regulation or any rules but still I enjoyed a lot because you can see which car was quicker and which car was slower So I think this kind of stage is very important for the… especially in Japan there are not so many local people who know about rallying yet “So just need to show what kind of car is going and you can feel the excitement from the cars and the engine sound and everything I feel a bit more pressure than other stages because I want to show some good driving and a good show for my Japanese fans.” The ultimate way to boost rallying’s popularity would be a Katsuta win That wouldn’t do his own career any harm either Rallies aren’t won in the press room but Katsuta’s never looked readier than he does now The self confidence (and assurance) is back and on the evidence of both his answers and driving in CER he has learned the lessons Toyota wanted him to when it elected to sit him out of Chile Because rallies aren’t won on the first day Perhaps next week really is the time Katsuta can make that dream rally win at home a reality but that’s also one of my targets and also my dream Advantage Toyota as unwell Neuville punctures Elfyn Evans extended his lead over team-mate Kalle Rovanperä as Takamoto Katsuta took fourth from Neuville Takamoto Katsuta has stolen fourth place of Safari Rally Kenya from an unwell Thierry Neuville who punctured as Elfyn Evans doubled his lead over Kalle Rovanperä The famous Sleeping Warrior stage kicked off Saturday’s action and the rain has arrived – creating an incredibly muddy and difficult stage to open the day One driver not taking part however is Adrien Fourmaux – his Hyundai team choosing not to send him out today instead sparing the car for a Super Sunday push His team-mate Neuville perhaps wish he hadn’t either – his day complicated as early as last night as both he and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe were unwell and struggled to sleep He then was forced to stop to change a front-left puncture costing him two minutes and fourth place to Katsuta Evans started the day just 7.7s clear of his team-mate Rovanperä but ended SS11 15.9s clear after a strong 8.2s stage win but it’s a lonely third with a 1m19.9s deficit to Rovanperä and 2m25.1s advantage over Katsuta Josh McErlean has lost his seventh place after stopping late on the stage with a broken steering arm But the M-Sport crew had the part in the car so managed to replace it and continue in the event Gus Greensmith has also taken the lead of WRC2 as overnight leader Kajetan Kajetanowicz stopped on the stage 2025 DirtFish https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/03/iwW3sUAe-Evans03KEN25cm317-780x520.jpg March 22 Toyota's team principal has been in a similar situation before when he was a driver Photography by Toyota & Girardo & Co. Archive Not many people truly knew what Takamoto Katsuta was going through on Wednesday Benched and told he wasn’t wanted for Toyota’s next World Rally Championship outing His team principal – one of the team who’d broken the news to him – could empathize New Zealand and Ford pair Mikko Hirvonen and Latvala are running one-two with just a couple of Raglan stages and the Mystery Creek superspecial left Staying ahead of Citroën’s Sébastien Loeb and Dani Sordo is vital in the race for the manufacturers’ title Latvala was dropped to Ford's second-string Stobart team for Corsica (pictured) and Spain in 2008 those rallies were not going so well for me,” he said “I was dropped from the factory team to Stobart team (M-Sport’s second-string WRC squad) but I was taken away from scoring the manufacturer points This was helping to take away some of the pressure at that time to think about what needs to be done and what can be improved it’s rallies all of the time and Taka doesn’t really have so much time to think about the things you don’t have time to face them and they pass you by This will give him some time before CER (Central Europe Rally).” “But the important thing is for Taka to know We take this moment as a moment to invest into the future of course he does – all drivers want to drive but this can be a good time for the pause.” And to save you all diving into eWRC to find out… François Duval stepped up from the Stobart team to join Mikko Hirvonen in the factory for in Spain and France in 2008 An impact broke a wheel on Takamoto Katsuta's Toyota while battling for first place in Greece Photography by Damien Patoux & M-Sport Takamoto Katsuta has retired out of the battle for the lead of Acropolis Rally Greece with a broken wheel with Toyota team-mate Sébastien Ogier retaking first place leaping from third to first as he won the Tarzan test comfortably to build a 5.9s lead over M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux Tänak fell back to third after ending Tarzan 11.2s off the pace: “For some reason it was a big struggle with the balance on this one,” he said afterwards “It was more rocky and difficult to make it work.” Fourmaux is 4.9s behind Ogier on the leaderboard for now but that gap may become smaller through a stewards decision He’d been stuck in the dust of Elfyn Evans who had been limping to the end of stages two and three with technical problems and expects to gain time back through stage time adjustments Fourmaux remained in the lead battle despite having no hybrid power on Friday morning “I’ve done all I was capable to do this morning,” said Fourmaux “We lost the hybrid this morning so we did all the loop without it I just saw the organizer will do something for our time on the last two stages where we lost a lot of time near the end with the dust coming from Elfyn “I don’t understand why I am slower than the others,” said Sordo after arriving at the finish of Tarzan 9.1s off Ogier’s pace “For me the feeling was like I could push a little bit more.” An engine issue that was causing misfires during Friday morning cleared up somewhat on Tarzan – but the drawbacks of being first on the road remained “We got hit by some technical issues which didn’t help,” said Neuville “In those cleaning conditions it has been horrible However I tried to push a bit more and tired to get through.” Evans hit a rock that caused a puncture on rally’s opening stage – but he suspects may also have contributed to a technical problem that left him limping through stages two and three “We need to find out what the cause is first before we judge whether it’s bad luck or not,” he said after Tarzan WRC2 class leader Yohan Rossel is also sixth overall running ahead of Grégoire Munster’s Ford Puma Rally1 by 3.4s Rossel is one of the main contenders for the WRC2 title against the absent Oliver Solberg “Incredible feeling in the car,” said Rossel Rossel has 24.3s in hand over nearest WRC2 rival Sami Pajari who had no answer for Rossel’s searing pace “I felt like I had a really good section on this stage here,” said Pajari after SS3 “But maybe closer to the end I ran out of the tires It’s not bad but still I feel like I’m missing something.” Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala confirmed negotiations are open about how to slot both drivers in next year With Sami Pajari’s return to Toyota’s factory team now just a week away the biggest question in Chile is likely to be about the math But what about Pajari and Takamoto Katsuta Before being benched for next week’s Rally Chile Katsuta had been a Toyota full-timer since 2022 who replaces the Japanese in South America Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala offered DirtFish his thoughts “Let’s say that we are looking at this young driver program and we want to invest for the future,” he said we want Taka to be able to improve and get more consistency because we know Taka has speed our idea is to look the options to find something for both of them At this point I can’t say anything more about it because negotiations are still open.” One source close to the team said: “Everything is being considered now Of course Toyota has the potential to run five cars but maybe it’s better to have one – or two – of those run by a satellite [team] at the side of the main Toyota service area.” with Katsuta and more recently Jari-Matti Latvala and Juho Hänninen being run in such a way there’s still the Rally2 car to be considered Would Toyota ask Taka to step back to WRC2 but I’m sure if there are complicated logistics with Rally1 cars it’s better to have Sami in a Rally2 and taking experience than sitting at home and not driving there’s a lot more data for the team to take from the next two and three rallies before firm decisions are made.” with Tänak third as 2.5s cover podium places Elfyn Evans reclaimed the Rally Sweden lead on Friday’s final stage to lead Toyota team-mate Takamoto Katsuta by just 0.6 seconds overnight Evans was able to translate his first-on-the-road starting position to the fastest time 3.9s quicker than Tanak and 1.5s faster than Katsuta it’s just so messy in there,” reported Evans But everyone would struggle for grip on their studded tires that had already worked hard through the afternoon’s second-pass stages It meant that the lead had changed for the fourth consecutive stage and it is all to play for over the remaining two days who had briefly led earlier in the afternoon and is seeking his first ever World Rally Championship event victory “It’s good tomorrow we start quite similar places [in the road order] so more equal conditions so it will be interesting Today was really comfortable and not any drama Tänak dropped from first to third on final stage but remains only 2.5s off the lead Tänak was very comfortable with being just 2.5s off the lead after Friday’s stages His Hyundai team-mates Adrian Fourmaux and Thierry Neuville complete a top five covered by just 9.1s overnight Neuville had been struggling with understeer through the morning but had a much better afternoon which included a stage win He was second fastest through the superspecial and is now just 1.2s behind team-mate Fourmaux “I think we had very good tire management this afternoon,” he reckoned “And a clever run through some challenging stages with not a lot of information about the tires So I followed my feeling and it seemed to be a good strategy for this afternoon.” he remains in strong contention despite struggling to adapt to the WRC’s new tires “Definitely not the best day for us but sometimes it like this and we need to keep pushing for tomorrow,” he summarized The M-Sport Ford Pumas of Mārtiņš Sesks and Josh McErlean lie seventh and eighth Sesks is 18.1s behind Rovanperä and McErlean a further 19.0s down They are being chased down by the Toyota of Sami Pajari after the Finn dropped around half a minute when a tire came off the rim in the morning Grégoire Munster completes the top 10 after an up-and-down day when he initially struggled with his Puma’s balance before later suffering from a lack of grip Oliver Solberg was fastest on the superspecial despite suffering engine problems on his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 He holds a 23.8s advantage over the similar car of Roope Korhonen Rovanperä’s support for his only “real friend” in WRC The two-time world champion is delighted to see Takamoto Katsuta back and at his best following his benching in 2024 Kalle Rovanperä had to stand on the sidelines and watch it happen But it still hurt – watching your mate being dropped from playing alongside you is never easy Takamoto Katsuta’s demotion to the bench for last year’s Rally Chile was the bitterest of pills to swallow for the likeable Japanese his performance in Japan nothing short of outstanding Those two rallies – and support from friends like Rovanperä – paved the way for his return this season solid friendships in this sport and that’s where Katsuta and Rovanperä are at real friend I have from any of the drivers It’s super-cool to have him in the team But I think one of the first ones when he knew that he will continue [with the team] he sent me a message and straight away we talked about it Both were back in action testing their Toyota GR Yaris Rally1s last week before the first round of the World Rally Championship The last time they both started a WRC event together was Finland last August Tags: , , , 2025 DirtFish https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/01/NXVqbNtA-Rovanpera03KEN24cm626-2-780x520.jpg January 13 Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans outside top 10 after opting to do only one pass of warmup stage Takamoto Katsuta was fastest out of the blocks on Acropolis Rally Greece topping the shakedown stage where the majority of drivers were impacted by the amount of dust on the roads pondered at the end of his first run: “Already the shakedown is extremely tricky with the dust making his first WRC appearance for Hyundai since Rally Italy Sardinia in early June “In one of the corners I almost stopped from the dust,” he said His second attempt was 1.3s slower than Katsura’s benchmark championship leader Neuville faces the prospect of road sweeping which was pronounced on the first run of shakedown Yohan Rossel in a Citroën C3 Rally2 was fourth quickest though eventually fell to ninth as the Rally1 cars went for second attempts “The risk of punctures is super high so let’s see what we can make out of the weekend,” said Neuville “Our approach is to have a decent run protect the car and cross our fingers for [avoiding] the punctures.” M-Sport duo Adrien Fourmaux and Grégoire Munster were fifth and sixth fastest They were followed by the top WRC2 runners as Toyota duo Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans opted to undertake only a single timed run and ended 12th and 14th fastest respectively Usually two runs of shakedown are mandatory for Rally1 runners but this has been revised down to just a single pass for the Acropolis Toyota’s leading contenders also suffered with the dust as much as their rivals: “Quite a lot of dust Not ideal,” said Evans after his one and only attempt Gus Greensmith led the way of the WRC2 runners 1.7s up on Robert Virves in another Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 Rossel’s early effort was enough to keep him third among the Rally2 competitors Linnamäe was one of the few WRC2 drivers to run shakedown twice; most made only a single pass to save their tires for use on the rally itself Toyota's trio of points-scoring crews are battling for the win – but Katsuta in the fourth car hit a tree Kalle Rovanperä leads a tricky Secto Rally Finland after Friday morning as World Rally Championship rival Ott Tänak crashed and Takamoto Katsuta smacked a tree and retired on the road section The Estonian’s Hyundai came to rest on its side in a ditch just over a mile into the stage after he lost the rear co-driver Martin Järveoja was taken to hospital for further checks Thierry Neuville had hoped for rain as first car on the road and his rain dance worked with full wet conditions on Friday morning Yet he described the first stage as a “disaster” as the “diffs were opening a lot” on his Hyundai leading to him either struggling to turn his Hyundai or fighting sudden oversteer obviously my pacenote wasn’t precise enough to know exactly where the corner was so I just went slightly straight,” Neuville said “I hit the gas and we slipped away so I had to go backwards.” Neuville finds himself fifth on the leaderboard 13.9 seconds (around what he lost with his overshoot) off the lead which is being disputed between a pack of Toyotas Evans set the pace on the opening Laukaa stage before Kalle Rovanperä hit back on Saarikas – the pair of them leaping past Sébastien Ogier who briefly led after SS2 But Evans made his move on the legendary Myhinpää test outpacing Rovanperä by 2.0s to claim a 1.2s advantage shaking his head as he coasted towards the stop control “There was a big shower for us towards the end of the stage but it has been a difficult morning with the car also,” he rued “I have been trying to do a setup change for each stage However he responded with aplomb on the loop-concluding Ruuhimäki to wrestle the lead back off Evans who described his SS5 performance as a “bit clumsy” “On this rally it’s all about really small details to be fast with the car Hopefully we can find something for the afternoon.” On his first Rally Finland in a Rally1 car Ogier is third overall – just 3.0s off the lead – despite a wild moment on Ruuhimäki where he skirted a ditch with the rear of his Yaris “For sure we are all driving on the limit and in this condition it’s not easy,” Ogier said “This moment cost me a bit of time as well – that’s how it is.” His moment was nothing compared to Katsuta’s though who prior to SS5 had been holding on to fourth by just 0.5s over Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi who had described his driving as “embarrassing” and “proper s***” on SS2 ran off-line and whacked a tree early on Ruuhimäki The rear wheel was clinging on at a 90-degree angle to the arch but Katsuta was able to complete the stage but to no avail and he was forced out of the event on the road section Sami Pajari’s Rally1 debut got off to a lively start on Friday morning first when he spun his Toyota on SS2 and then when he ran wide and slipped into a ditch rear-first rearranging the rear of his Yaris in the process because I don’t know where I am,” commented a slightly flustered Pajari at the stage-end by the next stage Pajari admitted the difference without a rear wing was “huge” adding: “It feels like you have a puncture all the time at the rear.” The young Finn finds himself eighth as a result struggling for pace without the benefit of proper aerodynamics on the lightning-fast stage it appeared as if M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux opted for caution over courageous pace to sit an uncharacteristic sixth overall five stages into the event But the Frenchman was frustrated by his lack of progress which he felt was stunted by M-Sport not doing a pre-event test “It’s a disaster,” he said after SS4 Myhinpää “We had no test before the rally and it’s a disaster Team-mate Grégoire Munster is seventh overall; his challenge hurt by stalling his engine under braking on the day’s opening test The M-Sport driver is already over a minute off the lead Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Takamoto Katsuta has explained why he was able to make a strong World Rally Championship comeback at the Central European Rally after being benched.    The Japanese driver rejoined the Toyota squad for the penultimate round of the season last weekend following a shock decision by the team to bench its full-time driver for last month’s trip to South America The decision from the team came after the Acropolis Rally which marked a sixth consecutive result outside of the top five for Katsuta The 31-year-old says missing Chile was one of his toughest career moments but he was quickly able to put that behind him at the Central European Rally with a fine run to fourth The five-time WRC podium finisher marked an impressive comeback under pressure by scoring the maximum 12 Super Sunday points for topping the Sunday classification and winning the Power Stage The points haul could prove crucial for Toyota in its fight with Hyundai for the manufacturers’ title.  Katsuta believes he wouldn’t have been able to achieve this if it wasn’t for the support from within the team and all the people around him.  One of the areas Katusta has worked on to fine tune his driving is his pacenotes by removing unnecessary extra detail that can be harder to process at speed It was such a difficult moment I’ve had in the last few months and maybe the start of the season and of course last month was the toughest moment," he said “But I had really strong support from the team and all the people around me This is one of the reasons I was able to come back stronger.  "There is massive support from my engineers and my team-mates like Kalle [Rovanpera] Seb [Ogier] and Elfyn [Evans] calling me and messaging me It is hard to say [if the decision to miss Chile was correct] as it was really tough moment I had time to think a lot and I was able to concentrate and do the job.” Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala labelled Katsuta’s Central European Rally display “superb” as his Sunday points haul helped Toyota’s manufacturers’ title bid after Sebastien Ogier crashed out of the victory battle He had an excellent performance and also a very good performance from Elfyn [Evans who finished third] they both saved us in this situation and we are still in the game for the manufacturers’ championship,” Latvala told Motorsport.com.  “Taka has been really superb and on Thursday he had quite a bit of pressure and was quite nervous coming back to the car after a one-month break.  “You could see he was a little bit cautious then he was lifting up the speed and then he did a fastest time but when it was tricky he took it easy.  “He was growing and this is exactly the way we want him to take because we know his speed but the problem before is Taka has been trying to lift up the speed too quickly and now he was progressively building that A man serving a life term for murdering an elementary schoolgirl was served a fresh arrest warrant on Wednesday for allegedly killing another girl in western Japan marking a major development in a case that has remained unsolved for 17 years is newly accused of killing a 7-year-old girl by stabbing her in the chest and stomach in front of her home in Kakogawa adding he has remained silent about the case who was put behind bars for fatally stabbing a third-grader in Tsuyama was also arrested earlier this month in connection with the stabbing of a fourth-grade girl in Tatsuno The girl was stabbed after returning home from a nearby park and was confirmed dead at a hospital due to blood loss she reportedly told rescuers that her attacker was "an adult man." A lack of eyewitnesses and evidence had long stalled investigations into the case as well as the case in Tatsuno but police questioned Katsuta on a voluntary basis in May after identifying similarities between the incidents and the case in Tsuyama He later hinted at his involvement in the two unsolved cases Man jailed for murder arrested again, hints at another girl's killing To have the latest news and stories delivered to your inbox Simply enter your email address below and an email will be sent through which to complete your subscription Please check your inbox for a confirmation email Thank you for reaching out to us.We will get back to you as soon as possible The questions Safari will help answer Two rounds into the 2025 WRC season Which will continue into this week's Safari Rally Two rounds into the 2025 World Rally Championship season Elfyn Evans and Toyota have grabbed the early initiative in both championship battles but will that trend continue with the winter rallies now done and dusted That’s just one of the many questions this week’s Safari Rally Kenya should help answer about the direction of this WRC season Toyota’s unprecedented clean sweep of both Monte Carlo and Sweden has left Hyundai already staring at a 48-point deficit to the rival it entered last season’s final stage net level with And the bad news potentially continues given Hyundai hasn’t claimed a Safari Rally podium since 2021 Toyota meanwhile has taken a 1-2 each and every year the rally’s been back on the calendar Hyundai has only ever scored one podium finish in four attempts at the Safari and team principal Cyril Abiteboul has targeted a podium finish to kick off its resurgence against Toyota Using its 2024-spec i20 for the final time that’s the minimum Hyundai needs if it wants to keep Toyota under pressure in this year’s manufacturers’ championship but Takamoto Katsuta arrives in Africa in a rich vein of form after what many feel was his finest WRC performance yet at round two Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala declared it now finally means Katsuta is ready to win WRC rallies and in theory Kenya should be a strong one for the Japanese who has only failed to reach the podium once in his four previous visits Katsuta has an enviable Safari record with three podiums from four and no finish poorer than fourth Whether Katsuta will actually win is not the real question this weekend should start to answer whether Sweden was a genuine turning point Arguably the biggest question heading into Safari week rests on the shoulders of the double world champion Kalle Rovanperä After his public struggles to get on top of the Hankook rubber in Monte Carlo and Sweden will he finally have cracked the code as the WRC switches to gravel the Finn needs to have made progress given gravel is the majority surface Because despite lying a net second (behind part-time Ogier) in the championship 2025 is the first of Rovanperä’s WRC career where he’s failed to podium in either of the first two rounds But while there is an onus on Rovanperä to reverse the tide tire supplier Hankook also has a question to field Will its tires be just as durable on gravel as they have been on other surfaces Hankook has made no effort to disguise its priority in providing safe and durable tires so in all likelihood the trend will continue in Kenya But this is the roughest rally the new rubber has faced so far so arguably it’s also their biggest test to-date After fighting for the top-four and winning his first ever WRC stage at Monte Carlo Grégoire Munster came back to earth with a bang in Sweden with a distant eighth place finish where he was even outpaced by his rookie team-mate Josh McErlean Munster’s hardly the most experienced campaigner either but that wasn’t the best look for a driver who stated before the season began that he wanted to try and replicate what Adrien Fourmaux did at M-Sport last year Munster didn't produce the performance he was after in Sweden The Safari opens the door for an underdog hero to emerge and both of M-Sport’s youngsters will hope it’s them It will be equally intriguing to see how McErlean fares after his strong speed in Sweden – was that circumstance driven For all the downplaying both driver and team have been doing since Sweden there’s no denying Elfyn Evans has marked himself out as a real contender for the 2025 drivers’ title Never before has he started a season as strongly as this and coupled to the struggles of his world champion rivals The question is: will it continue to grow in Kenya Will Evans still be head and shoulders above the rest Evans has stolen a march on the rest so far this season - but will that trend continue the WRC2 title and plenty of national rally wins all over the world there’s not a lot left for Toyota’s GR Yaris Rally2 to prove But this week is the first time it’s ever been rallied in Africa and four examples will take the start courtesy of Oliver Solberg The Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 is recognized as a very strong car so 2024 winner Gus Greensmith is unquestionably the benchmark the Toyotas need to topple When Sébastien Ogier was handed a suspended €30,000 fine for comments made at last year’s Acropolis Rally Greece both he and good friend Ott Tänak opted to stay silent during stage-end and media interviews on the first day of the succeeding round in Chile In the wake of Adrien Fourmuax’s €10,000 fine for using inappropriate language at a stage-end in Sweden last month the WRC crews clubbed together to form WoRDA (World Rally Drivers’ Alliance) and called for a discussion with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem Will there be any developments this week in Kenya Might drivers choose to boycott stage-end interviews by way of taking a stand The Safari will provide a development in this story either way Juha Kankkunen takes the reigns of Toyota for the first time this week Juha Kankkunen was around at last year’s season-ending Rally Japan and this year’s season-opening Monte Carlo Rally but Safari is the first time he’ll stand alone as Toyota’s team principal – present without Jari-Matti Latvala by his side Will his style be the same as Latvala’s other than speaking to him in media zones instead It’s not long until we get out first clue 2025 DirtFish https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/03/ifzXZAih-Evans03KEN24cm340-780x520.jpg March 17 Takamoto Katsuta’s biggest target for 2025 is to be more consistent with his results across a World Rally Championship campaign which he expects will offer up a “bigger challenge” However, Katsuta produced two impressive drives under intense pressure on his return to the championship placing fourth in the final two events of the season in Central Europe and Japan Those results have helped restore confidence but Katsuta maintains that he has to work on his improving his consistency next season but at the same time I need to be more consistent over the season and at every rally try to fight for the podium,” Katsuta told Motorsport.com it would be nice to get podiums at every rally but with all the top drivers competing it is never easy “At some rallies when I have good confidence and performance I will try to do my best to get the victory “The biggest target for next year is that I need to be more consistent and I try to work hard for what the team needs “I need to make a proper plan about when I can push and when I need to make sure I finish and bring in the points next year will be a bigger challenge in terms of expectation and all the things “It is good to have Kalle come back and Sami joining the team; [Pajari] is a pretty young talent but I need to be flexible and learn from him as well The 2025 WRC season begins with the annual curtain raiser in Monte Carlo from 23-26 January Watch: Ranking Autosport's Top 50 Drivers of 2024 - 20 to 11 Takamoto Katsuta is not the only WRC driver to have been benched for a rally or two during a season Photography by Girardo & Co. Archive & M-Sport Nobody will envy Takamoto Katsuta just now But Katsuta’s time-out is only for one rally While he will naturally be gutted to be missing the trip to Concepción he will be back behind the wheel for both the Central European and Japanese events that conclude the season And that places the 31-year-old in a rather unique club of WRC drivers While many have been dropped from a works drive either at the end of a season or during it (think Oliver Solberg in 2022 as an example) actually very few have been benched in the middle of the year Here are three examples from the WRC’s past of drivers who were benched mid-season and how that ultimately worked out for them: If there was one environment any driver probably didn’t want to be in during the mid 2000s it was at Citroën as Sébastien Loeb’s team-mate The then-24-year-old had seven WRC podiums to his name when he first sat in a Xsara WRC but the Belgian was destined for a desperate run of form – kicked off by a heavy crash into a telegraph pole at the Monte Carlo Rally – over the first half of the season A fire after going off the road in Cyprus was the final straw for both co-driver Stéphane Prevot and Citroën management while Citroën benched Duval in favor of two-time world champion Carlos Sainz for Turkey and Greece Duval returned for Argentina and delivered steady performances there and in Finland before he stormed to second in Germany and repeated the feat in Wales He would even win his one and only WRC event in Australia but by then the die was cast and Duval was dumped in favor of Dani Sordo for 2006 Kris Meeke was at the peak of his powers during 2016 Turning up to the odd WRC round in a privately run Citroën DS3 WRC the Northern Irishman won in Portugal and then famously in Finland to underline his potential as a WRC title contender the following year and over the first seven events of 2017 Meeke scored points on just two of them – albeit one was victory in México Citroën then decided to bring Andreas Mikkelsen in for Poland in place of Meeke citing a series of poor results and the need for Meeke to take a break and “recharge his batteries and release some of the pressure before Rally Finland” In later years Meeke has since said it was in fact his decision to sit Poland out but either way this was a relationship that was not set to last Citroën unceremoniously sacked Meeke with immediate effect and he therefore missed the rest of the 2018 season He would return with Toyota the year after Although M-Sport’s Frenchman is one of the WRC’s in-form drivers today Adrien Fourmaux was awarded a full-time drive in 2022 as the new Rally1 hybrid era was ushered in But a huge crash in Monte Carlo set the tone for what was an accident-strewn campaign for him while sitting just a few seconds behind fourth-placed Oliver Solberg on the final day was one too many for M-Sport and Fourmaux was made to miss the trip to Greece M-Sport cited damage to the car that could not be repaired in time with M-Sport running cars for Craig Breen and Gus Greensmith only Fourmaux was stripped of any Rally1 responsibility in 2023 but has returned in fine form this season with four podiums to date Elfyn Evans has a 3.0-second lead over Takamoto Katsuta heading into Sunday with Neuville and Tänak still in the frame Elfyn Evans survived a half-spin and stall to hold the overnight lead of Rally Sweden by just 3.0 seconds over his Toyota team-mate Takamoto Katsuta with a four-way fight for victory expected over Sunday’s three stages But that five became four as Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux dropped out of contention – first by having to stop on SS11 to fasten his helmet which cost him over 20s and then by running wide into a snowbank in the afternoon Evans remained the leader even though Katsuta closed to within just 0.1s first thing in the morning However the Welshman was lucky to get away with a skirmish with a snowbank on SS14 “It wasn’t like a big hit into the bank but just low grip and lost the front on the way in,” the Welshman explained Evans then suffered a half-spin and stalled at a junction on the leg-conlcuding Umeå Sprint stage and Katsuta was able to halve his rival’s lead – having started the stage 6.0s in arrears “I will speak with my bosses in the team but I have been too hungry and done crazy things World champion Thierry Neuville holds third place overnight just 6.3s off the lead and promising to push “flat out” on Sunday His Hyundai team-mate Ott Tänak is not out of the contest either with a 12.8s deficit to Evans Tänak's had a rough day with a car that's not been working for him Liquid was escaping Tänak’s i20 in the morning and he wasn’t comfortable in the afterooon either commenting after the final stage: “You need to ask the engineers We’re maximizing what we have.” Mārtiņš Sesks resisted the pressure from Sami Pajari to hold sixth overall despite a spin – his fight with the Toyota driver “evoking Junior WRC memories” with M-Sport’s Josh McErlean another 22.2s back in eighth is ninth with WRC2 leader Oliver Solberg rounding out the top-10 while Hyundais of Tänak and Fourmaux experience problems on Saturday morning Elfyn Evans eked out his advantage at the top of the Rally Sweden’s timesheets where barely half a minute covers the top six drivers as they head to Saturday lunchtime service The Welshman extended his advantage to 2.8s over Katsuta across the morning as Thierry Neuville moved into third overall after his team-mates Tänak and Adrien Fourmaux dropped time Katsuta cut Evans’s lead to just 0.1s through the opening 9.7-miler at Vännäs But Evans then topped the times through the fast Sarjöliden test “It’s always good fun when it’s like this – keeps things interesting,” he smiled Evans gained another 0.8s on the new Kolksele stage despite reckoning it “didn’t feel like a good stage for me” He ends the morning 2.8s in front of his team-mate just need to fix the feeling,” said Katsuta “Better than last one but still not very good feeling.” Some sort of fluid appeared to be spraying onto his Hyundai’s windshield intermittently during the second and third stages of the morning he will surely be glad of the lunchtime service Fourmaux was a little disappointed with his opening effort but also the stage is different – it’s much faster now and it seems to be working well on the faster stages I do two small mistakes where we lose some time Worse was to come on the final stage of the loop for the Frenchman then stopped altogether while he made some adjustments in-car His pace was unaffected through the rest of the stage but Fourmaux was clearly bitterly disappointed when he reached the stopline “Still struggling with the same problem on the first pass with the understeer,” reported Neuville mid-loop So I need to always be a bit slower on the entry and that’s where we are losing the time.” He added: “Let’s see on the second pass where I think we will be a bit stronger than on first-pass conditions.” Kalle Rovanperä also moved ahead of Fourmaux into fifth overall But Rovanperä reckoned he was still dropping time “In the high speed and this kind of place I’m still not so comfortable so I’m not brave enough,” he said M-Sport’s Mārtiņš Sesks remains seventh overall The Toyota of Sami Pajari has risen to seventh and was third fastest of all on SS11 where earlier runners benefited from less snowbank debris Oliver Solberg still holds a healthy advanatge of 28.5s over Roope Korhonen after winning two of the morning’s three stages Mikko Heikkilä moved into third position among the points-scoring drivers after reporting a much better feeling on his Škoda Fabia but Georg Linnamäe and Tuukka Kauppinen both dropped out of contention Costly excursions into snowbanks on SS10 cost Linnamäe five minutes and Kauppinen 15 minutes and performance of updated Hyundai among Umeå talking points It was certainly a compelling edition of Rally Sweden and the top four covered by less than 17 seconds there were plenty more insights to be gained Where has this Elfyn Evans been the last couple of years self-assured and prepared to go on the attack he’s never had a better start to the season than this But what’s clear is he’s a big favorite for success if this run of form continues his championship lead is a massive 28 points after a maximum 35-pointer in Sweden Nobody’s looking capable of being as consistently quick as him right now Having been outscored by Evans on both rounds so far Otherwise they risk Evans disappearing off into the distance Takamoto Katsuta’s response to his benching from Rally Chile at last year’s CER was extraordinary But the two events that followed were a little more complicated But the big question was: could he sustain it Just 12 months ago we’d seen the same pace from Katsuta in Sweden Of course Katsuta was disappointed to miss out on victory after such a close fight with his team-mate Evans but the fact he was in the equation from start to finish was deeply encouraging what really matters is he did that while making no mistakes Adrien Fourmaux was again brilliant on the first full day of Rally Sweden – embedded in the five-way fight to win and living with his two world champion team-mates But the strange events of Saturday showed that the Frenchman still has a key weakness The incident where Fourmaux realized with just seconds to go that his helmet strap wasn’t fastened was deeply unfortunate By all accounts he did the right thing by starting the stage (as blocking the start is a big no-no) and then stopping very quickly on the stage to tighten it But clearly he was frustrated by the whole affair and then told us in the media zone afterwards that no marshals had checked if he was geared up correctly He hoped he’d get some time back because it was a safety issue Fourmaux was a man on a mission in the afternoon as he immediately won the first stage out of service But just three corners onto the next stage he’d relied on a snowbank just a little too much and his Hyundai was swallowed into retirement probably I wanted to do well and try to catch a bit,” was Fourmaux’s response he just needs to make sure he always translates that into results and doesn’t let his emotions override him Kalle Rovanperä’s joke at the end of the Monte Carlo Rally powerstage may not now be so funny Of course he can still drive a rally car fast but not as easily as he used to at the moment That’s what Rally Sweden confirmed to us This is perhaps the first time we’ve ever seen a genuine weakness from the WRC wonderkid. Still his struggles to adapt his driving style to the new-for-2025 Hankook tires continued and Rovanperä lost too much time to begin with and couldn’t feature in the fight at the sharp end thereafter Plenty of work is needed between now and Kenya to make sure Rovanperä doesn’t face the same problem on gravel – the season’s majority surface The cat is finally out of the bag as far as Hyundai’s updated i20 N Rally1 is concerned The long-awaited upgrades made their debut in Sweden – and finally we got some insight from the team on what they’d changed Cyril Abiteboul was quick to point out the upgrades weren’t implemented with Sweden specifically in mind but Gerard Jan de Jongh equally said the team felt they’d be a benefit everywhere But the drivers’ feedback sounded eerily similar to struggles they’ve had in the past it didn’t appear as if much had changed other than the suspension struts no longer angled Josh McErlean’s Rally Sweden was a total reverse of his Monte Carlo Rally On round one the Irishman’s pace wasn’t anything special but he kept his nose clean when so many others didn’t and picked up a fine seventh place the pace was genuinely impressive – firmly in the pack and quicker than two world champions Neuville and Rovanperä on one stage But the mistake did come – burying his Ford Puma Rally1 deep into a snowbank Sterling work from McErlean and co-driver Eoin Treavy however kept them in the rally and they were able to again complete all the competitive mileage and that already the pace looks strong in certain conditions That’s encouraging considering his instructions for the first three events has simply been to get through them If Poland and Latvia were straight from the highlights reel Rally Sweden – the first of a six-round program this year – was always going to provide a truer read of Mārtiņš Sesks’ capabilities Of course he didn’t set the world alight like he did last summer Instead he got the better of a flying Finn tipped to be a future world champion in Sami Pajari on roads that you’d have thought favored the Toyota Pajari was dumped down the order as early as stage two when he hit a snowbank and knocked the tire off the rim and acts as the perfect start for Sesks to keep proving why he is worthy of full-time presence in the WRC Toyota’s young driver program is one of the best things for Japanese rallying Has there ever been a better time to be a Japanese rally fan It just keeps on getting better as Toyota begins its search for yet more talented drivers to sit at the World Rally Championship table Toyota has no interest in resting on its laurels After starting the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC Challenge Program in 2015 and delivering Katsuta to a full-time WRC campaign the search for the second generation of drivers began in 2021 Hikaru Kogure and Yuki Yamamoto are the product of that search and are currently tackling WRC2 rounds in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 The third generation was completed at the end of last year with Shotaro Goto and Takumi Matsushita about to start their journey with a selection of European rallies Second-generation TGR Challenge Program driver Yuki Yamamoto finished 10th in WRC2 on Rally Sweden With Katsuta having officially graduated and four more drivers engaged in the program at varying levels it’s time for Toyota to start the search for the next two As well as taking young Japanese drivers through the usual application process one finalist will also qualify by being the best performer in the Morizo Challenge Cup a new category in the Japanese Rally Championship Those drivers selected for the fourth generation of the program will begin their full training based out of Jyväskylä Chief instructor on the program Mikko Hirvonen is a 15-time world rally winner who knows what it takes to make it to the very top of the sport that previous experience is not a prerequisite for the program Third-generation drivers Shotaro Goto and Takumi Matsushita are benefiting from Hirvonen's guidance The superstar Finn said: “It is really nice to see how much effort Toyota Gazoo Racing is putting into the WRC Challenge Program providing opportunities for more young people to get into rallying “Our third generation of drivers had very limited competition experience when they joined us but we really found some great natural talent for driving and think this is an incredible way to give people a chance to chase their dreams This is the way that Toyota wants to do it: to not look necessarily for an experienced background in motorsport their passion and how they can handle a car.” You don't have permission to access the page you requested What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed Takamoto Katsuta and Sami Pajari crashed on the final day – but team boss Jari-Matti Latvala is taking some responsibility for both offs With just seconds to go before he was due to head off Takamoto Katsuta emerged from the darkness The Belgian had shunned Katsuta’s choice of a studded winter and supersoft cross in favour of four Hankooks of the spiky variety hindsight would prove Neuville’s selection to be the best choice – certainly on that opening stage of Sunday at 0645 Katsuta had slid off and beached his Toyota in a hedge Team-mates Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans had gone for four studs and would finish the rally first and second Katsuta had been feeling unwell in the lead up to the season opener  Katsuta’s Monte Carlo had been something of a damp squib anyway – a stage win on Saturday a definite highlight on a weekend where Katsuta was badly under the weather and struggling for form “I little bit blame myself because I should have pushed him to take four studded tires – also the same for Sami [Pajari],” Latvala told DirtFish they went a little bit too brave a choice because we knew that it’s going to freeze that after the safety crews have passed the stages it will start freezing and we knew that’s the situation “We managed to convince Elfyn and Séb to take the safer choice but I should have pushed more for Taka and Sami And I think that was maybe too risky a choice for both of them.” Pajari also crashed on the same stage albeit much further in getting it wrong on a downhill braking over a bridge and falling off the edge I think it was also too much speed,” he explained “A place like that coming over the bridge a little bit of a new experience to learn that the bridges are always very icy and slippy in Monte Carlo I think he has never been in the conditions like that so it’s something for him to also learn with experience.” Pajari’s performance had been subdued before the accident as the Finn failed to trouble the top stage times on a weekend seven different drivers won stages he started very carefully and he was stepping up and he was getting better and faster Pajari had been running in a distant seventh place before his off on Sunday morning we spoke with him that it doesn’t matter the result so much – once you get the good feeling and try to finish the race then you will be more comfortable in Sweden so now we just need to start Sweden from zero These things are part of the learning curve I think he will be more comfortable on more on comfort zone