Takamoto Katsuta
By Miloslav Rejha, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (source page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2023_Central_European_Rally_-_Katsuta_01_(cropped).jpg)

🇯🇵 Takamoto Katsuta

#18 · Toyota Gazoo Racing

Car: Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

About

Japanese rally driver competing for Toyota Gazoo Racing in the FIA World Rally Championship. Son of eight-time Japanese Rally Champion Norihiko Katsuta, he arrived in rallying by way of circuit racing — winning Formula Challenge Japan in 2011 before Tommi Mäkinen recruited him into Toyota's young-driver programme and he relocated to Finland to learn the craft.

Took ten years and 94 starts to convert speed into a first victory, winning Safari Rally Kenya in 2026 to become the first Japanese winner of a WRC round since Kenjiro Shinozuka in 1992. Strongest on rough, attritional events, and one of the paddock's most openly emotional figures.