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.jpg) Katsuta at the2023 Central European Rally | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |  Japanese |
| Born | (1993-03-17)17 March 1993 (age 32) Nagoya,Aichi,Japan |
| World Rally Championship record | |
| Active years | 2016–present |
| Co-driver |  Aaron Johnston |
| Teams | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT |
| Rallies | 75 |
| Championships | 0 |
| Rally wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 6 |
| Stage wins | 49 |
| Total points | 456 |
| First rally | 2016 Rally Finland |
| Last rally | 2025 Safari Rally |
Takamoto Katsuta (勝田貴元,Katsuta Takamoto, born 17 March 1993) is a Japaneserally driver who currently competes in theWorld Rally Championship forToyota Gazoo Racing WRT. Katsuta rose to prominence after taking a surprise victory in the WRC-2 class at the2018 Rally Sweden. He achieved his firstWorld Rally Championship podium in the 2021Safari Rally, finishing in second place.
Katsuta was born inNagoya. He began karting at the age of 12.[1] Following intermediate success in this category, he began racing in theFormula Challenge Japan series in 2010, and eventually became champion in 2011, aged 18.[2]
Seeing the successes Katsuta had in Formula Challenge Japan, theTOM'S team hired him to be one of their drivers for the Japanese Formula 3 Championship in 2012, racing in the National class.[3] He finished third in this category overall, and was eventually promoted to full championship driver for 2013. Katsuta experienced great success in 2013, winning two races and finishing second in the overall championship, beating drivers from the likes ofKatsumasa Chiyo and future member of theMcLaren Young Driver Programme,Nobuharu Matsushita. The following season, 2014, would be Katsuta's last in Formula 3. He ended up under-performing, finishing 4th in the standings with another two victories.[citation needed]
During his final year of Japanese Formula 3, Katsuta began rallying at the local level. He began with aToyota GT86 in the JN-5 class of the Japan Rally Championship (a series his father, Norihiko, has won eight times). In his second event, the Rally Highland Masters, Katsuta won his class, finishing 10th overall. His eventual goal was to be picked up by Toyota's development driver program.[1] His performances in Japan attracted the attention of four-time World Rally Champion and futureToyota Gazoo Racing WRT team bossTommi Mäkinen, who signed him onto Toyota's program alongsideHiroki Arai.[2]
At the start of his campaign with Mäkinen and Toyota, Katsuta would participate in selected rallies while practicing full-time in Finland, under Mäkinen's supervision. Katsuta's first rallies with Tommi Mäkinen Racing were in local Finnish and Latvian events, driving aSubaru Impreza WRX. Beginning in 2016, Katsuta would be rallying with a very experienced co-driver,Daniel Barritt. Katsuta experienced intermediate success in local Finnish rallies, before being supplied with aFord Fiesta R5 for theRally Estonia, his first major long-distance rally inFIA-homologated 4-wheel drive machinery. This was also his first start in theEuropean Rally Championship. He failed to finish the event after crashing in the second leg. Despite this, Mäkinen promoted Katsuta andHiroki Arai to their firstWorld Rally Championship start atFinland, rallying in theWRC-2 Class.[4] Katsuta would finish 12th in class, sixteen minutes behind the class winner.
Beginning in 2017, Katsuta would be participating in a full-seasonWorld Rally Championship program in the WRC-2 category, alongside Hiroki Arai. Katsuta would also be rallying in local rallies outside of Finland. He partneredMarko Salminen for this season. Successes for the two drivers were few and far between, but Katsuta would make a name for himself upon taking a class podium at theRally Italia Sardegna.[5]
After his breakout onto the international scene in 2017, Katsuta would begin to enjoy more successes in 2018. He began with a 3rd-place overall finish at theArctic Lapland Rally, one of the biggest local rallies in Finland. Then at theRally Sweden, after winning 10 of the 19 special stages, Katsuta won theWorld Rally Championship-2 class, finishing 11th overall.[6] He won by just 4.5 seconds fromŠkoda factory driver and then-reigning WRC-2 championPontus Tidemand.[1] After this surprise success, Katsuta and team-mateHiroki Arai continued to rally in the European WRC events, albeit without reaching the level of success achieved at Sweden.
Towards the end of the 2018 season,Toyota announced their intentions to eventually run Katsuta in a World Rally Car potentially by2020. He spent 2019 competing in the WRC-2 class withTommi Mäkinen Racing.[7] After two seasons withElfyn Evans,Daniel Barritt returned to be Katsuta's co-driver.[8] Katsuta's first outing with aToyota Yaris WRC was at the SM-Itäralli, a round of the Finnish championship, in which he would impress with a victory. Katsuta managed to win WRC-2 inChile, but he also did not finish three rallies in his campaign and eventually finished the season in 8th. His first WRC outing with the Yaris WRC was at Rallye Deutschland, where he enjoyed a trouble-free drive to finish 10th. He got another top class chance in Catalunya, but suffered a transmission problem on Saturday, which resulted in over 50 minutes loss in stage times and penalty for late start.
In 2020, Katsuta stepped up to WRC to contest all European rounds of the season. He started the season with 9th inMonte Carlo and 7th inSweden. He then showed promising pace in both Estonia and Sardegna, but crashed out on both occasions. He also crashed on the first stage ofRally Monza, but later returned and won thePower Stage, effectively taking his first WRC stage win. Katsuta finished the season in 13th, with 13 points to his name.
Katsuta stepped up to a full-time campaign with Toyota in2021. He finished 6th on the first three events inMonte Carlo,Arctic andCroatia and then 4th in bothPortugal andSardegna. The highlight of his season was theSafari Rally, where he avoided all the drama and finished 2nd overall, only behind teammateSébastien Ogier, leading a WRC rally for the first time on stages 14 and 15 followingThierry Neuville’s retirement. He retired early inEstonia after his co-driver Barritt suffered a back injury on stage 4.Keaton Williams replaced Barritt fromYpres onwards, but withdrew fromAcropolis for family reasons, withOliver Solberg’s co-driverAaron Johnston becoming Katsuta’s new full-time co-driver from Finland on. Katsuta crashed in Belgium,Finland andCatalunya, but returned to the points with 7th in the season finale inMonza. He placed 7th overall with 78 points.
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Formula Challenge Japan | Luck | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 8th |
| 2011 | Formula Challenge Japan | LUCK FTRS | 13 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 78 | 1st |
| 2012 | Japanese Formula 3 Championship | PetronasTeam TOM'S | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9th |
| 2013 | Japanese Formula 3 Championship | PetronasTeam TOM'S | 14 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 80 | 2nd |
| 2014 | Japanese Formula 3 Championship | PetronasTeam TOM'S | 15 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 80 | 4th |
* Season still in progress.
| Year | Entrant | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Pos. | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Tommi Mäkinen Racing | Ford Fiesta R5 | MON | SWE | MEX | ARG | POR | ITA | POL | FIN 12 | GER | CHN C | FRA | ESP | GBR | AUS | NC | 0 |
| 2017 | Tommi Mäkinen Racing | Ford Fiesta R5 | MON | SWE 9 | MEX | FRA | ARG | POR 14 | ITA 3 | POL | FIN Ret | GER | ESP 14 | GBR | AUS | 21st | 17 | |
| 2018 | Tommi Mäkinen Racing | Ford Fiesta R5 | MON | SWE 1 | MEX | FRA 8 | ARG | POR 13 | ITA Ret | FIN Ret | GER | TUR | GBR | ESP 12 | AUS | 14th | 29 | |
| 2019 | Tommi Mäkinen Racing | Ford Fiesta R5 | MON | SWE Ret | MEX | FRA 4 | ARG 5 | CHL 1 | POR 13 | ITA Ret | 8th | 47 | ||||||
| Ford Fiesta R5 Mk. II | FIN Ret | GER | TUR | GBR | ESP | AUS C | ||||||||||||
