Takamoto Katsuta

Takamoto Katsuta (勝田 貴元, Katsuta Takamoto, born 17 March 1993) is a Japanese rally driver. He currently rallies for the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT in the World Rally Championship. He rose to prominence after taking a surprise victory in the WRC-2 class at the 2018 Rally Sweden.

Takamoto Katsuta
Takamoto Katsuta at second Saalahti stage at the 2017 Rally Finland.
Personal information
Nationality Japanese
Born (1993-03-17) 17 March 1993
Nagoya, Japan
World Rally Championship record
Active years2016–present
Co-driver Daniel Barritt
TeamsToyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Rallies25
Championships0
Rally wins0
Podiums0
Stage wins0
Total points9
First rally2016 Rally Finland

Early career

Katsuta was born in Nagoya. He began karting at the age of 12.[1] following intermediate success in this category, he began racing in the Formula Challenge Japan series in 2010, and eventually became champion in 2011, aged 18.[2]

2012-2014: Years in Formula 3

Seeing the successes Katsuta had in Formula Challenge Japan, the TOM'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 of Katsumasa Chiyo and future member of the McLaren 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.

Taking an interest in rallying

During his final year of Japanese Formula 3, Katsuta began rallying at the local level. He began with a Toyota 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, Takamoto 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 future Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT team boss Tommi Mäkinen, who signed him onto Toyota's program alongside Hiroki Arai.[2]

Rallying career

2015-2016: early years with Mäkinen

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 a Subaru 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 a Ford Fiesta R5 for the Rally Estonia, his first major long-distance rally in FIA-homologated 4-wheel drive machinery. This was also his first start in the European Rally Championship. He failed to finish the event after crashing in the second leg. Despite this, Mäkinen promoted Katsuta and Hiroki Arai to their first World Rally Championship start at Finland, rallying in the WRC-2 Class.[4] Katsuta would finish 12th in class, sixteen minutes behind the class winner.

2017: full-time WRC program

Beginning in 2017, Katsuta would be participating in a full-season World Rally Championship program in the WRC-2 category, alongside Hiroki Arai. Katsuta would also be rallying in local rallies outside of Finland. He partnered Marko 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 the Rally Italia Sardegna.[5]

2018: victory and increased support from Toyota
Katsuta driving a Ford Fiesta R5 at 2018 Rally de Portugal.

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 the Arctic Lapland Rally, one of the biggest local rallies in Finland. Then at the Rally Sweden, after winning 10 of the 19 special stages, Katsuta won the World Rally Championship-2 class, finishing 11th overall.[6] He won by just 4.5 seconds from Škoda factory driver and then-reigning WRC-2 champion Pontus Tidemand.[1] After this surprise success, Katsuta and team-mate Hiroki Arai continued to rally in the European WRC events, albeit without reaching the level of success achieved at Sweden.

2019: World Rally Car debut

Towards the end of the 2018 season, Toyota announced their intentions to eventually run Katsuta in a World Rally Car potentially by 2020. He spent 2019 competing in the WRC-2 class with Tommi Mäkinen Racing.[7] After two seasons with Elfyn Evans, Daniel Barritt returned to be Katsuta's co-driver.[8] Katsuta's first outing with a Toyota Yaris WRC was at the SM-Itäralli, a round of the Finnish championship, in which he would impress with a victory.

Career results

Complete World Rally Championship Results
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
27		 GER CHN
C		 FRA ESP GBR AUS NC 0
2017 Tommi Mäkinen Racing Ford Fiesta R5 MON SWE
22		 MEX FRA ARG POR
36		 ITA
14		 POL FIN
Ret		 GER ESP
51		 GBR AUS NC 0
2018 Tommi Mäkinen Racing Ford Fiesta R5 MON SWE
11		 MEX FRA
35		 ARG POR
26		 ITA
Ret		 FIN
Ret		 GER TUR GBR ESP
24		 AUS NC 0
2019 Tommi Mäkinen Racing Ford Fiesta R5 MON
13		 SWE
Ret		 MEX FRA
14		 ARG
16		 CHL
14		 POR
21		 ITA
Ret		 25th 1
Ford Fiesta R5 Mk. II FIN
Ret		 TUR GBR
14		 AUS
C
Toyota Yaris WRC GER
10		 ESP
39
2020 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC MON
7		 SWE
9		 MEX EST TUR GER ITA JPN 9th* 8*

* Season still in progress.

Complete World Rally Championship-2 Results
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
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gollark: ++contingency_epsilon --initiate mode3
gollark: ++remind 5h Æ¡¡¡
gollark: ++delete sudo rm -rf /
gollark: ++ban sudo rm -rf /

References
  1. Peacock, Anthony (22 February 2018). "Could Takamoto Katsuta become Japan's greatest ever rallying export?". Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  2. "TAKAMOTO KATSUTA - DRIVER PROFILE". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  3. "Takamoto Katsuta". Driver Database. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  4. "Rally Finland Entry List". ewrc-results.com. ewrc-results.com. 2 July 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  5. "Kopecký cruises home". wrc.com. WRC. 11 June 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
  6. "66. Rally Sweden 2018". ewrc-results.com. 18 February 2018. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  7. Evans, David (28 June 2019). "Toyota gives protege Katsuta World Rally Championship debut". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  8. Evans, David (19 December 2018). "Toyota reveals 2019 programme for WRC protege Takamoto Katsuta". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
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