Katsuta takes World Rally Championship lead with Croatia victory

Takamoto Katsuta claimed his second successive victory with Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team (TGR-WRT) and taken the lead in the FIA World Rally Championship after a dramatic finish to the Croatia Rally yesterday (12 April).

Sami Pajari finished second, joining Katsuta on the podium for the third even in a row, completing a one-two finish for TGR-WRT.

The asphalt event returned to the WRC calendar after a year away with a new base and new stages, and proved every bit as demanding as in the past. Although weather conditions remained dry, gravel and dirt brought onto the stages made them extremely slippery and increased the risk of tyre damage.

While others would be caught out early in the weekend, Pajari impressively led in search of his maiden WRC victory until SS14 when he had to stop to change a wheel and tyre. Katsuta had also been in the lead fight but he too was slowed with tyre damage on the same stage.

That left Katsuta and Pajari on course to secure second and third respectively until a late twist in Sunday’s rally-ending Power Stage when the leader Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) sustained damage that forced him to retire.

Katsuta and co-driver Aaron Johnston claimed victory four weeks on from their maiden triumph at Safari Rally Kenya. As a result, Katsuta moves into the lead of the drivers’ championship for the first time in his career, becoming the first Japanese driver to ever head the standings.

Pajari and his co-driver Marko Salminen are up to fourth in the points after scoring their best rally result to-date, having previously finished third in three of the previous five events.

Oliver Solberg and Elfyn Evans were among those caught out on Friday morning. Both went off the road, but recovered well on Sunday. Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson scored the maximum available 10 bonus points after topping the Super Sunday classification and the Power Stage, with Evans and co-driver Scott Martin finishing second in both rankings. Evans is now second in the championship, seven points behind Katsuta, with Solberg six points further back in third.

With Solberg and Evans delivering maximum Sunday points for the team, TGR-WRT have extended their manufacturers’ championship lead to 65 points.

Two GR Yaris Rally2 cars also finished in the overall top eight, with Roope Korhonen and Alejandro Cachón finishing fourth and fifth in class in a tight battle for the WRC2 podium.

TGR WRC Challenge Program driver Yuki Yamamoto also showed his speed in the competitive Rally2 field on his return to action after two rallies out. Having sustained damage on Saturday he rejoined the rally on Sunday and demonstrated top five pace.

Team quotes
Akio Toyoda (TGR-WRT Chairman): “This is rallying too… there are also times when you win like this. This one-two finish was possible because both Takamoto and Sami reached the finish. Congratulations to Takamoto and Aaron for taking their second consecutive win. And congratulations also to Sami and Marko for achieving three podiums in a row.”

Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal): “We always want to win but we would never wish for something like this to happen to a competitor. It can and has happened to us before, so we know it’s not a nice feeling for a team or a driver. Nevertheless, it makes us happy to see Taka take his second win in a row and to have a Japanese driver with a Japanese manufacturer leading the championship: this has never been done before. Both Taka and Sami were driving very well again this weekend, and it shows how strong our team are. Even if some of our drivers make mistakes, we have others who are also capable of winning.”

Elfyn Evans (driver car 33): “It hasn’t been an ideal weekend for us after we got caught out on Friday morning. At least we were able to take some points today, but Oliver was quicker so we can’t be entirely satisfied with that. He drove well so well done to him, and to Taka and Sami for their one-two finish. For us it’s been a tough weekend, but sometimes these things happen and we will focus on bouncing back stronger on the next event.”

Oliver Solberg (driver car 99): “It’s a bit of a bittersweet feeling at the end of the rally. After my mistake on Friday, the feeling in the car and the pace that we’ve had has been fantastic, and we took all the points that we could today. I’m sorry for the team that we couldn’t get the overall result to go with it, but we know that we have the performance. I just have to learn from what happened, look forward and take the positives from this rally into the next one.”

Takamoto Katsuta (driver car 18): “To win for the second rally in a row is quite amazing. It was a big surprise how it happened, and I felt sorry for Thierry and Martijn and the Hyundai team, because I know myself how painful these moments can be. Still, I need to be happy for my team and for Aaron, because I think we did quite a clever job this weekend. It was a crazy one right until the end with so many things happening. It’s nice to be leading the championship now, but I’m not going to think about it too much: I will just stay focused on myself and on doing the best that I can.”

Sami Pajari (driver car 5): “It’s always nice to finish on the podium and, after three third places, to now finish second for the first time is something I have to be happy about. I’m also happy to see Taka and Aaron take another win. Naturally, there is still some disappointment because we were in the lead of the rally for so long, but this just gives more hunger for the next rally, and I’m looking forward to that one. The last few rallies have been really positive and promising for us, and I hope that something even better is coming soon.”

Croatia Rally provisional final classification
1 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 2h51m15.8s
2 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +20.7s
3 Hayden Paddon/John Kennard (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2m07.7s
4 Yohan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand (Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale) +5m19.9s
5 Léo Rossel/Guillaume Mercoiret (Citroën C3 Rally2) +5m58.7s
6 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale) +6m17.8s
7 Alejandro Cachón/Borja Rozada (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +6m42.8s
8 Roope Korhonen/Anssi Viinikka (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +6m54.0s
9 Roberto Daprà/Luca Guglielmetti (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +7m38.1s
10 Emil Lindholm/Gabriel Morales (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +9m20.5s
34 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +56m14.8s
42 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1h19m02.2s
(Results as of 15:00 on Sunday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com )

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for drivers after round 4: 
1 Takamoto Katsuta 81 points
2 Elfyn Evans 74
3 Oliver Solberg 68
4 Sami Pajari 52
5 Adrien Fourmaux 49
6 Sébastien Ogier 26
7 Thierry Neuville 25
8 Esapekka Lappi 21
9 Yohan Rossel 18
10 Léo Rossel 18

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for manufacturers after round 4: 
1 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team 206 points
2 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 141
3 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT2 55
4 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 49

What’s next? 
Another asphalt adventure follows at Rally Islas Canarias (23-26 April). Mountainous stages across the island of Gran Canaria feature an abrasive high-grip surface made partly of volcanic lava.

ENDS