WRC
Preview: FORUM8 Rally Japan
Takamoto Katsuta returns to FORUM8 Rally Japan this week with unfinished business - and, for the first time, as a proven FIA World Rally Championship winner.
The Toyota Gazoo Racing starts his home round second in the drivers’ standings, 12 points behind team-mate Elfyn Evans, after a breakthrough start to 2026 which has already delivered victories on Safari Rally Kenya and Croatia Rally.
Now comes the one he wants most.
“There is no question, it is full attack. It is very simple,” said Katsuta. “I had difficulties last year and this year I will try to do better.
“Of course, to win my home rally would be very nice but we are competing against many great drivers, including my team-mates. I will just focus on trying my best and enjoying the amazing feeling of driving our Rally1 car on Japanese roads.”
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Based in Toyota City and held across 20 asphalt stages in Aichi and Gifu, FORUM8 Rally Japan forms round seven of the season and moves this year from its traditional November slot to late May. The change of date brings warmer conditions and a different complexion to roads which are already among the most technical of the year.
For Katsuta, the event carries both opportunity and frustration. He finished on the podium when Japan returned to the WRC calendar in 2022, then recovered from an early off one year later to win 10 stages - his best tally on a single WRC event - and finish fifth.
Last year brought more pain. Katsuta was part of the victory fight before damaging his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 and losing power steering on Saturday’s Mt. Kasagi stage, eventually finishing 17th.
He starts this year second on the road behind Evans, a potentially useful position on asphalt, although no driver has won FORUM8 Rally Japan from first on the road since the event returned in its current format.
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Evans arrives as championship leader and a two-time Rally Japan winner, having claimed back-to-back victories in 2023 and 2024. The Welshman finished second to Sébastien Ogier last year and could reach 50 career WRC podiums this weekend.
Ogier, meanwhile, is the defending rally winner and remains one of the benchmarks on the event. The nine-time world champion is the only current Rally1 driver to have won both the gravel-era Rally Japan, in 2010, and the modern asphalt version.
Toyota’s strength does not stop there. Sami Pajari returns to the rally where he sealed the WRC2 title in 2024 and claimed his first top-class podium last season, while Oliver Solberg arrives third in the standings after claiming a podium last time out in Portugal.
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Hyundai Motorsport heads to Japan buoyed by Thierry Neuville’s victory at Vodafone Rally de Portugal, the Belgian’s first win of the season and Hyundai’s first of 2026. Neuville won Rally Japan in 2022 but has endured a more difficult run on the event since, while Adrien Fourmaux will look to build on the pace he showed in Portugal and his third place in Japan two years ago. Hayden Paddon also returns for the third round of his part-time Hyundai programme.
M-Sport Ford fields Josh McErlean and Jon Armstrong, with both drivers targeting clean mileage on an event where narrow roads, low grip and limited room for error have punished even the most experienced crews.
The rally begins on Thursday evening before Friday’s opening leg takes crews into stages including the brand-new Asuke test and the famous Isegami’s Tunnel. Saturday is the longest day of the event, while Sunday concludes with Lake Mikawako serving as the Wolf Power Stage.
