Katsuta won in Kenya and is the first Japanese driver to win a WRC event in 34 years

No Japanese driver had won a world championship rally since Kenjiro Shinozuka did it in Ivory Coast in 1992, and Takamoto Katsuta broke that 34-year streak with his victory at the 2026 Safari Rally Kenya, the third round of the WRC, on his 94th attempt. Katsuta won by 27.4 seconds over Adrien Fourmaux of Hyundai and did so on the same African rally where he had scored his first top 3 in the world championship in 2021.

The victory was not in the script on Thursday night, when Katsuta was fourth, 1:15.7 behind Oliver Solberg, and Toyota occupied the top five positions with an advantage that seemed headed for an undisputed 1-2-3. What happened was the Sleeping Warrior stage on Saturday morning and the road section that followed, a 40-minute link between the stage and the Naivasha service park where accumulated mud and loose stones took their toll on the three Toyota drivers running ahead of Katsuta.

Photo By Red Bull Content Pool

Three Toyotas retired on the same Saturday morning

Elfyn Evans was the first to fall when the rear-right suspension of his GR Yaris blew midway through Sleeping Warrior, leaving him stranded. Minutes later, on the link road back to Naivasha, Solberg lost the clutch and Sébastien Ogier stopped with an electrical issue caused by mud contamination in the alternator. Within half an hour, Toyota went from having three cars in the top 3 to having none of those three in competition, and Katsuta inherited the lead with a 1:25.5 advantage over Fourmaux.

This detail deserves perspective because Katsuta didn't reach the lead due to a lack of pace from those who retired; he was the only front-running Toyota to survive the toughest stage of the rally. On Friday he had already lost almost two minutes with a double puncture that dropped him to seventh place, and on Day 1 he had to cover the 24 kilometers of Camp Moran without an intercom with his co-driver Aaron Johnston, navigating with improvised hand signals. That he arrived at Saturday in a position to inherit the lead was the result of not making cumulative mistakes in the toughest conditions the Safari has seen since returning to the calendar in 2021.

Photo By Red Bull Content Pool

Katsuta managed a 27-second advantage on Sunday

With the lead secured by more than a minute and a half, Katsuta didn't try to win the Sunday stages and focused on surviving the Oserengoni and Hell's Gate sections without damaging the car. "Trying to manage was very difficult because you see every small stone and try to avoid it," explained Katsuta, whose path to the WRC began in 2015 when Toyota recruited him for their WRC Challenge development program as a circuit driver with minimal rally experience.

Fourmaux finished second with a Hyundai that battled overheating throughout the weekend, the same problem that had affected all three i20 N Rally1 cars since Thursday when the mud from Camp Moran clogged their radiators. Sami Pajari was third, although he lost five minutes on Saturday with a high-speed puncture that damaged the bodywork of his Toyota, and with that result he scores his second consecutive top 3.

Photo By Red Bull Content Pool

Evans remains first in the championship with 66 points

The Super Sunday system allowed Solberg, Ogier, and Evans to return to competition on Sunday to score bonus points, and all three took advantage. Solberg won the Power Stage by 2.8 seconds over Ogier and took maximum Sunday points, allowing him to remain second in the championship with 58 points, eight behind Evans. Katsuta moved up to third with 55.

Toyota has accumulated 157 points in the constructors' championship compared to Hyundai's 114, a gap of 43 points that remains stable because the Safari was Toyota's sixth consecutive victory in this rally since it returned to the calendar and the 14th for the squad in the African round. Juha Kankkunen, the team's vice principal, recalled that the Safari was also his first WRC victory 41 years ago. "Seeing a Japanese driver win a world championship rally again is something very special for us," Kankkunen said. "This was the toughest Safari since it returned to the calendar, and it was a rollercoaster for the team."

The WRC switches to asphalt for the fourth round of the season, Croatia Rally from April 9th to 12th, which returns to the calendar with its base in the coastal city of Rijeka.

Photo By Red Bull Content Pool

WRC Overall - Safari Rally Kenya 2026

POS	#	PILOTO/COPILOTO	EQUIPO	MARCA	MODELO	TIEMPO
1	18	Takamoto KATSUTA Aaron JOHNSTON	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	3:16:05.6
2	16	Adrien FOURMAUX Alexandre CORIA	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	Hyundai	I20 N Rally1	+ 27.4
3	5	Sami PAJARI Marko SALMINEN	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt2	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 4:26.1
4	4	Esapekka LAPPI Enni MÄLKÖNEN	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	Hyundai	I20 N Rally1	+ 6:07.3
5	99	Oliver SOLBERG Elliott EDMONDSON	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 16:44.5
6	1	Sébastien OGIER Vincent LANDAIS	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 17:30.7
7	11	Thierry NEUVILLE Martijn WYDAEGHE	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	Hyundai	I20 N Rally1	+ 19:52.4
8	33	Elfyn EVANS Scott MARTIN	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 26:20.9
9	95	Jon ARMSTRONG Shane BYRNE	M-sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford	Puma Rally1	+ 48:01.1