THE RISE OF A JAPANESE CONTENDER

NOT MANY TOM’S JAPANESE FORMULA 3 drivers end up in WRC2. In fact, you can probably count them on, well, one finger. Takamoto Katsuta is that solitary example.

A kart racer in his early days, he moved up to win Formula Challenge Japan at 18. But when your father is a five-time Japanese Rally champion and your grandfather was also a man from the muddy side of motorsport, you’re not going to reach too venerable an age before you have a run between the trees yourself.

Being selected as part of Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Challenge Programme provided the launchpad for Taka to switch disciplines – he’s been rallying for the past three years. But nobody expected him to do what he did last week. He won WRC2 and he did it in fine style, beating Skoda-backed Swede Pontus Tidemand and his Norwegian team-mate Ole Christian Veiby on their home territory.

Nobody saw this one coming, and what makes it even better is the genuine enthusiasm with which the 24-year old’s maiden victory was received. Everybody loved this story – especially Tommi Makinen. It’s part of Tommi’s remit to try to find a Japanese hero to put in his Japanese car (although at the moment the TGR juniors are driving Ford Fiesta R5s because Toyota doesn’t make an R5 car). What did the four-time world champion think?

“Absolutely brilliant drive,” Makinen told Autosport. “Absolutely brilliant. This was the rally that built his confidence for himself. To beat the local stars like he did here is incredible – and he did this by going flat-out.”

Katsuta will now contest all remaining European WRC rounds except Germany, and there’s even the chance of a test in a Yaris WRC starting to appear on the horizon.