David Evans wonders if Toyota's WRC Challenge Program should cater for non-Japanese drivers too
Photography by Red Bull & Toyota
Words by David Evans, DirtFish Head of Media
Ten years and a couple of months ago Takamoto Katsuta arrived in Helsinki for the first time. He was ready for an adventure. Circuit racing was done, behind him. The stage was calling.
When Toyota Gazoo Racing launched its WRC Challenge Program in 2015, the stated aim was to take a Japanese driver to the very top of the World Rally Championship. At the time, there was polite applause and a nod to such solid manufacturer commitment to nurturing next-gen talent.
But few genuinely expected it to come to fruition. Granted, there was a strong family history for both Katsuta and his team-mate Hiroki Arai – with respective fathers Norihiko and Toshi both having competed successfully in the sport.
For a couple of years, under-the-radar WRC outings blended with plenty of Finnish championship action raised Katsuta’s game to the point that he landed a maiden WRC2 win in Sweden, 2018. Toyota and Taka had the world’s attention. Twelve months on and the Japanese made his debut aboard a Toyota Yaris WRC on the all-snow Itäralli. A win was nice, but the competition was thin. Beating Marcus Grönholm’s protégé Jari Huttunen in a Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC on the Riihimäki Ralli a few months later meant more. Far more.
Four years after the launch of the program, Katsuta made his first WRC start in a WRC car
Katsuta was on the road and became a factory driver with TGR from 2020 onwards. On his first full season of competition in 2021, he finished second only to then seven-time world champion and team-mate Sébastien Ogier on the legendary Safari Rally.
Since then, there have been a further six WRC podiums and an impressive 52 stage wins and Katsuta arrives at next week’s Rally Japan, his home round of the world championship, with a very real chance of scoring what’s now accepted as an overdue win.
Where are the doubters now? A decade on and the TGR WRC Challenge Program has surely served its purpose? No. With trademark efficiency, diligence and dedication, Toyota is preparing more national heroes of the stage. Next generation drivers Yuki Yamamoto, Shotaro Goto and Takumi Matsushita all are all looking increasingly safe bets for the future.
Is that enough?
Should Toyota start inducting non-Japanese drivers into its talent program?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not in any way, shape or form suggesting Toyota should desist in its search for the world rallying’s next big thing – but perhaps it’s time to widen the net?
There are stars rising all around the world, who would be similarly worthy of a place on the world’s biggest carmaker’s books. And there’s precedent here; Toyota has a long and proud heritage of helping young racing drivers make it big. Kamui Kobayashi is one example, but Frenchman Esteban Masson races LMP2 in European Le Mans Series under the TGR Driver Challenge Program. And… Australian Ryan Briscoe, Briton Ben Clucas and Dutchman Henkie Waldschmidt have all been part of the program too.
It’s worth considering that, albeit slightly under the radar, Toyota has already been doing just this when you look at Sami Pajari’s elevation from Printsport to the main Toyota Gazoo Racing team and Oliver Solberg’s potentially similar trajectory. The Finn and the Swede have, as far as we can see, been very much part of the Toyota family and development structure.
But maybe the time has come to place this more front and center on the radar.
I realize this perspective might not be the most popular among the up-and-coming Japanese rally stars, but imagine the feeling of having beaten the rest of the world to land your place on what would be one of the sport’s greatest ever talent searches.
Words:David Evans
Tags: Takamoto Katsuta, WRC, WRC Challenge Program
Publish Date October 31, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/10/oPy7mq6c-SI202510050626-780x520.jpg October 31, 2025
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