There was a time Takamoto Katsuta was climbing the single-seater ladder; now it's Kalle Rovanperä's turn
Photography by Toyota
Words by Mark Paulson
As a driver who switched from racing single-seaters to compete at the top level of the World Rally Championship, Takamoto Katsuta knows the challenge facing Kalle Rovanperä as he embarks on a swap in the opposite direction.
Rovanperä’s career change completes a neat symmetry between the two buddies, whose friendship stretches far beyond being Toyota team-mates.
A decade ago, Katsuta was a four-time race winner in Japanese Formula 3, finishing second and then fourth in the championship. The logical next step on the single-seater ladder for a driver then aged 22 would have been the Japanese-based Super Formula. But Katsuta instead switched to rallying, becoming the standard bearer for Toyota’s WRC Challenge Program.
Now, 25-year-old Rovanperä is trading the WRC for Super Formula, which is just a single step below the rarefied world of Formula 1. His great friend has massive respect for the challenge the two-time WRC champion is taking on and also sees it as a chance to fulfill his own racing dreams. It’s left Katsuta with conflicting emotions.
“Very mixed feeling,” Katsuta admitted to DirtFish. “Let’s say on one hand it’s very sad because we have been [rallying together] a long time.
“I knew him when he was 14, I just came to rally in 2015 and then we met for the first time in Latvia and after that we knew each other, and then we had some fun on the ice track and some stupid things!
“But on the other hand, I came from racing, so I said to Kalle that I’m super sad but, at the same time, I’m happy that you kind of continue my dream also.
“When I came to rally, I stopped my dream in the racing world. And now he’s going to the racing and trying to get to the top of the world, which I was dreaming [about] when I was racing and young. So it feels like he is carrying my dream onwards. I would support him anyway, [but it also] feels like this and quite emotional.”
Reflecting further on their friendship, and the challenge of what comes next for Rovanperä, Katsuta said: “We have so many nice memories, not only in rallying, but also private [life] and everything. So it’s very sad on one hand, but I have huge, huge respect for what he decided and how he is challenging himself.
“Of course, he normally is not talking so much, so maybe I should say that this decision is not easy, but huge – you can imagine. He knew that this is not an easy move, but still he decided to do it because he wanted to challenge himself.
“That’s one of the biggest respect that I have, because this can be difficult, he thinks that it’s going to be difficult, but still he wants to challenge [himself] and he wants to do it. It’s really cool and, yeah, respect.”
Katsuta has big respect for Rovanperä in challenging himself so sternly
Having been part of the Super Formula paddock, and raced alongside many drivers who went on to compete in the category and beyond, Katsuta knows how high a level it operates at. Current Formula 1 drivers Pierre Gasly and Liam Lawson are among its alumni. Both finished runner-up in the championship, as few overseas drivers are ever able to consistently get the better of the experienced locals.
“I’ve seen a lot of my old rivals since karting and Formula 3, everybody’s there now,” said Katsuta, “so I know this category quite well. It’s quite high level. Imagine like Pierre Gasly and Lawson – a few Formula 1 drivers have been there and also a few Formula E drivers as well.
“I think nobody got the championship. Always Japanese drivers getting it, like my friend Tomoki Nojiri [champion in 2021 and 2022], so it’s never easy to go there. But still, yeah, nice category for sure.”
Perhaps Katsuta could find a way to live out his dream alongside Rovanperä – even if it were just a one off?
“Me? No, no!” Katsuta laughed when DirtFish asked the question. He has his own dreams in rallying to focus on now.
“Of course I’m interested in racing. I like racing. But I have still many things to do in the rallying,” he explained. “He [Rovanperä] has done so much winning, two championships. He did everything that he had to. And I’m not done yet…”
Words:Mark Paulson
Tags: Kalle Rovanperä, Super Formula, Takamoto Katsuta, WRC, WRC 2025
Publish Date October 23, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/10/gGgA2QEQ-Katsuta12CER25cm274-780x520.jpg October 23, 2025
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