{"id":2000105525,"date":"2026-03-15T18:37:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T16:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/?p=2000105525"},"modified":"2026-03-15T18:45:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T16:45:08","slug":"japanese-driver-katsuta-makes-history-with-first-wrc-win-in-kenya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/japanese-driver-katsuta-makes-history-with-first-wrc-win-in-kenya\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese driver Katsuta makes history with first WRC win in Kenya"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

France\u2019s Adrien Fourmaux finished second, delivering Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT its first podium of the season, while Toyota\u2019s rising star Sami Pajari completed the podium in third. Katsuta\u2019s breakthrough triumph propels him to second in the championship standings, just three points behind leader Elfyn Evans, who retired on Saturday following suspension damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Triumph amid chaos<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The rally was full of challenges from the start. Heavy rains during the opening Camp Moran stage caused Katsuta\u2019s intercom to fail, leaving him without pace notes from Johnston. A puncture on Friday dropped the Japanese driver to seventh overall overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The race was hit by heavy rains, forcing drivers to battle through mud.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Katsuta steadily climbed the leaderboard on Saturday\u2019s punishing gravel stages, taking advantage of troubles faced by his competitors. Championship leader Elfyn Evans suffered two punctures and eventual rear suspension failure, forcing him to retire. Rising star Oliver Solberg and eight-time world champion S\u00e9bastien Ogier also retired with mechanical issues, handing Katsuta the rally lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting Sunday\u2019s final leg with a 1-minute 25-second advantage, Katsuta carefully managed the rough terrain of Oserengoni and Hell\u2019s Gate to secure victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don’t know what to say. We have faced so many difficult moments. Aaron has worked very hard with me, and the team always believed in me even when I was struggling. I’m here because of them and Aaron,\u201d Katsuta said, emotionally overwhelmed at the finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kenyan President William Ruto was present at the finish to personally present Katsuta with the winner\u2019s trophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Podium and other highlights<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Fourmaux delivered a composed drive to secure second overall despite Hyundai battling severe overheating issues. Pajari, despite suffering a tyre explosion and another puncture on Saturday morning, guided his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 to a solid third-place finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Esapekka Lappi finished fourth after adopting a cautious approach across the demanding Kenyan stages. Meanwhile, Robert Virves claimed the WRC2 category victory on his first Kenyan appearance, beating Gus Greensmith by 30.3 seconds, with Paraguay\u2019s Fau Zald\u00edvar rounding out the podium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Kenyan President William Ruto was present at the finish to personally present Katsuta with the winner\u2019s trophy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rwanda was represented by four crews, with notable performances. Christian Kanangire and Kevin Shyaka, driving a Subaru Impreza WRX STi, finished as the top-performing Rwandan team, placing 27th overall after showing remarkable consistency through the final Hell\u2019s Gate stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Queen Kalimpinya made history as the first Rwandan woman to compete in the WRC Safari Rally. Despite a technical setback that ruled her car out of the ARC classification, she continued in the national category and showcased resilience to reach the final stages alongside co-driver Olivier Ngabo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Co-driven by Aaron Johnston, Katsuta sealed the win by 27.4 seconds, ending years of near misses in his pursuit of a WRC crown.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Takamoto Katsuta, the Toyota Gazoo World Rally driver from Japan, made history on Sunday by claiming his maiden FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) victory at the 2026 Safari Rally in Kenya. Co-driven by Aaron Johnston, Katsuta sealed the win by 27.4 seconds, ending years of near misses in his pursuit of a WRC crown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000105532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[151,69],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000105525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-editors-choice","tag-homehighlights","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000105532,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/HDdBJfbaAAAgccC.jpeg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1280,"height":854,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/HDdBJfbaAAAgccC.jpeg","width":150,"height":100},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/HDdBJfbaAAAgccC.jpeg","width":300,"height":200},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/HDdBJfbaAAAgccC.jpeg","width":768,"height":512},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/HDdBJfbaAAAgccC.jpeg","width":1024,"height":683},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/HDdBJfbaAAAgccC.jpeg","width":1280,"height":854}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000105525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000105525"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000105525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000105533,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000105525\/revisions\/2000105533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000105532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000105525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000105525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000105525"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000105525"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000105525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}