Aaron Johnston guides Takamoto Katsuta to maiden WRC win
Photo: Toyota Gazoo Racing
Irish co-driver Aaron Johnston graced the top-step of the FIA World Rally Championship podium at this weekend’s Safari Rally Kenya. The Tyrone-born Johnston navigates for Japanese driver Takamoto Katsuta as part of the Toyota Gazoo World Rally Team.
Johnston becomes the first Irish co-driver to top the WRC since Paul Nagle assisted Kris Meeke to a win at the 2017 Rally Catalunya, while the last time a Japanese driver won a world-championship event was Kenjiro Shinozuka at the Ivory Coast Rally in 1992.
Johnston and Katsuta have been together at Toyota since 2021, and had achieved Top-3 finishes on the Safari Rally twice before, but neither had ever won outright at the WRC level.
Takamoto Katsuta:
“It’s such an amazing feeling to achieve this result. It’s hard to describe how I felt when I crossed the finish line: it was just crazy. There have been so many difficult moments and these memories all went through my head. It hasn’t been easy but finally we are here. Thanks to Aaron who has worked so hard with me, and to every single person in the team, which has always been believing in me. Trying to manage today was really difficult, because you see every small rock and you try to avoid them. But we managed it without any problems, so thank you to the team for giving me such a strong car and strong support. We’re here because we never give up and we’ll keep working hard to achieve more results like this.”
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal):
“The whole team is very happy to see Takamoto and Aaron win this rally. They have been close so many times and they really deserve this. Taka is a very good driver and to see a Japanese driver win a WRC rally again is really nice for us. The Safari Rally was also my first WRC win 41 years ago, and it’s something quite special to do it on such a difficult event. This was the toughest Safari we’ve seen since it came back to the calendar, and it was a rollercoaster weekend for us. To have three cars retire yesterday was quite a disaster but Oliver, Seb and Elfyn all pushed hard and did well today to get maximum Sunday points for the team. And with Taka delivering the victory and Sami on the podium again after another great drive with many stage wins, there is plenty we can be happy about.”
Katsuta and Johnston in their No. 18 Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 took the lead of the event on Saturday after many of the other front-runners encountered issues across the gruelling Kenyan terrain. The Safari Rally is historically known as being the hardest mechanically on the cars and this year’s iteration was no different.
To Johnston, Motorsport Ireland wishes to offer sincere congratulations and to Katsuta: 本当におめでとうございます！