The Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team heads to its home roads this weekend for Rally Japan, round seven of the 2026 FIA World Rally Championship, on a new earlier date of May 28st to 31st.
Local interest in the event focuses on the two Irish co-drivers embedded within the manufacturer’s line-up, as Aaron Johnston and James Fulton guide their respective drivers through the narrow asphalt mountain passes of the Aichi and Gifu prefectures.
Toyota enters its home event concluding a highly successful first half of the campaign, having secured five wins from the opening six rallies. The team currently leads the manufacturers’ championship by 93 points, with all five of its drivers positioned inside the top six of the drivers’ standings.
Johnston and Katsuta look for home glory
Aaron Johnston routes his driver Takamoto Katsuta into Japan on the back of a strong season, with Katsuta having achieved his first two WRC victories earlier this year in Kenya and Croatia. Currently sitting second in the drivers’ championship, Katsuta is aiming to add to the home podium he achieved in 2022.
“Rally Japan is of course a very important rally for myself and for our team,” Katsuta said. “I hope to see even more people interested in the rally and following us on the stages. It will be exciting to see how the conditions will change now that the rally is taking place in a different season. It will be much warmer than usual and with fewer leaves and better grip, the conditions could be quite nice. Still, there’s a chance for wet weather if the rainy season that we usually have in June arrives early. Of course, to win my home rally would be very nice but we are competing against many great drivers, including my team-mates. I will just focus on trying my best and enjoying the amazing feeling of driving our Rally1 car on Japanese roads.”
Katsuta trails championship leader and team-mate Elfyn Evans by 12 points, with Evans having won the Japanese event for the team in both 2023 and 2024.
Fulton and Pajari target podium return
In the second GR Yaris Rally1 car, James Fulton navigates for Finland’s Sami Pajari. The crew arrives in Japan with a strong asphalt record this year and good memories from previous outings in the country.
“I’m looking forward to being back in Japan,” Pajari said. “It’s always a cool place to visit and I’ve got some very good memories from the rally: it’s where we took our first podium finish last year, and where I won the WRC2 title the year before. It’s a special feeling to be a Toyota driver there, and every year the number of fans seems to be growing. We will be there at a different time of year, but I don’t think the challenge will be any less than before. Having been on the podium in the last two asphalt rallies, as well as in Japan last year, that’s the minimum we will try to aim for and we’ll do our best to achieve a good result.”
Extended entry and route details
The event also sees the Toyota WRC Challenge Program GEN2 driver Yuki Yamamoto competing in the WRC2 class driving a GR Yaris Rally2.
“I’m really excited for Rally Japan,” Yamamoto said. “It’s special for me to be able to compete in my home round of the WRC again. It’s always nice to see so many fans there supporting us – not only in the stages but also on the road sections – and that’s a really big energy boost for me. This year I would really like to achieve something special in terms of a result and aim for the podium in WRC2. I feel confident that this is achievable and I’m preparing as well as I can to try and make a good result happen for everyone who is supporting us.”
The move from November to late May is expected to bring higher temperatures across the 20 scheduled stages, covering 302.82 competitive kilometres. The rally service park remains based at the Toyota Stadium, while a ceremonial start will take place at Nagoya’s historic castle on Thursday evening.
Action begins on Friday with three mountain stages run twice east of Toyota City, including the Asuke test and Isegami’s Tunnel. Saturday stands as the longest day of the rally, heading north-east for a repeated loop around Enakyo Park, before concluding with two passes of a new super special stage at Fujioka. Sunday finishes with twin passes of the Nukata and Lake Mikawako tests, alongside two runs of the Kuragaike super special.
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