Takamoto Katsuta’s Costly Error Shakes Canary Rally

WRC, Sportrik Media - Takamoto Katsuta experienced an unusual driving error during the final stage of Saturday morning at the 2026 Canary Rally, yet still delivered a competitive overall performance.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver lost around four seconds after mistakenly completing two laps of a roundabout instead of one, a rare and costly misjudgment in rally competition.

Katsuta admitted that he was unsure about the exact cause of the mistake, which occurred while exiting a penalty zone.

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“I don’t know. I lost a bit of focus coming out of the penalty area and made a mistake,” Katsuta explained.

Despite the incident, Katsuta’s overall pace during the morning loop remained strong. He successfully reduced the gap to Sami Pajari in fourth position, with just 5.8 seconds separating them heading into the afternoon stages.

The improvement was partly attributed to significant setup changes made ahead of Saturday. Katsuta noted that the car felt considerably more stable and aligned with his driving style compared to previous stages.

“Compared to yesterday, the feeling in the car is clearly better and everything is working more as I want. But the conditions are really challenging and require full commitment on every stage,” he said.

Mixed surface conditions, combining dry and wet asphalt, have posed a major challenge throughout the rally. In such scenarios, drivers must carefully balance aggression with caution to maintain performance without increasing risk.

“You need to find the right balance between how much you can commit and how much you need to respect the conditions, because it’s difficult – dry and wet surfaces together make it very tricky,” Katsuta added.

Notably, Katsuta revealed that his setup changes were influenced by discussions with Kalle Rovanpera and Ott Tanak, both of whom provided valuable technical input.

He highlighted Rovanpera’s advice in particular, given the Finn’s previous success at the event.

“Yes, it helped a lot, and Ott also helped. Maybe I made a mistake during testing – I thought the solution was good, but it wasn’t. Now it finally feels right,” Katsuta concluded.

With a reduced time gap and improved confidence, Katsuta enters the afternoon stages in a strong position to challenge for higher standings as the Canary Rally continues.