Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Toyota returned to the World Rally Championship in 2017 with a team based in Jyvaskyla, the Finnish town at the centre of rallying's gravel heartland. The first manufacturers' title followed quickly, and the programme has been the benchmark for preparation ever since.

The GR Yaris Rally1 runs a hybrid unit alongside a turbocharged three-cylinder, and gravel set-up is where a weekend is won or lost. Recce is treated as a data-gathering exercise: every crest, every surface change and every narrow gate goes into the pace notes before a wheel turns on a stage.

Evans is the reference for smooth, mistake-free driving on loose surfaces — the driver who keeps a rally alive when others break cars. Katsuta's progress has come from learning to trust the notes rather than the corner in front of him, and his stage times on fast gravel now match the front runners.