Evans ‘caught napping’ by Katsuta before Rally Sweden win

Evans ‘caught napping’ by Katsuta before Rally Sweden win

16th February 2025 0 By Kamron Kent

Toyota’s Eflyn Evans admits he was ‘caught napping’ by teammate Takamoto Katsuta on Sunday before claiming the win at Rally Sweden. 

Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool

Evans put together a strong rally weekend in Sweden to claim his first win of the 2025 season, holding off the advances of his fellow teammate Katsuta who was gunning for his first-ever World Rally Championship victory. 

The Briton had led for most of the weekend but he suffered brief moments where the lead was taken away from him. Only two drivers overtook Evans for the rally lead; Hyundai’s Ott Tanak and Katsuta. 

Katsuta had previously taken the rally lead away from Evans, on Friday, before the Brit regained it on SS8 when Hyundai’s Ott Tanak had the lead in SS7.

Evans admitted his Japanese counterpart had caught him napping on the final day as Katsuta took the rally lead on Sunday’s opening pass of Västervik (SS16). Despite regaining the lead on the second leg of the stage, and ultimate victory, Evans praised Katsuta claiming the #18 Toyota made him fight for the win. He said: 

“It’s been an amazing weekend. We led for a lot of the rally but the margins were always tight and it was never really comfortable. 

“This morning I got caught napping a bit in the first stage by Taka, who really made me fight for it, and thankfully we managed to turn it around and unlock good pace on the next stage. 

“I’m very happy with the end result and to have won the Power Stage as well.”

Elfyn Evans holds off Takamoto Katsuta to win 2025 WRC Sweden

The 2025 Rally Sweden was a redemption rally for Kasuta where his podium finish on Sunday stood as a stark contrast to his 2024 rally. Last year, the Japanese driver failed to break into the top five as he buried his Yaris into a snow bank on the 10th stage of the 2024 event.

He narrowly missed out on the win by a narrow 3.8 seconds and missed out on maximum Power Stage points by an even narrower margin: one-tenth.

Despite this, Katsuta walked away with the positives. The Japanese driver praised his ‘intense’ fight out on the snowy courses against Evans and Tanak, and he was grateful to walk away with a good haul of points for the team.  

“It’s been a really nice fight with Elfyn and with the Hyundai drivers not far behind us as well,” said Katsuta. “It’s been a really intense battle for the whole rally and there was some pressure throughout but I enjoyed it a lot. 

“At the end, I’m happy to have done a good job for the team, to bring the car to the finish and score some good points.”

Following the good result, and a sniff of victory, Katsuta claimed that his performance over the weekend and the overall result have given him confidence for future rallies and hinted at a ‘good feeling’ for Kenya. 

“Next time I will be ready to push more to try and take that victory,” continued Katsuta. “I was able to manage the speed through the whole weekend and this is giving me more confidence for the future and a good feeling for Kenya.”

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Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

CategoryNews Rallying WRC
TagsElfyn Evans Rally Rally Sweden Sweden Takamoto Katsuta Toyota World Rally Championship WRC

About the author

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

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