Takamoto Katsuta takes overnight lead at Rally Islas Canarias
23rd April 2026Toyota’s World Rally Championship leader, Takamoto Katsuta stands as the overnight leader of Rally Islas Canarias after Thursday’s sole stage.
Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree // Red Bull Content Pool
The fifth round of the WRC kicked off on Thursday evening with a stadium showdown at the Las Palmas Gran Canaria Stadium, with a super special stage igniting the Spanish action.
It was a duel of the competitors as the WRC competitors faced off around the stadium in the capital of Las Palmas, with each competitor starting on opposite sides of the football pitch.
However, Katsuta had the speed to tackle the short 1.89km test as the championship leader, securing an overall time of 1m 54.2 seconds. It meant the Japanese driver pipped his teammate, Sami Pajari by 0.4s.
The WRC2 competitors were out ahead of the WRC Rally1 runners, and the lower category seemed to be able to tackle the more technical sections of the stadium more easily.
Their cars seemingly more nimble to tackle the tight hairpins stationed on each end of the field, compared to their Rally1 counterparts.
As such, Italy’s Roberto Dapra, in his WRC2 Skoda Fabia, was able to clinch a top-three position in the overall leaderboards, in between Pajari and returning Hyundai driver, and Spain’s own, Daniel Sordo.
Action will continue on Friday morning, with the first full day getting underway at 8:25am local time, standing as the longest day of the event with seven stages to be completed.
So, who finished where for the Rally1 runners?
- Takamoto Katsuta, Toyota – 1m 54.2s
- Sami Pajari, Toyota +0.4s
- Roberto Dapra, Skoda (WRC2) +0.8s
- Daniel Sordo, Hyundai +1s
- Joshua McErlean, M-Sport Ford +1.2s
- Adrien Fourmaux, Hyundai +1.4s
- Sebastien Ogier, Toyota +1.4s
- Thierry Neuville, Hyundai +1.9s
- Elfyn Evans, Toyota +1.9s
- Oliver Solberg, Toyota +2s
M-Sport Ford’s Jon Armstrong finished the opening day down in 16th, 3.8 seconds adrift of Katsuta’s leading time.
Read more WRC here:
- Oliver Solberg tops opening test of Rally Islas Canarias shakedown
- Sebastien Ogier aiming for Rally Islas Canarias victory to go ‘one better’ than last year
- Hyundai to reset and refocus for WRC Rally Islas Canarias after Croatia heartbreak
- Rally Islas Canarias: The full WRC stage guide and times
- Katsuta jokes to get ‘tips’ from Rovanpera ahead of WRC Rally Islas Canarias
- Rally Islas Canarias Weather 2026: Full WRC Weekend Forecast
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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.
Kamron Kent
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.
