Evans thankful for team-mate’s act of kindnessWhen you’re fighting for a WRC title, every point counts. That’s why Elfyn Evans was especially grateful for a selfless gesture from his team-mate Takamoto Katsuta at Vodafone Rally de Portugal. Written by WRC2 min readPublished on 23.05.2025 · 8:56 UTC
Toyota is famous for not employing team orders on its drivers but Katsuta took it upon himself to help Evans by backing off on Sunday to allow his championship leading team-mate an opportunity to snare a Super Sunday point.Evans and Katsuta were locked in a fight across Sunday’s six stages, fighting for a top five position in the Super Sunday standings. The former was eager to recover as many points as possible after difficult rally battling the disadvantage of opening the road amid struggles in extracting pace from his GR Yaris.
We are all very open as team-mates. I just wanted to do something for them. Takamoto Katsuta
In the end, Evans managed to salvage a solitary Super Sunday point to claim fifth in the Super Sunday standings, adding to the eight points for finishing the rally in sixth. However, this was only achieved after Katsuta spared a thought for his team-mate.“Obviously Taka was quite kind. It was very tight between us and we were in a bit of fight and he decided not to push for Sunday so I’m thankful to him for thinking about my position, but obviously it doesn’t make me fee particularly proud to gain points that way,” said Evans.Speaking after the rally, Katsuta explained why he chose to help Evans, whose championship lead over fellow team-mate Kalle Rovanpera decreased from 43 to 30 points.