Katsuta began karting at the age of 12 and progressed into single-seater racing, competing in the Formula Challenge Japan series from 2010. He claimed the Formula Challenge Japan championship title in 2011, defeating Ryō Hirakawa. This success attracted the TOM'S team, who fielded Katsuta in the Japanese Formula 3 Championship from 2012. After finishing third in the National class in his debut year, he was promoted to full championship status in 2013, winning two races and finishing second overall, ahead of Nobuharu Matsushita and Katsumasa Chiyo. In 2014, his final Formula 3 season, he again secured two victories but finished fourth in the standings.
During his last year in Formula 3, Katsuta began competing in local rally events in Japan, driving a Toyota GT86 in the JN-5 class of the Japan Rally Championship — the same series his father Norihiko had won eight times. He won his class at the Rally Highland Masters in just his second event. His performances attracted the attention of Tommi Mäkinen, the four-time World Rally Champion who was building Toyota's rally development programme, and Katsuta was signed alongside Hiroki Arai.
From 2015 Katsuta trained full-time in Finland under Mäkinen's supervision, competing in local Finnish and Latvian events aboard a Subaru Impreza WRX. In 2016, with experienced co-driver Daniel Barritt, he was provided a Ford Fiesta R5 for the Rally Estonia — his first major outing in FIA-homologated four-wheel-drive machinery and his European Rally Championship debut. Despite crashing out, he and Arai were promoted to their first WRC start at Rally Finland, competing in the WRC-2 class.
From 2017 Katsuta ran a full-season WRC-2 programme alongside Hiroki Arai, partnering Marko Salminen as co-driver. Results were modest, but a class podium at Rally Italia Sardegna marked him as one to watch.
The 2018 season brought a breakthrough. At Rally Sweden, Katsuta won ten of nineteen special stages to claim the WRC-2 class victory by just 4.5 seconds from Škoda factory driver and reigning WRC-2 champion Pontus Tidemand. The result announced him on the international stage and deepened Toyota's commitment to his development.
In 2019 Katsuta competed in the WRC-2 class with Tommi Mäkinen Racing, now reunited with Daniel Barritt. He made his Toyota Yaris WRC debut at a round of the Finnish championship, winning outright. He won the WRC-2 class in Chile before his first full WRC outing with the Yaris WRC at Rallye Deutschland, finishing tenth. A transmission failure in Catalunya ended another promising run.
In 2020 Katsuta moved to a part-time WRC campaign covering all European rounds, finishing ninth on debut in Monte Carlo and seventh in Sweden. He showed strong pace in Estonia and Sardegna before crashing out at both. At Rally Monza he crashed on the opening stage, recovered, and went on to win the Power Stage — his first WRC stage win. He ended the season thirteenth with 13 championship points.
Katsuta stepped up to a full-time Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT campaign in 2021. He posted sixth-place finishes in Monte Carlo, the Arctic Rally and Croatia, and fourth in both Portugal and Sardegna. The Safari Rally in Kenya provided the season highlight: avoiding the mechanical carnage that claimed many rivals, he finished second overall behind teammate Sébastien Ogier and led a WRC rally for the first time on stages 14 and 15 following Thierry Neuville's retirement. It was his first WRC podium.
Co-driver Daniel Barritt suffered a back injury on stage four of Rally Estonia and withdrew; Keaton Williams stepped in before Oliver Solberg's co-driver Aaron Johnston took over from Rally Finland onwards, becoming Katsuta's permanent co-driver. Katsuta suffered crashes in Belgium, Finland and Catalunya but recovered to finish seventh at the season finale in Monza. He placed seventh in the final drivers' standings with 78 points.
Katsuta secured his first outright World Rally Championship victory at the 2026 Safari Rally in Kenya — the same event where he had taken his maiden WRC podium five years earlier. The win marked a landmark for Japanese drivers in the WRC.
Katsuta represents a rare example of a driver who successfully crossed from single-seater circuit racing into top-level rallying at the sport's highest tier. His path through Toyota's development programme — from local Finnish rally events and WRC-2 competition to a full factory seat — mirrors the structured approach Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT used to build a championship-winning squad. His 2021 Safari podium and 2026 Safari victory both came on the same Kenyan roads, underlining the circuit as a personal hunting ground.