In April, Mitsubishi Ralliart director Hiroshi Masuoka declared the team’s goal for the 2026 Asia Cross Country Rally was a “1–2 finish with Yotha and Taguchi.” That ultimately did not happen, but the team was still pleased to come away with the overall win.

Chayapon Yotha hoped to repeat after winning the 2025 AXCR, but fell behind early when he had to turn back to ensure he took the right route after the Stage 1 roadbook was amended. Additional navigation errors continued to keep him from cracking the top five before a flat right-rear tire hampered him in Stage 4. Yotha held on to seventh overall entering the penultimate day, where his chances died for good when the engine failed 60 kilometers in.

The motor was repaired in time for the final day, but he could only finish 36th overall and 20th in T1D.

Fortunately for Ralliart, Katsuhiko Taguchi was strong all week. He finished the first stage in third after racing conservatively and avoiding the same mistakes made by the other leaders, then won Stage 3 to take the overall lead. While it was his only stage win of the race, Yotha’s 2025 win was proof that one doesn’t need to rack them up to lead outright. Taguchi played it safe and held a three-minute advantage over Ditsapong Maneein going into Stage 6, and the latter ended up losing second to 2024 winner Mana Pornsiricherd.

Taguchi is the third Japanese AXCR Auto winner after Tadamitsu Niihori in 2006 and 2009 and Takuma Aoki in 2023. He and navigator Takahiro Yasui likewise became the first all-Japanese driver and co-driver duo to win the overall.

“This is the first time in the 31 years of this race that a pair of Japanese drivers has won. As a fellow Japanese, I am proud and happy,” Masuoka remarked.

While certainly elated, Taguchi and Yasui were more relieved than anything. Neither felt they were the fastest at any point, and that simply driving smart and avoiding aggression was what paid off. Their Stage 3 win came on a short special that spanned just 146.04 km.

This was especially apparent to Taguchi when Pornsiricherd breezed by him on the final stage.

“Of course I’m happy, but I’m not entirely sold on being overtaken during the SS,” Taguchi said with a laugh. “Next time, I want to win by driving well so I won’t be passed. The car ran without any problems and with very few dangers. We weren’t driving slowly of course, Yasui and I were pushing ourselves to the limit, but the main reason we won was that we were able to get ahead. Our rivals pursuing us had to take risks and attack, and I think that’s where they made mistakes.

“That’s my impression of the race. To navigate a course where you can’t see what’s ahead, you need the reliability of the car, and the Triton’s handling was better this time, so we were able to choose good lines and drive.”

Pornsiricherd was the only driver with multiple stage wins, but fell behind during the midway stages because he got lost in Stage 3 then had a tire go down.

Yotha wasn’t the only victim in Stage 1, which took place under heavy rain and mud. Bailey Cole’s GPS glitched out while the backup unit wasn’t as reliably, eventually causing him to get lost. Despite everything and coming up short of the overall podium, Cole still won T2A-D for the second year in a row. Kazuto Koide, the third Ralliart driver mainly tasked with a support role for Taguchi and Yotha, got stuck in a ditch during the first day and exceeded the time limit, spoiling his otherwise top-20 pace.

WRC and JAF All Japan Rally Championship regular Takuma Kamada won the first stage, finishing an impressive fourth overall in his debut.

Nguyễn Đình Hiếu and Ngô Đăng Khoa respectively finished 26th and 32nd overall in Vietnam’s return to the AXCR. Vietnamese and Cambodian teams had withdrawn from the 2025 race at the last minute due to the border conflict between Cambodia and Thailand. Ngô had lost a brake at KM 77 in Stage 4, then was busted for speeding because his speedometer wasn’t working.

Stage winners

Stage	Auto	Time	Moto	Time
Stage 1	Takuma Kamada	2:57:44	Suwijak Dontrinak	3:23:44
Stage 2	Mana Pornsiricherd	4:13:04	Jakkrit Chawtale	1:12:56
Stage 3	Katsuhiko Taguchi	2:07:54	Takahiro Ohtsu	2:34:57
Stage 4	Tubagus Adhi Moerinsyahdi	2:29:00	Jakkrit Chawtale	2:30:35
Stage 5	Mana Pornsiricherd	2:42:15	Yu Shimada	3:15:11
Stage 6	Mana Pornsiricherd	1:05:40	Sumaetee Trakulchai	1:12:30

Auto

T1D

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Total Time
1	1	106	Katsuhiko Taguchi	Takahiro Yasui	Team Mitsubishi Ralliart	12:58:20
2	2	102	Mana Pornsiricherd	Kittisak Klinchan	Toyota Gazoo Racing Thailand	13:00:45
3	3	105	Ditsapong Maneein	Atikij Srimongkhol	Isuzu Suphan Trane Titanium Yokohama Nexzter Rally Team	13:08:22
4	4	120	Takuma Kamada	Naoyuki Yanagawa	Team TEIN	13:13:10
5	6	135	Masanao Nitta	Hirokazu Somemiya	Tras Power135 TRD Hilux	14:08:30
6	8	119	Akira Bamba	Megumi Fujita	CUSCO Racing	14:26:06
7	11	111	Hiroshi Yanagisawa	Naoki Kase	CUSCO Racing	14:49:50
8	14	136	Arungpong Sririt	Pongsak Pongsathit	Fast Forward Sport	15:05:41
9	17	129	Sanjay Takale	Keerati Noijard	Fast Forward Sport	15:19:40
10	18	110	Suwat Limjirapinya	Prakob Chaothale	Isuzu Suphan Trane Titanium Yokohama Nexzter Rally Team	15:24:27
11	20	107	Natthaphon Angritthanon	Thanyaphat Meenil	Toyota Gazoo Racing Thailand	16:40:39
12	21	133	Lody Natasha	Dameria Yusi Prasasti	Indonesia Cross Country Rally Team	16:49:30
13	25	134	Cynthia Chen	Jui-Chun Lin	i Taiwan Rally Team	18:34:30
14	26	146	Nguyễn Đình Hiếu	Cao Anh Tú	TTC Dobinsons Wolver VietNam Rally Team	19:34:13
15	27	118	Kazuto Koide	Eiji Chiba	Team Mitsubishi Ralliart	20:58:30
16	30	139	Ho-Huang Chen	Yi-Ju Lee	i Taiwan Rally Team	24:29:27
17	31	109	Tubagus Adhi Moerinsyahdi	Mohamad Herkusuma	Toyota Gazoo Racing Indonesia	25:37:08
18	33	124	Kazuya Suzuki	Thachapon Muangsiri	SRS-Osaka Welport Rally Team	26:07:40
19	35	140	Hideyuki Katsumata	Masahiko Terui	DMR	30:33:54
20	36	101	Chayapon Yotha	Peerapong Sombatwong	Team Mitsubishi Ralliart	34:48:43
21	37	138	Seri Sroiphloi	Noppasit Sommana	Gazzy 4×4 Racing	37:22:19
22	38	125	Mao Furumoto	Kenji Kamano	SRS-Osaka Welport Rally Team	38:14:04
23	39	141	Sumpun Chavasin	Wutipun Chawasin	Ayumi Isuzu BK Clutch Explorer	46:03:35
24	40	142	Suwit Kumjeen	Chupong Chaiwan	Xiang Kong 88 Surat Thani	162:30:00

T1G

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Total Time
1	9	115	Tomohiro Wada	Keitaro Ikami	Showa Garage Racing	14:38:12
2	19	137	Koto Haneda	Momo Tsukishima	Geolandar CTS Rally Team	16:06:05
3	23	126	Tadamune Nakai	Kenta Izuno	SRS-Osaka Welport Rally Team	17:24:38
4	24	116	Memen Harianto	Chonlanat Phophipad	Indonesia Cross Country Rally Team	17:29:51
5	32	144	Ngô Đăng Khoa	Nguyễn Hoài Nam	Team 108 Redline Racing Sài Gòn VietNam Rally Team	1:48:52
6	42	131	Kodai Tomiyama	Keizo Matsubara	SpringRoad Geolandar Rally Team Japan	DNF

T2A-D

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Total Time
1	5	103	Bailey Cole	Sinnopong Tairat	Feeliq Innovation Motorsport	13:55:06
2	7	121	Michael Freeman	Chaiya Chommalee	Feeliq Innovation Motorsport	14:08:35
3	10	112	Takuma Aoki	Ittipon Simaraks Songwut Danphiphattrakoon	Geolandar Fortuner Takuma-GP	14:48:48
4	12	114	Olan Sornsirirat	Somkiat Noychat	GWM EK Group Racing Team	14:54:16
5	13	127	Surin Chaichana	Jumphon Duangthip	BFGoodrich Team Thailand	15:04:33
6	15	128	Thovald Thovaldsen	Chapphawit Junlasantirat	GWM EK Group Racing Team	15:07:42
7	16	130	Purimas Thinchan	Prakai Namjaithahan	Toyota Gazoo Racing Thailand	15:13:35
8	28	108	Thongchai Klinkate	Banpoth Ampornmaha	Isuzu Suphan Trane Titanium Yokohama Nexzter Rally Team	21:10:30
9	29	117	Thibodin Santhadkha	Wutthichai Sorndaeng Prasarn Sirikasemsuk	Fast Forward Sport	21:19:00
10	41	145	Jeerasak Suwanpeuch	Thatchaphon Sutabutra	Carforlife Rally Team	DQF

T2A-G

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Total Time
1	22	143	Gema Suria	Doddy Fidelis	Indonesia Cross Country Rally Team	17:23:37

T2D

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Total Time
1	34	123	Yuichi Iijima	Koji Wakuta	SRS-Osaka Welport Rally Team	28:24:44

Moto

M1

Finish	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
1	3	10	Mario Iroth	Wheel Story Indonesia	18:58:48
2	7	34	Takahito Toda	X-PARK Katsunuma with Fortience Consulting Webike	20:51:59
3	8	9	Irma Ferdiana	Indonesia Cross Country Rally Team	21:04:35
4	9	3	Sumaetee Trakulchai	Team Musashi International	21:06:19
5	14	6	Norihasa Matsumoto	Team Berg	22:03:54
6	18	15	Mufti Muiskarim	Sutan Mudo Tour	28:57:06
7	23	36	Takanori Yoda	X-PARK Katsunuma with Fortience Consulting	36:09:38
8	26	28	Seiji Kumada	Team Moto Japan	51:16:29
9	29	35	Keiichi Nakamura	X-PARK Katsunuma with Fortience Consulting	129:10:52
10	31	38	Yohei Matsuguma	X-PARK Katsunuma with Fortience Consulting	168:52:54

M2

Finish	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
1	1	27	Suwijak Dontrinak	Astront Team	18:44:14
2	2	7	Aritonang Sandy	Webike Asia Rally Team	18:53:54
3	4	5	Takuya Izumoto	Team Musashi International	19:54:15
4	5	11	Rudy Poa	Indonesia Cross Country Rally Team	20:33:20
5	6	19	Keisuke Takeuchi	Team Toonrentacar & San Pro	20:40:05
6	10	17	Choey Choon Yen	Red Dot Raiders	21:16:21
7	11	2	Jakkrit Chawtale	JC Dirt Shop	21:23:44
8	12	24	Kaoru Okamoto	Team Musashi Japan	21:31:00
9	13	39	Yu Shimada	X-PARK Katsunuma with Fortience Consulting	22:01:39
10	15	8	Toyohiro Sanada	Team Toonrentacar & San Pro	23:32:08
11	16	14	Ken Tanaka	Team Moto Japan	23:54:07
12	17	12	Pang Meng Yam	Red Dot Raiders	24:45:06
13	19	26	Takahiro Ohtsu	Team Musashi Japan	30:49:00
14	20	31	Aron Ho	Aron Ho	31:59:24
15	21	40	Arashi Yamada	X-PARK Katsunuma with Fortience Consulting	34:48:39
16	22	37	Katsuhiko Arakawa	X-PARK Katsunuma with Fortience Consulting	36:04:44
17	24	16	Go Katsumata	Team Moto Japan	47:08:45
18	25	22	Yasuyuki Nagao	Team Moto Japan	50:28:22
19	27	29	Yoshikazu Saito	Team Moto Japan	61:34:58
20	28	21	Tatsuya Koga	Webike Asia Rally Team	82:10:00
21	30	30	Gen Ohta	Gen Ohta	163:20:00
22	32	18	Issac Khoo	Red Dot Raiders	DNF
23	33	20	Takuya Ono	BERIK	DNF
24	34	23	Maski Otsuka	Kove Japan	DNF

Featured image credit: Mitsubishi Motors