This year, the 27-year-old Yamamoto competed in the WRC2 category of the World Rally Championship alongside Marko Salminen. However, with Sami Pajari selecting Salminen as his co-driver after being promoted to Toyota’s official WRC team, Yamamoto needed to find a new navigator.
Yamamoto’s future co-driver is Irishman James Fulton, who brings experience from the top tier of the World Rally Championship. Fulton began his partnership with fellow countryman Craig Breen at Rally Japan in late 2022, with plans to compete together in Hyundai’s WRC team for the 2023 season.
The pair secured an impressive second place at Rally Sweden, but tragedy struck two months later in April 2023 when Breen lost his life in a testing accident in Croatia. Fulton was in the car with Breen at the time of the accident.
Shortly after the tragedy, Fulton returned to co-driving, partnering with Kris Meeke in Portugal’s rally series and serving as a trusted co-driver for Josh McErlean in the WRC2 category.
Yamamoto expressed gratitude to Salminen for their year together and looked forward to starting a new chapter with Fulton.
“I’m thrilled to team up with him, as he already has experience in the top category. I’m looking forward to starting the new season with him very soon,” Yamamoto shared on social media.
Fulton echoed Yamamoto’s sentiments.
“A very exciting opportunity and I am really looking forward to getting started,” Fulton said, while also thanking McErlean for the past few years.
Yamamoto and his teammate Hikaru Kogure will enter their second season driving the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2. Their 2024 programme will once again include WRC2 events alongside smaller rallies.
Both Yamamoto and Kogure belong to the second generation of Toyota’s Challenge Program. The first graduate of the programme, Takamoto Katsuta, is now an official driver for Toyota’s WRC team.
