Insight: How Toyota is Preparing Its Future Hypercar Stars

Jamie Klein takes a look into the Japanese manufacturer's driver development program led by Kazuki Nakajima...

Since he hung up his helmet at the end of the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship season, three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Kazuki Nakajima has been a busy man.

Stepping into a new role as vice-chairman of Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe, Nakajima has been a prominent behind-the-scenes figure, providing a vital conduit between Toyota’s headquarters in Japan and its Cologne-based factory that runs the marque’s ultra-successful WEC team - together with fellow ex-F1 racer and now-team principal Kamui Kobayashi.

One of Nakajima’s main duties since his move into team management has been to work on young driver development, something which slipped down the agenda during and immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic but is now a major priority for Toyota as part of the ‘drivers first’ philosophy espoused by company chairman Akio Toyoda.

After several years of inactivity, Toyota’s WEC Challenge Program was revived last year, with Ritomo Miyata chosen as its first member based on his impressive performances in Super Formula and SUPER GT. It should be noted though that Miyata was chosen to head to Europe before the season, in which he won the title in both categories, had started.

Initially, the plan was for Miyata to race in the WEC’s LMGT3 class with the Akkodis ASP team, as well as the European Le Mans Series with Cool Racing. But with the door to race in Formula 2 unexpectedly opening, his sports car racing activities were cut back to just ELMS, although he is still attending some races in the WEC as Toyota’s Hypercar reserve driver and will make a one-off race outing in ASP’s Lexus RC F GT3 next week at Spa.

That will be his second outing in the RC F GT3 of the year after he made an appearance in the Rolex 24 at Daytona with Vasser Sullivan Racing back in January.

“Ritomo has been very busy, and maybe his schedule is a bit too much if you are just looking at the results,” says Nakajima. “But it’s his first year in Europe and our aim was to maximize opportunities for him to gain experience. He has been doing a good job, I would say. 

“He also had his first Hypercar test back in January [at Motorland Aragon]. He showed good potential, and he has adapted to the team very smoothly.”