On December 6, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR) made an early announcement of its 2022 motorsport program in an online event with live broadcast on YouTube. The event opened with a presentation by Toyota Motor Corporation President Akio Toyoda on the company’s key words until now, “Making Ever-Better Cars,” and then going on to add that motorsport activities should now be a vital source for building better Toyota cars Also announced was the fact that former SUPER GT driver and World Endurance Championship (WEC) winner Kazuki Nakajima (now TGR Europe Vice-Chairman) and Kamui Kobayashi (TGR WEC driver and team representative) will assume new principal positions in the TGR administration.
In the presentation on SUPER GT GT500 class participation, it was announced that six teams will be supported through Toyota Customizing & Development Co., Ltd. The six cars participating will be the GR Supra GT500.Note that the GT300 class entry program is to be announced at a later date.
As for the GT500 team makeups, a surprising announcement was made that the ace driver of the TGR TEAM au TOM'S car No. 36 that won the TOM’s team its first GT500 championship title since 2009, Yuhi Sekiguchi, will be moving to car No. 39.
With this move, the other GT500 champion from car No. 36, Sho Tsuboi, will now become the first driver and lead the car driver team. His teammate from next season will be Giuliano Alesi, who last year competed in the GT300 class and in the SUPER FORMULA series.
In the talk show following the announcement event, Tsuboi said: “I personally have been supported initially in the TGR young driver development program and all the way to become a GT500 team champion. So, it is now my responsibility to keep us at this (championship) level. I also believe that there will continue to be new young drivers stepping up through this program like I did. Now I would like to do my utmost as a driver in order to bring new life and excitement motor sports with such young drivers.
It was also revealed that Ryo Hirakawa, who became the 2017 GT500 champion as the ace driver for car No. 37, will next season be driving the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing GR010 HYBRID car in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) series.
This in turn means that Hirakawa’s teammate driving the TGR TEAM KeePer TOM'S car No. 37 this season, Sacha Fenestraz, will move up to the position of the team’s first driver. Joining him as the new second driver at the wheel of car No. 37 will be Ritomo Miyata, who drove in car No. 19 this season, winning an impressive two pole positions. As currently, the tire supplier for both cars No. 36 and No. 37 will be Bridgestone.
As for the TGR TEAM SARD car No. 39, the team will be welcoming the 2021 series GT500 champion, Yuhi Sekiguchi, as their new ace driver. He will team with Yuichi Nakayama, who will be driving in his fourth season with the team next year. After seeing their string of seasons with at least one win per year broken in the 2021 series, the team has undergone a restructuring, including the addition of the current GT500 champion Sekiguchi, as they go for their first championship title since 2016. They also will be running on Bridgestone tires.
In the talk show following the announcement event, Sekiguchi explained about the sudden switch in teams: “I was approached by TGR with the offer of this move [to car No. 39] as a means to help raise the overall position of TGR teams. Since it was TGR that came to me with the offer of a full-time [GT500] seat (with Car No.19) the year after I failed to receive an extension of my contract at the end of the 2013 season, I felt that I owed it to them to do anything I could to contribute, so I told them I would take this offer and make this move.”
Concerning the TGR TEAM WedsSport BANDOH car No. 19 drivers, Yuji Kunimoto will remain the team’s ace driver. Joining him to replace Miyata will be Sena Sakaguchi, who moves up to his first regular seat in the GT500 class. Despite making spot entries driving the No. 37 GR Supra in five rounds of the 2021 series, Sakaguchi showed his potential by winning one pole position and two podium finishes. The team will of course run on Yokohama tires, as they have since they first entered the class.
There will be few changes in the TGR TEAM ENEOS ROOKIE car No. 14 team, which will run again on Bridgestone tires. The drivers will also be the same, with Kazuya Oshima and Kenta Yamashita aiming to take the team’s first title since 2019.
The TGR TEAM ZENT CERUMO car No. 38’s team makeup will also remain basically the same, with Yuji Tachikawa, the record holder for most pole positions and three GT500 titles to his name, and former SUPER FORMULA champion Hiroaki Ishiura as drivers and Bridgestone once again their tire supplier. For Tachikawa, the 2022 series will definitely be the time when he goes for his first win in the GT Supra.
GT500 Class
|
||||
No.
|
Team
|
Machine
|
Driver
|
Tire
|
---|---|---|---|---|
14 | TGR TEAM ENEOS ROOKIE | ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra | Kazuya Oshima Kenta Yamashita |
BS |
19 | TGR TEAM WedsSport BANDOH | WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra | Yuji Kunimoto Sena Sakaguchi |
YH |
36 | TGR TEAM au TOM'S | au TOM’S GR Supra | Sho Tsuboi Giuliano Alesi |
BS |
37 | TGR TEAM KeePer TOM'S | KeePer TOM'S GR Supra | Sacha Fenestraz Ritomo Miyata |
BS |
38 | TGR TEAM ZENT CERUMO | ZENT CERUMO GR Supra | Yuji Tachikawa Hiroaki Ishiura |
BS |
39 | TGR TEAM SARD | DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra | Yuhi Sekiguchi Yuichi Nakayama |
BS |
Tires = BS: Bridgestone YH: Yokohama
■TOYOTA GAZOO Racing、2022 series race program announcement
https://toyotagazooracing.com/pressrelease/2021/1206-01/
■【Live broadcast】 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing 2022program announcement (YouTube broadcast)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuwXZZXGakw
Photo courtesy:TOYOTA GAZOO Racing
4/13-14 | Round1 OKAYAMA | |
5/03-04 | Round2 FUJI | |
6/01-02 | Round3 SUZUKA | |
8/03-04 | Round4 FUJI | |
8/31-9/01 | Round5 SUZUKA | |
9/21-22 | Round6 SUGO | |
10/19-20 | Round7 AUTOPOLIS | |
11/02-03 | Round8 MOTEGI |