{"id":838481,"date":"2021-12-06T12:55:43","date_gmt":"2021-12-06T12:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/?p=838481"},"modified":"2021-12-06T12:55:53","modified_gmt":"2021-12-06T12:55:53","slug":"kamui-kobayashi-takes-dual-wec-driver-team-principal-role-at-toyota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/articles\/sports-cars\/kamui-kobayashi-takes-dual-wec-driver-team-principal-role-at-toyota\/","title":{"rendered":"Kamui Kobayashi takes dual WEC driver \/ team principal role at Toyota"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kamui Kobayashi<\/a> will take charge of Toyota\u2019s Hypercar programme in a joint team principal\/driver role from next year.<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old ex-F1<\/a> racer, who won at Le Mans this summer<\/a>, will be charged with maintaining Toyota\u2019s World Endurance Championship (WEC) success in the face of new competition.<\/p>\n

In a \u201cdriver-focused\u201d shake-up at Toyota Gazoo Racing, Kazuki Nakajima<\/a> has also announced his retirement from professional racing and will become vice chairman of Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe (TGR-E).<\/p>\n

Nakajima is the most successful Japanese driver at Le Mans after moving to sports cars following a stint in Formula 1 with Williams<\/a>. He won the 24-hour endurance race three years in a row from 2018 to 2020, and has been part of the WEC championship-winning team for the past two seasons.<\/p>\n

His hypercar seat will be filled by Ryo Hirakawa<\/a>, 27, who has had success with Toyota in Super GT and Super Formula. There was no word on whether the team would run a third car at Le Mans next year, which could open a seat for WRC champion S\u00e9bastien Ogier.<\/p>\n

\n \"Kazuki\n
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Nakajima switches from hypercar seat to ‘desk job’<\/p>\n

\n Toyota\n <\/p>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

Toyota said that its priority with the new structure was \u201cputting drivers first and creating a family environment\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cKobayashi and Nakajima will come together to accelerate this process and enhance the WEC project’s contribution to making ever-better cars,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

Toyota\u2019s current dominance of top-level sports car racing will be increasingly under threat from next season when Peugeot\u2019s hypercar<\/a> makes its debut. The following year should bring a raft of new challengers, with Ferrari, Porsche, Audi and BMW among the manufacturers working on cars that can compete for overall Le Mans victory.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOgier to pursue Le Mans ‘dream’ at Toyota Hypercar test\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t
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With S\u00e9bastien Ogier going part-time in WRC next year, he now has time to pursue his endurance “dream” \u2013 and is warming up with the WEC Rookie Test in November<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t

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