Nakajima retires, replaced by Hirakawa in Toyota WEC lineup

The retirement of former Williams Formula 1 driver Nakajima and his move into a new role of vice-chairman of Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe were announced when the Japanese manufacturer unveiled its 2022 motorsport programme in Tokyo on Monday.

It included confirmation that his replacement in the two-car squad of Toyota GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercars for next season's WEC will be Super Formula frontrunner Ryo Hirakawa.

The 27-year-old will slot into Nakajima's seat alongside Sebastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley in the #8 car, while Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez will defend their title in #7.

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An additional role was also announced for Kobayashi: he has been named as team principal, a new position designed, according to Toyota's statement, to "bring a driver’s perspective to team leadership with a specific focus on enhancing the team for the Hypercar era".

News that Nakajima is hanging up his helmet follows the announcement prior to last month's 2021 WEC finale in Bahrain that he would be leaving the Toyota WEC line-up after nine seasons, which included his hat-trick of Le Mans wins in 2017-19 and a pair of titles in 2017/18 and 2018/19.

Nakajima's future as a driver was left open at the same time as a future role within the WEC operation run by the TGRE organisation in Cologne was strongly hinted at.

He outlined a desire to continue racing in Japan, but a potential Super Formula seat at TOM'S with which he has contested partial seasons over the past four years has gone to Giuliano Alesi, son of F1 legend Jean.

His focus at TGRE, formerly Toyota Motorsport GmbH, will be to "enhance the organisation and optimise its driver-focused approach to WEC, alongside team and driver management responsibilities", the communique read.

Nakajima retires as a three-time Le Mans winner with Toyota

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Nakajima said: "I want to express my gratitude to my parents, who gave me the chance to get started in racing, and when I was 18 years old, I made my debut as a Toyota driver in Formula Toyota.

"Now I'm 36, so since my debut it's been half of my lifetime I've been driving for Toyota and looked after by them.

"I've had many experiences with them, and it was thanks to that environment I was able to show more than my original strength, so I'm very grateful for that, and for the support I had from the team staff and the fans."

Hirakawa comes into the WEC line-up as expected after strong performances in two evaluation tests at the Algarve circuit and then Barcelona over the summer at the wheel of a GR010.

“Of course, I’m really happy Toyota chose me to be part of the team,” Hirakawa told Autosport.

“In testing I did everything I could to try and improve and I think they appreciated that; thinking about the future they must have felt I could do a good job.

“At the same, it’s huge pressure because it’s a world championship: the job I have to do is the same as in Japan, but the surroundings are different.

"Everything is more professional: I have to learn a new car, new tracks, and this puts me in the ‘pressure zone’."

Hirakawa will take up the vacant WEC seat after impressing in testing

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

Hirakawa is a long-standing member of Toyota's development programme and was placed by the Japanese manufacturer with the TDS Racing LMP2 squad for programme encompassing the European Le Mans Series in 2016.

He came back into contention for a seat with the WEC team after finishing runner-up in Super Formula in 2020 with Team Impul.

Toyota has also revealed that Yuichiro Haruna will become the project director of the WEC squad alongside the similar position he holds at the manufacturer's World Rally Championship team.