On the floor, Toyota is to run a TPC outing on the Fuji Speedway subsequent month… however what is the story behind it?
OK, first the press launch:
Haas will head to the Fuji Speedway subsequent month as a part of its TPC (Testing of Earlier Vehicles) program. Toyota Gazoo Racing and Haas reserve driver, Ryo Hirakawa, will run the VF-23 on Wednesday August 6, with fellow Toyota Gazoo Racing driver Sho Tsuboi making his Components 1 debut the next day.
Hirakawa (31) continues to construct his observe expertise with Haas. Following a check outing within the VF-24 in Abu Dhabi on the finish of 2024, he has contested FP1 outings this season in Bahrain and Spain – with additional runs to comply with in Mexico and Abu Dhabi. Hirakawa, who competes for Toyota Gazoo within the FIA World Endurance Championship, additionally accomplished a TPC run at Silverstone in April.
For Tsuboi (30), August’s TPC program will mark the primary time the Japanese racer assessments F1 equipment. He at present competes for Toyota Gazoo Racing in Japan’s Tremendous Components Championship and Tremendous GT Collection – of which he is a three-time GT500 champion. Winner of final 12 months’s Tremendous Components Championship, Tsuboi sits third on this 12 months’s sequence, his 2025 season together with a victory final day trip on the Autopolis Worldwide Racing Course.
Sitting within the foothills of Mount Fuji, the Toyota owned Speedway is a 4.563km (2.835-mile) 17-turn FIA Grade 1 licensed circuit which final hosted the Japanese Grand Prix in 2008. The TPC operating shall be open for members of the general public to attend each days.
“I am naturally very excited that in our first season operating the workforce’s TPC program we’re in a position to get pleasure from two days operating at Fuji Speedway in Japan,” mentioned Ayao Komatsu. “The importance of operating our automobile at Toyota’s dwelling circuit – the place we first introduced our partnership with Toyota Gazoo Racing final October, it is fairly particular.
“To then give Sho Tsuboi his first outing in a Components 1 automobile is equally satisfying contemplating his pedigree as a a number of champion. We’re clearly already aware of Ryo’s abilities and we look ahead to his continued suggestions into our program.
“The truth that we’re operating the VF-23 and the check is open to followers – that is an important factor too. We all know the fervour Japanese followers have for Components 1, so to get a second run within the nation there this 12 months after April’s Japanese Grand Prix is unbelievable.”
“I am very happy that this TPC is being held at Fuji Speedway,” mentioned Masaya Kaji, Director of TGR International Motorsport. “We have shaped a technical partnership aimed toward honing the three important components of automobile manufacturing – ‘Individuals, Pipeline and Product’. This TPC is a part of our efforts associated to ‘Individuals’, which focuses on creating human sources. I imagine that Sho’s problem, given his expertise as a champion of the Tremendous Components sequence, is not going to solely contribute to his personal talent improvement but additionally present worthwhile motivation for the opposite TGR drivers.
“Moreover, Toyota Motor Company’s mechanics and engineers shall be current, making this a worthwhile studying alternative for them as effectively. Experiencing the applied sciences and abilities required on the world’s highest stage of F1, up shut, will certainly be a big expertise for his or her progress. Along with Haas F1 Crew, we goal not solely to advertise the expansion of every driver, engineer, and mechanic by such challenges but additionally to boost their technical abilities. We imagine that the experiences gained shall be handed all the way down to the following technology, contributing to the general enchancment of competitors and expertise ranges within the motorsports business.”
OK, now that is out of the way in which, you will have famous that workforce founder Gene Haas ran the VF-23 at Goodwood on the weekend, together with workforce principal Ayao Komatsu. To arrange for the occasion, the pair had their first expertise behind the wheel of an F1 automobile at a non-public check at Silverstone a number of weeks earlier.
So, an enormous event for the workforce’s founder, at present the one sole-owner of a Components 1 workforce.
Now, we now have lately heard from a really dependable supply that Toyota is wanting significantly at investing in Haas.
The present relationship between the 2 is technical, certainly in keeping with final October’s launch Toyota Gazoo is the ‘Official Technical Accomplice’.
Beneath the multi-year settlement each events share experience and data, in addition to sources with Toyota Gazoo Racing offering design, technical and manufacturing providers, whereas Haas presents technical experience and business advantages in return.
Final 12 months’s launch additionally famous that “with an goal to advance Haas’ improvement and aggressive ingredient inside Components 1, Toyota Gazoo Racing will additional develop its personal data and abilities in a wide range of areas by its involvement with the workforce competing at the vanguard of worldwide motorsport.”
So, is that this TPC outing the primary part of a sayonara from Mr Haas and the start of the return of Toyota?
We firmly imagine that it’s.
