For Japanese ace Kazuki Nakajima, he really has the best of both worlds.
While he travels the world as part of Toyota’s FIA World Endurance Championship assault, the second generation racer also gets to race regularly at home in single seaters in Super Formula. Ironically his teammate at home in Japan for Team TOM'S is none other than one of his biggest rivals on the FIA WEC stage – Audi’s André Lotterer.
When racing at home, it is also a family affair with his brother Daisuke racing in Super Formula for a team part owned by his father – Japanese Formula 1 trailblazer with Lotus and Tyrrell, Satoru Nakajima.
It’s one thing to do battle in Japan’s premier single seater category, but quite another to handle the pressure of getting to race at home for a company like Toyota and battle for a World Championship in the biggest endurance competition in the world.
“It’s a home race and I’m quite happy every time to see many fans coming out.” Nakajima explained about the forthcoming round at Fuji Speedway.
“We have a lot of Toyota employees related to the parts and development. The base is quite close to Fuji so it’s quite an important race because it’s basically the only time that we can show our car to our fans in Japan.”
The No.5 Toyota will be aiming for a change of fortunes on home soil. A pair of fifth places has been the best result so far in a 2016 season that has seen more than a fair share of misfortune for Nakajima, Sebastien Buemi and Anthony Davidson.
Of course but for a single final lap at Le Mans, the race at Fuji could have been an incredible homecoming party for Toyota. Nakajima has his sights set high regardless.
“We have a good history there. We have won three times. Even last year with the lack of performance we actually still did a good race in the beginning with the wet conditions,” he said.
A two-year stint in Formula 1 with Williams in 2008 and 2009 preceded Nakajima’s role with Toyota when they made their return to the Le Mans and FIA WEC in 2012. He has embraced the opportunity to race abroad – following in the footsteps of his father.
“When my Dad was racing I don’t remember at all. I see some photos at the racetrack when I was 2-3 years old, but I don’t remember anything,” Nakajima said.
“After he retired from racing, I used to follow him because he was running his racing team and I’d go to watch when I was like eight, nine, ten-years-old.
“I’ve grown up at the racetrack anyway. Racing was something just like football or baseball in Japan for the other kids. It was normal for me to get interested in the sport.”
The Toyota GAZOO Racing ace is looking forward to racing at Fuji, a circuit he greatly enjoys and is confident the TS 050 will be competitive at.
“For the driver, my favorite part of Fuji is sector two, which is from turn three until the Dunlop corner,” Nakajima said.
“It’s the challenging part. It’s very fast and you have the momentum from one corner to the other, so it’s nice. The last sector will be a bit tricky with traffic, and of course we have a long straight, which is the famous one.
“So we can have very good racing and I’m sure our performance will be better in Fuji compared to some other tracks. We can be close to some of the other manufactures here.”
Follow Kazuki and Toyota GAZOO Racing as they tackle their home event by getting lap-by-lap information on the official WEC App – Click HERE
