The Japanese stars of the show: Kazuki Nakajima
Unassuming and cultured, and supremely talented, Toyota Gazoo Racing’s quiet man is Kazuki Nakajima, a key pillar of its FIA World Endurance Championship racing programme having been part of the Japanese manufacturer’s LMP1 team since its inception.
One of a small handful of drivers to have represented the same marque in the WEC every year since the very first season in 2012, nine-time race winner Nakajima made his debut in the series at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in Toyota’s TS030 HYBRID LMP1 challenger, three years after exiting Formula 1.
A first race victory came that year on home soil at Fuji, after Nakajima put the No.7 Toyota on pole, and one year on he and teammates Alex Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre triumphed once more in the shortened, typhoon-hit Japanese round.
In 2014, Nakajima secured Toyota’s first pole position at Le Mans since 1999, and most likely would have become the first Japanese driver to win the famous race in a Japanese car if not for an electrical problem with his Toyota TS040 HYBRID while holding a commanding lead in the night.
Two years later, there was to be yet more heartbreak – again while Nakajima was at the wheel – when Toyota’s challenge dramatically fell apart in the final four minutes of the race as the No.5 Toyota TS050 HYBRID ground to a halt with a turbo issue at the start of the final lap.
It took two more years for Nakajima to finally get payback, as he, Fernando Alonso and Sébastien Buemi guided their Toyota to victory at Le Mans in June this year, ending the brand’s long unlucky streak at the French classic.
Motor racing runs in the Nakajima family. Not only is Kazuki the son of Japan’s first real F1 star, ex-Lotus and Tyrrell driver Satoru Nakajima, his younger brother Daisuke is also a distinguished racer with multiple podium finishes in both Super Formula and Super GT to his name.
Although Nakajima claims to have never felt any pressure to emulate his father, their careers bear a certain resemblance. Not only did Kazuki make it to F1, he has also repeated Satoru’s success on the domestic Japanese scene, winning the Formula Nippon/Super Formula title in 2012 and 2014.
A race winner in the WEC and also in Super GT, Nakajima can stake a claim to being one of the most versatile drivers on the grid – and every bit a match for others in the Toyota squad. He is the most successful Japanese driver in the championship’s history and potentially will become the first ever Japanese World Champion at the end of this season. A quiet man should, indeed, never be underestimated.
