Toyota offers bright future for young drivers
Toyota has underlined its dedication and support to up-and-coming
racing drivers by today announcing it has six rising talents
on its successful Toyota Young Drivers Programme (TDP) roster
in 2006.
First up is TDP veteran, Frenchman Franck Perera, who is
promoted from the F3 Euro Series to the highly competitive
GP2 Series in 2006. Perera's move to the top flight will see
him race for the DAMS team and perform on a global stage as
GP2 acts as Formula 1 support event for its second season.
Current incumbents to TDP race seats Kohei Hirate and Kamui
Kobayashi will be joined in 2006 by newcomer to the scheme,
Kazuki Nakajima. The trio will all take part in the highly
competitive F3 Euro Series, a championship in which Hirate
finished 12th in his debut season last year. Hirate will move
to the Manor team in 2006 to partner his new TDP colleague
Nakajima. Kobayashi, reigning champion of both Formula Renault
Italia and Eurocup, will move up a grade to join the ASM team,
which so dominated the F3 field in 2005.
TDP boasts two new talents this season with Dutchman Henkie
Waldschmidt and Englishman Martin Plowman joining the scheme
for 2006. Both will take part in the Italian Formula Renault
and Eurocup championship with Prema Powerteam in their debut
TDP season.
"We cannot guarantee that any of the drivers in the
TDP will become Formula 1 drivers," explains Noritoshi
Arai, who is in charge of the TDP from the Toyota Motorsport
base in Cologne, Germany. "But one of the aims of the
TDP is to seek out the next driving stars and to bring them
up step-by-step to the racing series that most befits their
talents. For 2006, we have Franck in GP2, Kamui, Kohei and
Kazuki all in F3, and two rookies Henkie and Martin in Formula
Renault. We will do all in our power to support them and give
all racing fans around the world six extra reasons to support
Toyota this season."
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