Toyota Gazoo Racing relaunches its youth program for the FIA World Endurance Championship by announcing Ritomo Miyata as the first member of this initiative.
After Ryo Hirakawa’s move to the first team to lead the GR010 Hybrid in the Hypercar Class, with which the Japanese won the title in 2022, the Japanese team is now looking for new offspring who can give a breath of youth and also program the future.
Miyata currently races in Super GT and Super Formula in Japan and has been selected for the WEC Challenge Program, so he will be able to take part in simulator training sessions and other activities organized at the European headquarters in Cologne.
Furthermore, the 23-year-old will always remain close to the team on the track for the series races – Le Mans, Monza and Fuji are already fixed in his calendar – in order to better understand how the work day at the events unfolds and integrate better into the group .
Ritomo Miyata, VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S
Photo by: Masahide Kamio
Miyata, who had already been selected for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Driver Challenge Program becoming Team Tom’s bearer in the two home championships, will continue the training and growth path based on the performances obtained over the past few months.
“He has expressed his determination to compete in the FIA WEC and has already worked hard to achieve this, including by participating in a simulation session at TGR Europe last year. He impressed the team with his performance. drive and set competitive lap times, earning him selection as a WEC Challenge driver.”
On the occasion of the 24h of Le Mans there will also be a new training session of the WEC Challenge program for young drivers; to take part will be Jin Nakamura and Rikuto Kobayashi, who will see for themselves how to work in the pits during this tough event.