Toyota Signs Miyata to Relaunched Junior Program

Toyota has relaunched its FIA World Endurance Championship young driver ‘Challenge’ program and announced Super GT race winner Ritomo Miyata as the current member.

Miyata, 23, will shadow Toyota’s Hypercar team in a non-driving capacity at three of this season’s WEC rounds including the 24 Hours of Le Mans in two weeks’ time.

The Japanese driver finished sixth in last season’s Super GT standings driving for the TOM’S Toyota team and recently claimed a second career GT500 victory at Fuji alongside his new co-driver Sho Tsuboi.

Miyata’s role on the Toyota WEC Challenge Program will see him take part in simulator training and other driver development work at the Japanese manufacturer’s European racing headquarters in Cologne, where the Hypercar program is based.

He has already undertaken one simulator test at TGR-Europe and will join the team at Le Mans, Monza and Fuji to become “increasingly integrated” with the program.

According to a statement from Toyota, Miyata’s continued participation in the WEC Challenge Program will be decided “based on performances and development progress.”

2019 Super GT champion Kenta Yamashita was previously part of the Challenge initiative and drove a Toyota TS050 Hybrid in the Bahrain rookie test but the program was discontinued during the coronavirus pandemic.

In addition to announcing Miyata as a WEC Challenge junior, Toyota will also hold a training session for some of its young drivers at Le Mans.

Jin Nakamura and Rikuto Kobayashi, both members of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Driver Challenge Program Racing School, will be on-site to learn about the Hypercar project.