Toyota: No Plans to Recruit Replacement for Leupen

Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe vice-chairman Kazuki Nakajima has indicated that the team will not seek to recruit a direct replacement for FIA World Endurance Championship team director Rob Leupen following the Dutchman’s sudden departure.

It was announced on the eve of the Bahrain WEC season finale that Leupen had stepped down from his duties with immediate effect, and that he will leave the Cologne-based Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe organization at the end of the year.

Nakajima himself assumed Leupen’s duties for the Bahrain weekend, overseeing the squad as Toyota beat Porsche to the manufacturers’ title.

Explaining Toyota’s plans moving forward, Nakajima said he will continue to occupy the team director role for the foreseeable future, while Leupen’s responsibilities on the corporate side are taken over by business development director Peter Hesse.

“It’s something we had to look at for the future, and it just happened before the race weekend, which is not ideal, but it’s something we agreed together with Rob to do it before the race,” explained Nakajima.

“There are two different views, first as the WEC team and second as the company. The general idea is to spread the responsibility over not only one successor, but in the WEC team, for now I’ll take his responsibilities.

“For the company, we have Rob’s deputy Peter Hesse, so basically we follow this process, but he is not involved in motorsport. This is something we’ll discuss within the company.”

Leupen’s departure marks the second high-profile exit from the Toyota WEC outfit this season after Pascal Vasselon was moved into a new strategic role elsewhere within the Japanese manufacturer’s global structure in January.

David Floury was promoted to technical director in Vasselon’s place.

Nakajima said that Toyota will continue to pursue a policy of promoting internally instead of looking outside of Cologne for external appointments.

“I think we have good people in the company who deserve to take responsibility,” he said.

“I don’t want to talk too much about the possibilities [of recruiting outsiders]. First I want to focus on our own people and maximize their capabilities.

“It’s something we have been discussing since January since Pascal’s position changed. The direction hasn’t changed.

“For the WEC team, we have Kamui as team principal, we have David as technical director. Rob was team director. Maybe we need to assign someone [new], or maybe we need a slightly different structure, but I don’t expect a new face.

“I think we will stay similar in terms of team structure.”

Nakajima said he had no qualms about taking over Leupen’s responsibilities in Bahrain, a move that continues a trend of the three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner becoming a more public-facing presence within the WEC squad.

“I have been with the team long enough on the management side, and I’m happy and confident I can work with the team,” he said. “I am not concerned about the structure.”

Nakajima’s career as a driver came to an end following the 2021 season as Toyota elected to promote Ryo Hirakawa to a WEC race seat for the following year.

He was temporarily reinstated as reserve driver for the 2023 season, but with Ritomo Miyata taking over the role this season, he has been able to focus fully on his off-track duties, including the management of Toyota’s young driver program.

“I’m really happy and grateful to have this kind of role,” reflected Nakajima.

“Of course it’s challenging, much busier than when I was a driver! But in terms of passion, excitement I get from racing, I can say it’s exactly the same.

“The type of challenge has changed, the challenge to maintain my fitness is gone! But the feeling I get is more or less the same.”