TGR Driver Challenge Program

The Toyota Gazoo Racing Driver Challenge Program (TGR-DC) formerly known as the Toyota Drivers Academy and Toyota Young Drivers Programme (TDP), is a driver development programme by Toyota Gazoo Racing. It is meant to promote talent in different racing series by helping them with funds, hoping to find drivers who will race for the team in the future. Notable graduates of the scheme are Kazuki Nakajima, Kamui Kobayashi; who made their F1 debuts for Williams and Toyota, respectively.

TGR Driver Challenge Program

Founded	2001; 24 years ago (2001) (as Toyota Drivers Academy in 2003)[1]
Base	Cologne, Germany & Japan
Team principal(s)	Kazuki Nakajima
Current drivers	Esteban Masson Rikuto Kobayashi Kazuto Kotaka Miki Koyama Ritomo Miyata Jin Nakamura Seita Nonaka Yuki Sano Tokiya Suzuki Hibiki Taira Kiyoshi Umegaki

The program was launched in 2001 when Toyota entered Formula 1, and wants to promote young drivers from Japan, and other countries that are able to reach F1.

Current drivers

TGR-DC drivers

Driver	Years	Current Series	Titles as TGR-DC driver
Ritomo Miyata[2][3]	2017–2021, 2025–	Formula 2 Championship	F4 Japanese Championship (2017) Super Formula Lights (2020)
Kazuto Kotaka[4]	2019–	Super Formula GT World Challenge Asia GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup	Super Formula Lights (2022)
Hibiki Taira[5]	2021–	Super Formula Super GT – GT300	None as TGR-DC driver
Miki Koyama[6]	2022–	Super GT – GT300	Formula Regional Japanese Championship (2022)
Seita Nonaka[6]	2022–	Super Formula Super GT – GT300 SRO Japan Cup – GT4	None as TGR-DC driver
Rikuto Kobayashi[7]	2024–	Super Formula Lights Super GT GT300 Super Formula	None as TGR-DC driver
Jin Nakamura[7]	2024–	Formula Regional Middle East Championship Formula Regional European Championship	None as TGR-DC driver
Esteban Masson[3]	2025–	European Le Mans Series – LMP2 FIA World Endurance Championship – LMGT3 Super Formula Lights	None as TGR-DC driver
Yuki Sano[3]	2025–	Super Formula Lights Super GT – GT300	None as TGR-DC driver
Tokiya Suzuki[3]	2025–	Formula Regional Japanese Championship F4 Japanese Championship	None as TGR-DC driver
Kiyoshi Umegaki[3]	2025–	Formula Regional Japanese Championship F4 Japanese Championship	None as TGR-DC driver

• Championship titles highlighted in bold.

TGR-DC Racing School drivers

The TGR-DC Racing School is a team for young Toyota drivers who compete in F4 Japanese Championship.

No.	Driver[3]
28	Kiyoshi Umegaki
29	Tokiya Suzuki
35	Yuzuki Miura
36	Takahiro Kikuchi
37	Megumu Suzuki
38	Masana Muto

Former drivers

TGR-DC drivers

Driver	Years	Series competed
Takashi Kogure	2001	Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2001)
Norihiko Tasaki	2001	Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2001)
Ryan Briscoe[8][9][1]	2001–2005	Formula Renault 2000 Italy (2001) Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup (2001) German Formula 3 Championship (2002) International Formula 3000 (2002) Formula 3 Euro Series (2003) IndyCar Series (2005)
Katsuyuki Hiranaka[9]	2001–2005	Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2002) Formula 3 Euro Series (2003–2004) Formula Nippon (2005) Super GT – GT300 (2005)
Tatsuya Kataoka	2001–2006	Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2002–2003) Formula Nippon (2004–2006) All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship – GT300 (2003, 2009–2010) Super GT – GT500 (2005–2006, 2011)
Franck Perera[8][9][1]	2001–2006	Formula Renault 2000 Italia (2002–2003) Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup (2002) Formula 3 Euro Series (2004–2005) GP2 Series (2006)
Alexander Storckenfeldt[8]	2002	Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup (2002)
Hiroki Yoshimoto	2002–2003	Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2002–2003)
Naoki Yokomizo	2002–2004	Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2002–2004)
Taku Bamba	2002–2005	Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2003–2005)
Wataru Kobayakawa	2002–2004	Formula Toyota (2002) Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2003–2004)
Kohei Hirate[9][1][10]	2002–2011	Formula Renault 2000 Italia (2003) Formula Renault 2000 Masters (2003) Formula 3 Euro Series (2004–2006) GP2 Series (2007) Formula Nippon (2008–2011) Super GT – GT300 (2008) Super GT – GT500 (2009–2011)
Roberto Streit[9]	2003–2004	Formula Renault 2000 Italia (2003) Formula 3 Euro Series (2004)
Kamui Kobayashi[9][11][10]	2003–2011	Formula Renault 2000 Italia (2004) Formula Renault Eurocup (2005) Formula Renault 2.0 Italia (2005) F3 Euro Series (2006–2007) GP2 Asia Series (2008, 2008–09) GP2 Series (2008–2009) Formula One (2009–2011)
Kazuki Nakajima[12][11][10]	2003–2011	Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2004) JGTC – GT300 (2004) F3 Euro Series (2005–2006) GP2 Series (2007) Formula One (2007–2009) Formula Nippon (2010–2011)
Ben Clucas	2004	Formula Renault 2000 Italia (2004)
Daisuke Ikeda	2004–2005	Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2004–2005)
Yuhi Sekiguchi[13]	2004–2005, 2007	Formula Toyota (2004–2005) Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2007)
Kazuya Oshima[11][10]	2004–2011	Formula Toyota (2005) Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2006–2007) Super GT – GT300 (2007) Formula 3 Euro Series (2008) Formula Nippon (2009–2011) Super GT – GT500 (2009–2011)
Hideto Yasuoka[11]	2005–2006	Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2005-2006)
Hideki Yamauchi[10]	2005, 2008	Formula Toyota (2005) Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2008)
Tsubasa Abe[11]	2006	Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2006)
Yoshifumi Kubota[11]	2006	Formula Challenge Japan (2006)
Sadaomi Masuda[11][10]	2006	Formula Challenge Japan (2006)
Martin Plowman[11][10]	2006–2007	Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 (2006–2007) Formula Renault 2.0 Italia (2006–2007)
Henkie Waldschmidt[11][10]	2006–2008	Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 (2006–2007) Formula Renault 2.0 Italia (2006–2007) Formula 3 Euro Series (2008)
Keisuke Kunimoto[11][10]	2006–2009	Formula Toyota (2006–2007) Formula Challenge Japan (2006–2007) Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2008–2009) Super GT – GT300 (2008) Macau Grand Prix (2008) Formula Nippon (2009)
Takuto Iguchi[11][10]	2006–2011	Formula Toyota (2006–2007) Formula Challenge Japan (2006–2007) Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2008–2009) Super GT – GT300 (2008–2010) Super GT – GT350 (2011)
Takamitsu Matsui[13]	2007	Formula Toyota (2007) Formula Challenge Japan (2007)
Andrea Caldarelli[13][10][14][15]	2007–2008	Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 (2007–2008) Formula Renault 2.0 WEC (2008) Formula 3 Euro Series (2008)
Hiroaki Ishiura[13][10]	2007–2011	Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2007–2009) Super GT – GT300 (2007) Super GT – GT500 (2008–2011) Formula Nippon (2009–2011)
Kei Cozzolino[10]	2008	Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2008)
Yuji Kunimoto[10]	2008–2013	Formula Challenge Japan (2008) Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2009–2010) Super GT – GT300 (2009–2011) Formula Nippon (2011–2012) Super GT – GT500 (2012–2013) Super Formula Championship (2013
Naoya Gamou[10][16]	2008, 2010–2011	Formula Challenge Japan (2008) Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2010–2011)
Yuichi Nakayama[10][17]	2008, 2011–2016	Formula Challenge Japan (2008) Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2011–2013) Super GT – GT300 (2013–2016) Super Formula Championship (2014–2016)
Takamoto Katsuta[18]	2012–2014	Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2012–2014)
Ryo Hirakawa[2]	2013–2017	Super Formula Championship (2013–2015) Super GT GT500 (2014–2017) European Le Mans Series - LMP2 (2016–2017)
Kenta Yamashita[2][4]	2014–2020	Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2014–2016) Super GT GT300 (2015–2017) Super GT GT500 (2018–2019) Super Formula Championship (2017–2019) FIA World Endurance Championship (2019–20)
Sho Tsuboi[2][19]	2016–2020	Japanese Formula 3 Championship (2016–2018) Super GT GT300 (2017–2018) Super GT GT500 (2019–2020) Super Formula Championship (2019–2020)

• Championship titles highlighted in bold.

TGR-DC Racing School drivers

Driver	Years
Hibiki Taira	2020
Seita Nonaka	2020–2021
Jiei Okuzumi	2020–2021
Eijiro Shimizu	2020–2021
Rin Arakawa	2021–2022
Rikuto Kobayashi	2022–2023
Jin Nakamura	2022–2023
Ryoma Henzan	2022
Shunji Okumoto	2023
Yuki Sano	2023–2024
Kazuhisa Urabe	2024

• Championship title highlighted in bold.
• Promoted to TGR-DC drivers highlighted in italic.

See also

• Toyota Gazoo Racing WEC