Photo: Super Formula
Toyota Gazoo Racing has announced its motorsport programmes for 2026, including which drivers it will be backing and powering in single-seaters.
At the top of the pyramid in Japan’s Super Formula championship, three Toyota-powered teams have signed rookies.
World Rally champion Kalle Rovanpera will join KCMG, Rikuto Kobayashi will race for TGM Grand Prix after contesting an event with Team Impul this year, and Charlie Wurz will drive the sole car of the returning Team Goh.
Kobayashi finished 16th on his SF debut at Twin Ring Motegi in April, with his main programme this year having been the third-tier Super Formula Lights championship where he was third in the standings after being runner-up in 2024.
He also raced in sportscar series Super GT’s GT300 class in 2025, coming third in the standings, and will be promoted to the top GT500 class next year with Cerumo.
Wurz, son of ex-Formula 1 driver Alexander, was Formula Regional Oceania champion in 2023 then was a race-winner in Euroformula before spending two seasons in the FIA Formula 3 Championship and coming 13th this year with two podiums.
He has some sportscar experience too, and will join the Super GT grid with the Toyota-powered Apr team in the GT300 class. Kazuhisa Urabe, who was 10th in SF Lights and third in the FRegional Japanese Championship this year, will joining Inging in Super GT300.
Wurz and his younger brother Oscar, who was 2024 Formula 4 Central European Zone champion and 18th in Eurocup-3 this year, will become Toyota juniors for 2026.
Their father was a World Endurance Championship race-winner with Toyota, and Oscar will race for TOM’S in SF Lights next year as team-mate to fellow Toyota juniors Kiyoshi Umegaki and Tokiya Suzuki. The pair came one-two in this year’s FRegional Japanese Championship, while in Japanese F4 the title was won by Suzuki and Umegaki was seventh in the standings.
Vacating his SF Lights at TOM’S is Yuki Sano, who was 2025 championship runner-up and finished ninth in the FIA FRegional World Cup-awarding Macau Grand Prix.
Next year the Toyota junior will step back down to FRegional, having won all four of the FRJC races he contested in 2024, full-time as he joins R-ace GP in the European and Middle East championships.
Toyota’s racing school runs a team in Japanese F4, and its line-up next year will consist of Masaki Hamabe, Buntaro Igarashi, Yuzuki Miura, Masana Muto, Ryo Sakai and Tomoki Terashima.
Of those six, only Miura and Muto will be Toyota juniors. They came 12th and 15th in the standings this year, each with one podium, and will have double programmes as they will also race for TOM’S in FRJC.
2026 TGR Driver Challenge Programme members (single-seaters)
| Driver | Age | Country | Series |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kalle Rovanpera | 25 | Finland | SF (KCMG), FRegional Oceania (Hitech GP) |
| Charlie Wurz | 20 | Austria | SF (Team Goh) |
| Rikuto Kobayashi | 20 | Japan | SF (TGM Grand Prix) |
| Ritomo Miyata | 26 | Japan | F2 (Hitech GP) |
| Jin Nakamura | 19 | Japan | FIA F3, FRegional Oceania (both Hitech GP) |
| Yuki Sano | 19 | Japan | FREC, FRegional Middle East (both R-ace GP) |
| Kiyoshi Umegaki | 18 | Japan | SF Lights (TOM’S) |
| Tokiya Suzuki | 19 | Japan | SF Lights (TOM’S) |
| Oscar Wurz | 18 | Austria | SF Lights (TOM’S) |
| Yuzuki Miura | 18 | Japan | FRJC (TOM’S), Japanese F4 (TGR-DC RS) |
| Masana Muto | 16 | Japan | FRJC (TOM’S), Japanese F4 (TGR-DC RS) |