Toyota Not Discounting Barnicoat, Fenestraz for 2027 Chances

Photo: Julien Delfosse/DPPI

Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe vice-chairman Kazuki Nakajima has suggested that Ben Barnicoat and Sacha Fenestraz could be candidates to join the Japanese manufacturer’s FIA World Endurance Championship roster as early as 2027.

Both Barnicoat and Fenestraz, who are part of the wider family of Toyota-contracted drivers, drove the Toyota GR010 Hybrid in last month’s Bahrain rookie test.

Lexus IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship star Barnicoat, who also drove in the WEC this year for Akkodis ASP in the LMGT3 class, was sampling the GR010 for the first time in around 18 months, and for the second time in the rookie test.

Fenestraz meanwhile was making his debut at the wheel of a Hypercar, having driven for the SARD Toyota team in SUPER GT this year as well as racing in Super Formula.

Although Toyota has already elected to maintain an unchanged lineup heading into the 2026 season, Nakajima admitted that thoughts have already turned to the future with Mike Conway now 42 years old and Kamui Kobayashi turning 40 next year.

“In the near future, there will be a point that we have to anyway consider making changes,” Nakajima told Sportscar365 when asked whether Barnicoat and Fenestraz’s Bahrain outings could make them possible options for Toyota in 2027.

“Everybody is getting older. So at one point, the change has to happen.

“We just need to be prepared as a team. We need to always evaluate the options and to have some cards in our pocket. And within the Toyota family, there are many good drivers like Ben and Sacha, and this rookie test opportunity is always a nice one to take.

“Everyone has a big list of drivers’ names, and of course they can be part of it.

“Let’s see how it evolves. But currently, we are quite happy with our race drivers. The benchmark is quite high. Let’s see how it goes in the future.”

Toyota revealed immediately after the Bahrain season finale that it would be sticking with its existing roster of six drivers next year, and it already has youngster Esteban Masson on its books as a strong contender to step up to a race driver for 2027.

It’s understood Masson was part of Toyota’s private test at Qatar earlier this month, marking his first outing in the GR010 since last year’s Bahrain rookie test.

Nakajima said that Toyota’s decision to update its GR010 Hybrid for the 2026 campaign pushed it towards not making any changes for the time being.

“It was quite a straightforward decision,” said Nakajima. “As we are also bringing the update next year, consistency in the drivers is also quite important.

“We place a lot of emphasis on the consistency side as well within the team. And, the performance has been there. So there was no real reason to change.”

Toyota Hopes More GT500 Drivers Will Express Hypercar Wish

Fenestraz was handed his first Hypercar test chance off the back of a strong return season to SUPER GT, as he and co-driver Yuhi Sekiguchi scored two podiums and amassed the SARD squad’s highest tally of points since its 2016 title-winning year.

The Argentinian driver, who previously raced for Toyota in the series in 2020-22 with TOM’S, has made no secret of his ambition to return to the global stage in future after his spell in Formula E came to an end after only two seasons.

Toyota global motorsport director Masaya Kaji said that he hoped the sight of Fenestraz sampling the GR010 could encourage other members of the brand’s GT500 stable to put themselves forward for a similar evaluation in future.

“Sacha himself made it clear to us he really wanted to test the Hypercar, and we thought it would be good if we could give him the chance,” Kaji told Sportscar365.

“Of course, his performance and his results have been good, which has made us think about the next steps, but the important thing is how he responds to getting this chance.

“Not only did we want to try him out, but we also felt it would be good if we could encourage some of our other GT500 drivers to have the same wish.

“When drivers have that kind of hope, it’s far better for them to be in an environment where they can properly take on those challenges, rather than being unable to do anything at all. Having that kind of environment is what I think really matters.”

Source: Sports Car 365