After a disappointing rookie season in 2021, Toyota's kazutodesu0417 has been handed a second chance in SFormula this year with kondoracingteam. Can he make the most of it?
When it became clear that Sacha Fenestraz wouldn’t be able to stick around at Kondo Racing this year in light of his Nissan Formula E deal, there was talk of Toyota signing another non-Japanese driver to take the place of last year’s series runner-up., but ultimately went back on his previous pledge not to continue in Formula 2 with ART Grand Prix. Roberto Merhi’s name was also mooted, but it appears that talks did not progress very far with the Spanish ex-Formula 1 driver.
In the end, eight wins from 18 races combined with three further podiums was just about enough for him to see off the threat of Honda protege Kakunoshin Ota, but the final gap between the pair was only six points - arguably not hugely impressive for a driver who had been part of the TOM’S stable in Japanese F3/Super Formula Lights since 2019.
“Sacha [Fenestraz] had good results at Kondo, but I still have access to his data, so I can compare myself to him, and I want to ‘steal’ what I can from him.”Kotaka made his Kondo Racing debut in December’s post-season test at Suzuka. With Yamashita taking over the chassis used last year by Fenestraz, Kotaka was essentially driving his new teammate’s old mount, albeit with the race numbers reassigned.
“I don’t think [my driving style] is that different [to Yamashita’s]. But we’ve only run together at Suzuka so far, but I want to take advantage of his strengths and do my best to beat him.”In common with the ‘real’ rookies of 2023, including the aforementioned Ota, Red Bull junior Liam Lawson and Raoul Hyman, Kotaka arguably is joining the series at a good time, with the arrival of the overhauled SF23 chassis and its new aerodynamic package.
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