Kazuki Nakajima (age 36) is one of the most successful Japanese drivers of all time. He has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times and was awarded the 2018-2019 FIA World Endurance Championship trophy along with Sébastien Buemi and Fernando Alonso, earning his place in the FIA Endurance Hall of Fame.

The Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain, final round of the 2021 FIA WEC season, will be Nakajima's last for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing. The Japanese driver may end his career in endurance racing by clinching another world champion title. He and teammates Buemi and Brandon Hartley are second in the classification, trailing Conway/Kobayashi/López by just 15 points.

Kazuki Nakajima: "It has been an honour to compete for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing for nine seasons and I feel so lucky to have won races, championships and the Le Mans 24 Hours alongside so many talented, passionate and dedicated colleagues. I want to express my greatest thanks to TOYOTA GAZOO Racing for this 10-year journey in the WEC. I have so many memories with this team who has been a family to me in tough times as well as in happy times, and I will always feel like a TOYOTA GAZOO Racing team member. A new era is coming for endurance racing, with many Hypercar manufacturers joining in the next years, and it will be a new era for me. I will continue to support the team and I look forward to watching the start of a new, exciting time for endurance racing."

Nakajima holds a very special place in Toyota's endurance racing history as a team member since the very first tests of the TS030 Hybrid in January 2012. His track record boasts 16 wins in 58 FIA WEC races (only Seul Sébastien Buemi has more starts and victories while representing the Japanese constructor).

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing will announce its 2022 driver line-ups in the coming weeks.