Kamui Kobayashi has been racing for Toyota Gazoo Racing in the F.I.A. World Endurance Championship for nine years, winning the championship twice. He will be behind the wheel for the team in the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday.
And since 2022, he has also been the team principal. While team leaders like Toto Wolff of Mercedes and Christian Horner of Red Bull in Formula 1 came up as drivers, Kobayashi holds a rare dual role on such a high-profile team.
“I was obviously quite surprised as I didn’t expect it,” Kobayashi said of being offered the role. “I’m proud, and I appreciate the opportunity. For sure it’s not easy to be doing things together at the same time, but at the end of the day I adjusted and it’s gone well. I’m not going to do everything myself, we have a lot of guys at the team.
“I’m still passionate for driving fast cars as much as I can,” he said, joking that he just needs extra time in each day.
“Instead of sitting and having coffee, you’re having an extra meeting, but at the end of the day it’s part of the job, and I enjoy it,” he said. “Once you involve so many people, and you have to decide one thing, the responsibility is higher; it’s not easy.”
Under Kobayashi, one of three drivers of the No. 7 car, the sister No. 8 crew won the 2022 and 2023 Drivers’ Championship, with the No. 7 making it a one-two in 2023. Toyota won the Manufacturers’ Championship in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Sébastien Buemi has raced the No. 8 car since 2012, taking two of his four Drivers’ titles under the leadership of Kobayashi, whom he has known since they raced in Formula 3 in 2005.
“I have the feeling he didn’t change that much,” Buemi said of Kobayashi. “He was already very involved in the Japanese side of the company and was trying to have strong communication within the company. It’s true sometimes we see he has a lot of work, he has to leave for the track earlier or stay later, and we see he does work hard — we don’t exactly know all he’s doing — but I think obviously he’s proven that it has worked quite well since that decision came.”
The team’s base is in Cologne, Germany, but the team also has operations and technological development in Japan. Buemi said he believed that Kobayashi — a Toyota-backed driver who competed in 76 Formula 1 Grands Prix — had brought better cohesion between the parties, merging different cultures and working practices. He has also promoted stronger attention to detail in the championship, where eight manufacturers now compete.
“I think it’s an evolution, but he’s tried to strengthen the communication between drivers and management and engineers, and we have a good structure,” Buemi said. “We’ve been around for a long time, so I don’t think there’s anything we do very wrong, but in my opinion he has improved the link — I wouldn’t say we’re more heard than before — but it works better, it’s put a bit of oil in the structures, he understands both limitations. Having six drivers is not easy, a lot of people to deal with, but I think we’ve done a much better job at communicating and extracting small details.”
Nyck de Vries was Toyota’s test and reserve driver from 2020 to 2022 before rejoining the team in 2024 after a stint in Formula 1. He races alongside Kobayashi in the No. 7 car.
“I remember watching Kamui when I was younger; I was karting and he was in Formula 1,” de Vries said. “My sister was a fan of Kamui growing up, we had a T-shirt of him, and I really remember the race he stood on the podium in the Japanese Grand Prix.”
He added that it was an honor to be his teammate, “more so for everything he has achieved as a driver, and what he has done in his career, the raw speed and talent that he has, rather than necessarily him being the boss.”
The other drivers said that Kobayashi receives no special treatment once he’s behind the wheel.
“I share the car with the boss,” de Vries said. “I think as teammates I don’t feel that hierarchy at all. I feel like we’re all very much the same, and we are working together to achieve the best possible results collectively as a team and for the team. We’re all in it with the same objectives and goals.”
Buemi recalled a race in Bahrain in 2024 when Kobayashi prioritized the other car over his own.
“They were still fighting for the championship,” he said, “but they had an issue on their car, and he was one of the first to say, ‘OK, let’s just park Car 7 make sure we get the most out of Car 8, as we are out of contention.’ I’m not sure everyone would have done that in that situation, especially when you fight for the world championship. In the end we managed to win the Manufacturers’ title, but he was one of the first to get the whole team behind Car 8 to make sure we got the win.
“Anyone would have expected things to go maybe more in his favor,” Buemi said, “but I’ve never seen any difference — you see the joy he has when Car 8 does well.”
Kobayashi still races in Super Formula and has dabbled in NASCAR and the I.M.S.A. WeatherTech Championship, believing such experiences can help his dual role in the W.E.C. He is also keen to ensure that he is just one of the team.
“I’m enjoying the time with the other drivers,” he said. “Of course, I have a little bit more extra jobs, but I do similar activities, we enjoy the time, we joke together — you can ask the other guys — but I don’t think I do something special.”
