Toyota Gazoo Racing has hired Nyck de Vries as their test- and reserve driver for the rest of the 2019/20 season and 2021.
The 25-year-old Dutchman is the defending Formula 2 Champion, but the Formula 1 route turned stone cold, so he chose to go for a Formula E seat instead, mixed up with some sportscar racing for Racing Team Nederland in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
He will have even more tasks for TDS Racing, with helping out at G-Drive Racing, on the weekends where Jean-Eric Vergne isn’t available.
Photo: Toyota Gazoo Racing
De Vries tested for Toyota Gazoo Racing last year in Bahrain, where he did the Rookie test for the Japanese/German outfit.
Nyck de Vries replaces Thomas Laurent, who only had the same job for a year. He was LMP1 driver for Rebellion Racing at that point but had to give that one up, since Toyota didn’t want direct competition with their test driver. Instead, he switched to Signatech Alpine Elf in the LMP2 category throughout the FIA WEC season. Laurent has tested the Toyota TS050 Hybrid car a few time, but the exact reason for the break-up is not revealed by the team.
