Piquet Jr to represent Toyota at Goodwood.
Nelson Piquet Jr and the current TF106 Formula One car will spearhead Toyota's presence at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed, although the Brazilian will be making the more poignant run up the hill.
Nelson Piquet Jr and the current TF106 Formula One car will spearhead Toyota's presence at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed, although the Brazilian will be making the more poignant run up the hill.
While the F1 car will represent Toyota's hi-tech involvement in the sport, current GP2 points leader Piquet Jr will get to sample the car with which father Nelson Sr first established his international reputation. The Toyota-powered Ralt RT1 F3 machine was unmatched in its day, carrying the legendary Brazilian to 13 race wins and an emphatic 1978 British Championship title. Twenty years on, Nelson Jr enjoyed a record-breaking British F3 campaign, becoming the youngest driver in history to take the title when he stormed the series in 2004.
The Ralt RT1 is one of four contrasting Toyota cars scheduled to participate in the Festival, with Toyota Panasonic Racing back at Goodwood with its TF106 grand prix car set to take part in the timed runs up the famous hill. International rallying will be represented by the 1990 Toyota Celica GT-Four, the all-conquering Group A car that carried Carlos Sainz to the WRC drivers' title, while Bjorn Waldegard will be reunited with the car that took him to a legendary victory on the Safari Rally in extreme conditions.
An earlier incarnation of the Celica will also be demonstrating the muscle that made it the class of America's IMSA series in 1987, as veteran Dennis Aase takes the wheel of Dan Gurney's All American Racers GTO Celica Turbo.