Williams have appointed Japanese Kazuki Nakajima as their test driver for 2007.
Nakajima is currently racing in the Formula Three Euro Series with Manor Sport. He will take up his place with Williams at the end of the Formula Three season. He will work alongside Narain Karthikeyan, Nico Rosberg and Alex Wurz on the FW29 development.
Nakajima is the son of Satoru, an ex-Formula 1 driver who raced in the 1980s and 1990s for Lotus and Tyrrell. Although Nakajima is a member of Toyota’s young drivers’ programme, he has yet to drive a Formula 1 car.
Team boss Frank Williams states, “Kazuki has consistently demonstrated his potential through karting and other junior Formulae. Having assessed both his potential in the car and his aptitude out of it, we believe he has the necessary ingredients to graduate to Formula One in a testing role.”
Nakajima added “For anyone with an interest in motor racing, Formula One is the ultimate objective and I am delighted that Williams, one of the senior names in the sport and a team that exists solely to race, has given me this great chance. I look forward to helping as much as I can with the team’s transition to Toyota power for 2007. It will be a great honour to be the first TDP driver to graduate to Formula One.”
Yoshiaki Kinoshita, General Manager, Motorsport Division, Toyota Motor Corporation reflected, “We are extremely delighted that Williams has chosen one of the drivers from the Toyota Young Drivers Program as an official team test driver. It will be certainly a big opportunity for Kazuki and we hope that Kazuki will make a contribution to Williams’ test program and their fight back in the championship.”
