De Vries: “A WEC championship would be the most important achievement in my career”
Before Toyota’s home FIA WEC round this weekend we talk to Nyck de Vries.....
Two weeks after Lone Star Le Mans, the FIA WEC springs back into action again this weekend for the 6 Hours of Fuji, round 7 of what has been a thrilling 2024 campaign, at the Toyota-owned Fuji Speedway. “Fuji is a little bit more special for us because it's our home race”, Nyck de Vries tells fiawec.com. “We'll have a lot of colleagues at the track supporting us. We obviously have a lot of home fans, I think it will give us an extra little boost to make them proud.”
The 4.563-kilometre circuit holds a special significance for the 29-year-old Dutch racing driver. Nyck de Vries claimed his first FIA WEC class win in the 2019 6 Hours of Fuji with LMP2 squad Racing Team Nederland, despite the car being more than off the lead lap. “I remember those weeks in 2019 were pretty special because I just clinched the FIA Formula 2 championship, and I was just announced as a Formula E driver for Mercedes. And then the week after, I was completely exhausted and sick in Fuji from all the things that were going on, and I think I drove one of my best weekends in my career at that point. The race was incredible.”
De Vries’ performances notably caught the eye of Toyota with the Japanese manufacturer handing him the wheel of the TS050 Hybrid LMP1 for the 2019 post-season Rookie Test. The Sneek-born ace was then signed as a test and reserve driver for the team.
“We first met with Toyota in 2018, my first year in FIA WEC”, De Vries recalls. “Being there definitely helped to put myself on the radar. The test went very well and the relationship with the team was good. We felt it was a great opportunity to start as a reserve driver with the aim of being promoted for a race seat in the future.”
“I’m feeling very much at home here at Toyota”
In addition to track testing, De Vries’ new assignment also encompassed simulator sessions, thus providing valuable data to Toyota on their way to multiple consecutive FIA WEC titles. The Japanese manufacturer eventually opted to hand De Vries a race seat in the No. 7 GR010 HYBRID Hypercar from 2024 onwards. “I'm very grateful and happy that it worked out like this because I'm feeling very much at home here at Toyota.”
The racing Dutchman admitted he has taken an early interest in prototype racing, joining the FIA WEC grid at 23. “That interest was always there”, says De Vries. “I really enjoy the team dynamic and the racing it provides. Racing is always a team sport. In endurance racing, that becomes even more important. I feel very privileged to share the car with Mike (Conway) and Kamui (Kobayashi). Hopefully, we can finish our first year on a high.”
The No. 7 crew is very much in the fight for FIA WEC’s highest honor. De Vries and Kobayashi sit second in the Hypercar Drivers' standings - Conway is fourth due to his forfeit at Le Mans - only 12 points short of the leading Porsche Penske Motorsport No. 6 trio with two rounds to spare. “I feel like we missed out on quite some important points for various reasons, especially in the last two rounds. We’ll do everything we can to put it in our direction.”
Should De Vries win the Hypercar World Endurance Drivers' Championship trophy on Saturday, November 2, following the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain season finale, it would be “the most important achievement” in his racing career. “This is what I’m racing for. But I guess it depends on what chapter you are in your career to determine which achievement is the most important.”
Speaking of chapters, Nyck de Vries is particularly relishing the current entry–list section of the FIA WEC logbook with 13 different major constructors taking part. “We are all very thankful that the grid is like it is at the moment. We are all privileged to live in this time and that level of competitiveness in the championship. I hope it will last for many more years.”
