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Yamamoto switches to Nakajima Racing for Fuji test

Newly-crowned Super Formula champion Naoki Yamamoto will drive for Nakajima Racing in this week's post-season test at Fuji Speedway.

Naoki Yamamoto(TCS NAKAJIMA RACING)

Naoki Yamamoto(TCS NAKAJIMA RACING)

Tomohiro Yoshita

The entry list for the so-called 'rookie test' was released just ahead of the start of Tuesday morning's first session, with Yamamoto not listed for his usual Dandelion Racing team.

Instead, the three-time champion makes the move across to fellow Honda squad Nakajima Racing to drive the #64 car that was piloted for most of this season by Tadasuke Makino, who missed the season finale at Fuji last weekend due to illness.

Suzuka race winner Toshiki Oyu is at the wheel of Nakajima's #65 car as usual.

Dandelion meanwhile will be running just one car for Nirei Fukuzumi, while another Honda team, Mugen, has also entered only one car for Tomoki Nojiri.

In the Toyota camp, Super Formula Lights champion Ritomo Miyata replaces the departing Nick Cassidy at TOM'S, while Hiroaki Ishiura's seat at Inging is taken by Sena Sakaguchi, following the news that the two-time champion is stepping away from the series.

Another Super Formula Lights driver, Shunsuke Kohno, is also sharing Inging's third 'Rookie Racing'-branded entry with team regular Kazuya Oshima.

The only international rookie driver taking part in the test is Enaam Ahmed, who is sharing driving duties for the B-Max with Motopark squad with a variety of drivers that the team ran this year in Super Formula Lights, including Yoshiaki Katayama.

Neither Nobuharu Matsushita nor Charles Milesi are participating in the test, with Milesi leaving Super Formula to focus on sportscar racing in 2021.

Kondo Racing, KCMG, Impul and Drago Corse all have their full-season drivers on the entry list, but it's understood Yuhi Sekiguchi won't participate as his #19 car has not been repaired in time following the fire it suffered during warm-up on Sunday.

The first test session begins at 08:50 local time on Tuesday and concludes at 10:50, with a second session to follow from 14:10 to 16:10.

Two more sessions follow on Wednesday, running from 09:00-11:00 and 14:00-16:00.

Fuji test entry list:

Team/Engine No. Driver
TOM'S/Toyota 1

Japan Ritomo Miyata

36 Japan Kazuki Nakajima
Kondo Racing/Toyota 3 France Sacha Fenestraz
4 Japan Kenta Yamashita
Dandelion Racing/Honda 6 Japan Nirei Fukuzumi
KCMG/Toyota 7

Japan Kamui Kobayashi

Japan Yuji Kunimoto

18

Japan Kamui Kobayashi

Japan Yuji Kunimoto

Drago Corse/Honda 12 Colombia Tatiana Calderon
Rookie Racing (Inging)/Toyota 14

Japan Kazuya Oshima

Japan Shunsuke Kohno

Mugen/Honda 16

Japan Tomoki Nojiri

Impul/Toyota 19

Japan Yuhi Sekiguchi*

20

Japan Ryo Hirakawa

Inging/Toyota 38

Japan Sena Sakaguchi

39

Japan Sho Tsuboi

B-Max Racing with Motopark/Honda 50

United Kingdom Enaam Ahmed

Japan Yoshiaki Katayama

Japan 'Dragon'

Japan Nobuhiro Imada

51

United Kingdom Enaam Ahmed

Japan Yoshiaki Katayama

Japan 'Dragon'

Japan Nobuhiro Imada

Nakajima Racing/Honda 64

Japan Naoki Yamamoto

65

Japan Toshiki Oyu

*not expected to participate

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