Toyota names Esteban Masson as Hypercar replacement if Hirakawa joins Haas in F1

Toyota has identified junior driver Esteban Masson as the frontrunner to fill a Hypercar seat in its 2027 World Endurance Championship line-up should Ryo Hirakawa depart for Formula 1, with the Japanese manufacturer’s technical director David Floury describing the promotion as the “logical choice”.

Hirakawa, the 2022 Le Mans 24 Hours winner, is among three drivers shortlisted by Haas to replace Esteban Ocon, who is leaving the American team at the end of the current season. Ferrari reserve Rafael Camara and reigning F2 champion Leonardo Fornali are also in contention, with Camara increasingly regarded as the favourite for the seat alongside Oliver Bearman.

Hirakawa has completed several F1 tests this year through Haas’s Testing of Previous Cars programme — run in conjunction with technical partner Toyota — and has also tested for McLaren and Alpine in recent years. No final decision on Haas’s 2027 plans has yet been made.

“Obviously, Esteban is pretty much ready to step in. We are still discussing this, but obviously it would be a logical choice,” Floury told media including Motorsport.com.

Masson, a Frenchman widely regarded as one of the WEC’s most promising emerging talents, drove Toyota’s GR010 Hybrid for the first time at the Bahrain rookie test in November 2024 before getting behind the wheel of the updated TR010 Hybrid at the Le Mans test day in June. He is currently competing for the European Le Mans Series title and has two LMP2 podiums at Le Mans to his name.

The potential reshuffle also raises a longer-standing question about Toyota’s tradition of fielding at least one Japanese driver across its two WEC entries. Kamui Kobayashi currently fulfils that role in the #7 TR010 Hybrid, while Hirakawa leads the #8 car — a seat he inherited from former F1 driver Kazuki Nakajima. The last time Toyota ran without a Japanese driver in one of its cars was 2015, the year before Kobayashi joined the LMP1 programme.

Floury did not rule out a line-up without Japanese representation in 2027 but stressed the manufacturer’s commitment to its home nation. Separately, reports linking Ocon with a move to Toyota in the WEC have been dismissed by those close to the team.