Enzo Trulli lands TOM'S Super Formula Lights drive

The 17-year-old Italian has been named as part of a four-driver line-up by TOM'S in the Super Formula support series for the 2023 season, following a two-day test for the Toyota-aligned outfit at Fuji Speedway in mid-January.

Trulli is the sole rookie in the TOM'S line-up for 2023, joining Toyota junior drivers Hibiki Taira and Seita Nonaka, whose places in the team had already been confirmed, as well as Yuga Furutani.

"After finishing the test at Fuji, I was really happy when I heard we had reached a deal with TOM'S," said Trulli. "It was my first time in Japan, so there were a lot of things to get used to, but all the staff and engineers at TOM'S were professional and once I was in the cockpit I could focus on the test.

"The car and all the circuits in Japan are new to me, so there's a lot I still have to learn, but I'll do my best to show what I can, and together with TOM'S and Toyota, which my father has a proud association with, I will aim for my first victory in Super Formula Lights."

Trulli makes the move to Japan after a tough season in FIA Formula 3 last year with Carlin in which he failed to score points.

 

Prior to that, he was seventh in the 2021 Euroformula Open standings - driving the same Dallara 320 that is used in Super Formula Lights - and was also F4 UAE champion in the same year.

Trulli will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of another second-generation racer, Giuliano Alesi, who finished runner-up in Lights for TOM'S in 2021 before stepping up to a full-time drive in Super Formula.

TOM'S' announcement makes no mention of two drivers it tested in last year's post-season test at Suzuka, Euroformula Open runner-up Vlad Lomko and Formula Regional Japan champion Miki Koyama.

Lomko looks set to focus on his European Le Mans Series commitments for Cool Racing this season, while Koyama's only confirmed programme so far is a third driver role at Lexus GT300 squad Anest Iwata Racing in SUPER GT, where she will share a car with Furutani and Igor Fraga.

Elsewhere on the Super Formula Lights grid, another FIA F3 convert in the form of David Vidales looks certain to race for B-Max Racing, while Fraga is believed to still be working on finding the sponsorship to join the team.

Bryce Aron, who tested for the team at Suzuka last year, has instead signed up to race in Euroformula Open with Team Motopark.