The 2021 season might only have wrapped up a few weeks ago, the 2022 season is already nearly around the corner. With it comes new championship campaigns and new expectations. As with every season, it’s an opportunity for new names to grab the spotlight or for existing names to add to their already impressive resumes. Who do you need to watch out for in 2022? MotorsportWeek.com takes a closer look.
Josh Pierson
United Autosports made waves in August when it announced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans that it had signed 15-year-old Josh Pierson to its line-up for the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Pierson is graduating from the American USF2000 championship, where he took a total of five podium finishes with Pabst Racing during the 2021 campaign. He finished fourth in the championship standings.
The Oregonian will pilot one of the team’s two ORECA 07-Gibsons. Even though Pierson will turn 16 before the season starts, he looks set to claim the record of youngest ever starter in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. That record is currently held by Matt McMurry at 16 years and 202 days.
Pierson, who has been racing cars since the age of 14, will best that at 85 days, as he will be 16 years and 117 days old when he takes the start of the race on 11 June 2022.
Tom Blomqvist
Tom Blomqvist last raced in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship in 2019, signing off with a class podium with BMW Team RLL at Petit Le Mans.
After two years of absence, he’s back in a big way, joining compatriot Oliver Jarvis in a revamped line-up for Meyer Shank Racing’s Acura DPi effort.
Since leaving BMW’s factory roster after 2019, the son of rally legend Stig Blomqvist has developed himself into one of the top prospects in sportscar racing with a variety of teams and manufacturers. In 2020 he finished second overall at the Bathurst 12 Hours with McLaren and won in the GT World Challenge Europe with Ferrari before signing on with JOTA for a strong LMP2 campaign in the FIA WEC.
Even though a race win only just eluded him at Le Mans, the team’s impressive consistency (finishing off the podium only once) saw him finish second in the championship standings.
Now, with a top partner in Jarvis, a quickly growing team in Meyer Shank Racing and with a race-winning car underneath him, Blomqvist seems set for his strongest campaign yet.
Dylan Murry
Dylan Murry will be contesting the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship with Racing Team Nederland in 2022, joining the Dutch team as the third driver for the four endurance rounds of the season.
It seems like the logical next step for the 20-year-old, who has been racing in IMSA-sanctioned series from an early age. He debuted in what is now called the Michelin Pilot Challenge in 2018, before joining Riley Motorsports for what would become a multi-year partnership through multiple series.
Two years in a Mercedes-AMG GT4 heralded two wins and five podiums before making the leap to the main series in 2021, driving the #91 Ligier JS P320 in the LMP3 category. With five podiums from eight races, he finished third in the standings.
Now, with a move up into LMP2, it will be interesting to see how the Georgia native fares alongside the world championship-winning duo of Frits van Eerd and Giedo van der Garde.
Charles Milesi
Charles Milesi undeniably had his breakout year in 2021. After racing in Super Formula and a handful of LMP2 appearances in 2020, the young Frenchman signed on with Team WRT for its debut season in the ultra-competitive LMP2 class in WEC.
What followed was a stellar campaign for both team and driver. Even though things started off slow with problems in Spa-Francorchamps and Portimao, the team started the race from pole in Monza thanks to a surprise showing in qualifying from Milesi himself, outpacing more experienced drivers.
Even though the team missed out on victory at Monza, Milesi and WRT then went on a dream streak of three straight wins (including the 24 Hours of Le Mans) to claim the LMP2 title in the Belgian’s squad maiden season. For Milesi himself, the season was rounded off by testing Toyota’s world title-winning Hypercar.
Where Milesi will go in 2022 remains to be seen, especially now that his driver rating will be upgraded from Silver to Gold next season.
Ryo Hirakawa
Ryo Hirakawa is not exactly a new name, neither in his native Japan nor in Europe. In his homeland, he won the 2017 SUPER GT title and finished runner-up in the standings for the next three consecutive seasons. In Europe, he is a multiple-time race winner in the European Le Mans Series and has contested the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice.
Despite that, there will be a lot of eyes on Hirakawa in 2022 because of his move into Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Hypercar driver squad for the FIA World Endurance Championship. Not just that, but he has been drafted in to replace the outgoing Kazuki Nakajima, a three-time Le Mans winner and world champion.
Big shoes to fill, but Toyota has not made the decision lightly as Hirakawa has undergone multiple test outings prior to his signing. The 27-year-old’s arrival marks the first significant shake-up in Toyota’s line-up since Fernando Alonso’s arrival and subsequent departure in 2018 and 2019. Will he live up to expectations as Toyota’s competition in the Hypercar class ramps up? Only time will tell.
Mateo Llarena
At only 16 years of age last January, Guatemalan racer Mateo Llarena was one of the youngest drivers on the grid at the Rolex 24 at Daytona when he made his debut with Performance Tech Motorsports.
While Daytona turned out to be a disappointment for the team, Llarena continued to impress throughout the season, joining the team for the endurance rounds in a team that also featured fellow young charger Rasmus Lindh. He turned heads at the WeatherTech 240 at Watkins Glen, dominating qualifying and becoming one the youngest polesitter in series history.
Additionally, he’s been signed to Lamborghini’s junior GT3 roster and has been selected as one of the finalists in IMSA’s Diverse Driver Scholarship. His 2022 program has not yet been publicly announced, but it’s safe to say he is a hot prospect.
Mikkel Jensen
Like Hirakawa, Mikkel Jensen is far from a new name. The Danish driver came up through the ranks of LMP3 in the European Le Mans Series, winning the title with Eurointernational in 2019.
From there, he graduated to LMP2, winning races with G-Drive Racing before eventually landing a seat with Peugeot’s Le Mans Hypercar programme for the 2022 season.
At age 26, Jensen is the youngest driver in a line-up that features multiple former Grand Prix racers in Kevin Magnussen, Jean-Eric Vergne and Paul di Resta. He has rightfully cultivated a reputation for himself as a strong prototype racer, so it will be interesting to see how he takes to racing in factory top prototype effort for the first time.
Yifei Ye
Yifei Ye exploded onto the sportscar scene in 2021. After strong showings in junior single seaters in previous years, he signed with G-Drive Racing for the Asian Le Mans Series.
With two victories and the LMP2 title, he subsequently signed with Team WRT for the European Le Mans Series. Three further race wins and an additional podium later, he won the ELMS championship alongside Louis Deletraz and Robert Kubica as well and came within a single lap of winning Le Mans on debut.
After a spectacular rookie season, the 21-year-old signed on with Porsche and became a Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific selected driver. After such an impressive debut year in sportscars, we can only wait and see what else he will achieve in his young career.
