Akkodis ASP has confirmed Toyota driver Yuichi Nakayama to substitute Ben Barnicoat at the 6 Hours of Spa amidst his ongoing injury recovery.
The Super GT and Super Formula star will take part in his FIA World Endurance Championship debut on 8-10 May at Spa-Francorchamps.
Barnicoat’s mountain-biking injury took place just before the 12 Hours of Sebring on 13-15 March, leading for the Lexus factory driver to miss out on the Sebring-based IMSA SportsCar Championship round.
Esteban Masson also replaced Barnicoat’s place in the #78 Lexus RC F LMGT3 at the recent WEC round, the 6 Hours of Imola on 18-20 April.
The 6 Hours of Spa (third WEC round) marks Barnicoat’s third consecutive race absence approximately six weeks onwards from his injury.
Nakayama has competed in Super GT, Super Taikyu, and Super Formula since 2014, only still continuing his Super GT effort with SARD Team since 2019.
He also races in the GT World Challenge Europe and the Nurburgring Langstrecken Serie (NLS) at the wheel of a Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evo.
Akkodis ASP finished Imola with their best WEC performance as the #78 crew claimed third in the LMGT3 category and the other #87 Lexus finished behind them in fourth.
Nakayama, the FIA Gold-rated driver, participated in a test session at Spa-Francorchamps a few weeks prior to this announcement gain familiarity with the Lexus RC F LMGT3 package.
He will co-drive the #78 at Spa with his team-mates Finn Gehrsitz and Arnold Robin whilst the #87 crew remains unchanged to the usual trio of Jose Maria Lopez, Clemens Schmid, and Petru Umbrarescu.
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