Akio Toyoda, Chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, talks at Suzuka, "Why are 4- and 2-wheeled vehicles allowed at the Olympics?"

On September 18th, Toyota Motor Corporation and Kawasaki Heavy Industries held a joint press conference at Suzuka Circuit, where Round 5 of the Super Taikyu is being held. This is related to the use of hydrogen derived from lignite provided by Kawasaki Heavy Industries for the hydrogen Corolla under development by Toyota. Among them, Mr. Akio Toyoda, President of Toyota Motor Corporation and Chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, talked about the current state of motor sports.

2021 has become a historic year in which Japanese companies and Japanese people are all involved in winning the world's three major races. On May 23, Red Bull Honda's Max Verstappen, who has a Honda power unit, won the F1 Monaco GP. On May 31, Hélio Castroneves, who drove a Dallara Honda powered by HPD (Honda Performance Development) of American Honda, won the race.

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing's "GR010 HYBIRD" finished 1-2 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the last of the world's three major races of the year. Toyota's fourth consecutive victory, Kamui Kobayashi, the driver of car No. 7, won his first victory, and Kazuki Nakajima, the driver of car No. 8, finished second (three consecutive wins from 2018 to 2020), three major races in the world. It was a special year in which Japanese power units and drivers were involved in all of the victories.

Since many international races were scheduled in Japan in the fall, many people must have been looking forward to seeing a world-class battle involving Japan. However, as you know, under the circumstances of the corona disaster, the F1 Japan GP, ​​WRC (Rally Japan), WEC (World Endurance Championship) and international four-wheeled races have all been cancelled. And even for motorcycles, international races such as MotoGP and Suzuka 8 Hours have been cancelled.

This hydrogen Corolla press conference was held at the Suzuka Circuit, which can be said to be the sacred place of motor sports in Japan. Since many Japanese automobile and motorcycle manufacturers are involved, Akio Toyoda, who is also the chairman of the JAMA, wonders what he thinks about the current situation in which Japan cannot hold an international class race in a special year when Japan has won the three major races. I asked him at a press conference.