The Haas F1 team will again be holding a TPC test at Fuji Speedway next month, and after Sho Tsuboi was handed his first chance to sample grand prix machinery at the same event last year, now it is the turn of another of Toyota’s domestic stars.

Nirei Fukuzumi will take it in turns with his fellow Super Formula and SUPER GT regular Tsuboi to drive a previous-generation Haas F1 car over the course of the two-day test that takes place on July 28-29, and will again be fully open to the public.

It’s a well-earned chance for Fukuzumi, whose stock has only risen since he defected from Honda to Toyota at the end of 2023 — a move that looks more and more inspired as time passes. Super Formula fans will be no doubt well aware of the brilliant work he has done since joining Rookie Racing at the start of the year, culminating in a victory in the most recent round of the series last month at Suzuka.

Until last year, you might have said Fukuzumi was one of the most perennially underrated drivers on the domestic scene in Japan. But between his recent Super Formula success, a first appearance in the Nürburgring 24 Hours and now a maiden F1 test chance, it’s clear the somewhat shy and softly-spoken 29-year-old from Tokushima Prefecture has been rapidly climbing Toyota’s driver priority list.

Indeed, the fact that it will be Tsuboi and Fukuzumi driving together at the test is in itself a fascinating match-up. They are the clear two standouts on the Toyota domestic roster, taking both Super Formula and SUPER GT into account, and both are at relatively similar stages in their careers, even if Fukuzumi is two years younger.

Last year, Tsuboi made his bow in F1 machinery (pictured below) at Fuji, taking over for the second day of the test after Haas reserve Ryo Hirakawa ran on the first day. Although very different conditions made comparisons fairly meaningless, it would be fair to say that Tsuboi burnished his reputation by lapping faster than Hirakawa and coming within a small mistake of beating Felipe Massa’s 2008 pole record.

This time around, Tsuboi goes in as the incumbent — the Fuji test will mark at least his fourth at the wheel of F1 machinery — and Fukuzumi the challenger. While it wouldn’t be fair to call the test a shootout, no doubt the watching public will be keen to see which of the pair goes quicker. There has been no official word on who will drive on each day yet, but if Fukuzumi was to drive on the second day, then much of the intrigue would surround whether he could beat Tsuboi’s first day benchmark.

Assuming also that the test takes place with the Haas VF-25, instead of the VF-23 of last year, the lap times will almost certainly be faster, conditions allowing. It means there’s a very good chance that whoever of the pair is quicker will be the new Fuji unofficial lap record holder, which would only increase the sense of occasion.

Regardless of lap times, in many ways, Fukuzumi appears more suited to Tsuboi to some kind of Haas development role, speaking better English and having had a proper stint in European single-seaters earlier in his career. Recall that he placed third in GP3 in 2017, a season in which he and his ART Grand Prix teammates George Russell and Jack Aitken shared all the poles and all bar one feature race win between them.

As well as the age advantage, Fukuzumi also appears to be more genuinely open to racing in Europe full-time than Tsuboi. Even if eventual progression to a Haas race seat has to be regarded as very unlikely, he could position himself as the ideal home-grown successor to either Hirakawa or Kamui Kobayashi in the Toyota WEC stable, for example — although Rookie would surely be loath to lose its new prize asset…

Either way, you can’t help but applaud Toyota for creating such opportunities, which of course was one of its prime motivations for going into business with Haas in the first place. For Tsuboi, it’s a chance to demonstrate how far he has come in a space of a year, while for Fukuzumi, it’s an major opportunity to prove he is the top dog of the Toyota domestic stable and the stronger bet for an international future.