The new design adds a bold splash of pink to the team’s traditional navy blue and white colours, which effectively replaces the light blue highlights that had been used since the switch to the SF19 three years ago.
TCS, a subsidiary of Indian auto giant Tata, said the move reflected the company’s decision to adopt pink as its corporate colour last year.
It marks the biggest change to the Nakajima Racing livery since the year Tata first joined forces with the team in 2017, with the upcoming 2022 campaign marking the sixth year of their partnership.
The relationship between Nakajima Racing and Tata began in 2017, when ex-Formula 1 racer Narain Karthikeyan (pictured) was signed to drive
The livery will make its public debut in this weekend’s Honda Thanks Day event at Suzuka, where the marque’s fleet of Super Formula and SUPER GT cars will be performing demonstration runs.
Nakajima Racing goes into the new season still searching for its first title in Japan’s premier single-seater category since 2009.
Naoki Yamamoto and Toshiki Oyu form an unchanged driver line-up, with Yamamoto driving the #64 machine (which ran as the #1 car last year) and Oyu piloting the sister #65 car (previously the #64).
While Oyu enjoyed a strong sophomore season with two podium finishes en route to fifth in the standings, three-time champion Yamamoto endured a torrid title defence following his off-season switch from Dandelion Racing, ending up down in 13th overall with a best finish of sixth.
Yamamoto and Oyu both sampled each other’s cars in the post-season test at Suzuka in December in a bid to help Yamamoto escape his slump.
