F1 Rumour: Nyck De Vries Wins 2024 WEC Seat With Toyota

It is rumoured that Nyck De Vries will be driving Toyota's GR010 #7 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar.

After losing his AlphaTauri F1 seat this year, Nyck De Vries is all set to return to the world of racing with Toyota for next year's World Endurance Championship. In 2022, he was the reserve diver for the same team but now, he is all set to take on full-time WEC duties as per sources from Motorsport.com.

This year, the 28-year-old driver had signed to race the Toyota GR010 #7 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar but, a get-out clause enabled him to take up a Formula 1 seat. He will be replacing Jose Maria Lopez, who was reported to be replaced his year but, eventually signed an extension contract at the same time as de Vries ventured out for his F1 adventure. 

De Vries was replaced by Australian F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo at AlphaTauri. However, the new opportunity will see him race alongside teammates Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway for 2024. But, Toyota has not spoken about the chances of a deal working out with de Vries yet, with team director Rob Leupen revealing earlier this month that there is no issue with the current driver lineup in his team:

“I’m always in contact with Nyck [de Vries] because we are both Dutch! I think Nyck has a lot of opportunities, he has also done some good testing for us [in the past].

"We are also in a good situation with our [current] driver line-up. I think our current driver line-up is superb. From that point of view, I would say there is no issue.”

However, Lopez, who turns 40 this year, said he was unsure about continuing his WEC journey with Toyota for a sixth successive season. He added:

"I would like to stay with the team, but I'm not 20 anymore. We'll have to see. It's not decided."

Toyota has been following a pattern for a few years now of announcing its WEC drivers for the upcoming season in November or December, along with the rest of its motorsport activities. Maybe, we could see de Vries on this list in the next one or two months.

In 2023, prior to signing the AlphaTauri offer, de Vries was to manage the WEC campaign with Toyota, and a Formula E campaign with Maserati MSG. It is currently unknown if the Dutch driver would go for a similar plan for 2024, especially after considering the clash on the calendar between the Spa WEC round, and the Berlin E-Prix.