Can Sacha Fenestraz break the 'curse' of the second TOM'S car?

Catching up with Sacha Fenestraz and TOM'S boss Jun Yamada after a challenging opening weekend of the season for the #37 side of the garage... (Photos: JRP)

Amid all the turmoil surrounding Red Bull’s second driver problem in Formula 1, it seems like a good time to talk about the Super Formula equivalent: TOM’S.

Unlike its fellow top teams Team Mugen and Dandelion Racing, TOM’S has had problems running two competitive cars. While it has enjoyed title success in the last two years with Ritomo Miyata and Sho Tsuboi, the other side of the garage (formerly the #36 car, and now the #37 car), has struggled, first with Giuliano Alesi in 2022 and the first part of 2023 and then with Ukyo Sasahara from mid-2023 to last year.

When Alesi struggled, it was easy to write it off as being down to the driver, and when the second-generation racer was dumped to make way for Sasahara, most observers expected a major uplift in performance. But that failed to materialise, and in the end, Sasahara was dropped at the end of last year without having scored a single point in his tenure at TOM’S, despite his wins at Team Mugen and success in SUPER GT.

Exactly why the Sasahara-TOM’S alliance didn’t work out remains among the biggest mysteries of recent times in Super Formula. But the fact that Kondo Racing passed up the chance to sign Sasahara in favour of a foreign driver, with Zak O’Sullivan winning that particular contest, is perhaps a sign that the blame was perceived by Toyota insiders to be more down to the driver than any shortcomings of the team.

Further evidence of this way of thinking comes from the fact that Kenta Odachi, who has been the engineer of the Alesi/Sasahara side of the garage, has been kept in place for 2025 for the arrival of the #37 car’s third driver in three seasons: Sacha Fenestraz.