Afrigather Of all of the drivers current for Honda’s 2023 motorsport actions presentation this week, one had a noticeably greater grin on his face than the remaining. In spite of everything, this was the day he had spent the final three years of his life working in the direction of, two of which have been spent out of a racing automobile.
Raoul Hyman is considered one of three rookies, and two worldwide drivers, to be named as a part of Honda’s nine-car roster for subsequent season. He joins B-Max Racing alongside Nobuharu Matsushita, courtesy of his $600,000 scholarship from the marque’s US arm, Honda Efficiency Developments, for profitable the System Regional Americas title.
In an alternate universe with no COVID-19, Hyman would have made his Japanese racing debut again in 2020 with the identical workforce, albeit in Tremendous System Lights. However the onset of the pandemic, which precipitated Japan’s borders to slam shut to nearly all overseas arrivals, put the 26-year-old’s profession right into a holding sample that has solely not too long ago come to an finish.
It was solely when a possibility to contest FR Americas got here up that Hyman returned to motion for a doubtlessly career-defining season. He knew profitable the title and the scholarship would take him to Japan, however failure may effectively have spelt the top of his profession.
“Spending two-and-a-half years out of the automobile, it makes you realise how privileged you might be to be on this place,” Hyman tells Motorsport.com in a chat at Honda’s Tokyo HQ just a few hours previous to the marque’s 2023 presentation, the place he endeared himself to the assembled media by giving a short introduction of himself in Japanese.
“Days like this, or leaping within the Tremendous System automobile for the primary time at Suzuka, and even simply being right here in Tokyo – it’s fairly surreal. It actually makes me wish to work even more durable.”
‘Watashi no namae wa Raoul Hyman desu!’ (My title is Raoul Hyman!)
Picture by: Motorsport.com / Japan
Hyman’s current go to to Japan for each the Suzuka rookie check and the Honda announcement was actually his second go to to the fabled monitor. His first was in December 2019, again when ‘corona’ nonetheless merely referred to a Mexican beer model, in what was formally the last-ever All-Japan System 3 check earlier than it metamorphosed into Tremendous System Lights.
“The check went rather well, however I used to be within the older automobile and the man who topped the check, Sena Sakaguchi, had the brand new automobile [Dallara F320] they’re utilizing now,” remembers Hyman of the check. “The hole between us was beneficial in the direction of me from the workforce’s standpoint.
“It was the very best expertise I’d ever had, the mix of automobile and monitor, as much as that time. It was just about set that I used to be going to do in 2020, however then the journey restrictions got here in. And after that I had nearly two-and-a-half years of not driving something!
“I used to be contacting groups left, proper and centre looking for one thing, however there was no alternative actually that was the correct one. Even firstly of this yr, it was an analogous story till the chance got here to race in System Regional Americas.”
A race winner in what was then often called GP3 with Campos Racing in 2017 and a champion in F3 Asia the next season, Hyman admits his chastening expertise in 2019 within the newly-rebranded FIA F3 sequence with a brand new workforce within the type of Charouz (he scored one factors end all yr) made him considerably cautious of a few of the presents he acquired.
“The yr we spent with Charouz reiterated to me that if you’re going racing, you might want to be with a workforce which you could win the championship with,” he says. “I had individuals name from FIA F3, Euroformula Open, and I had some good presents, however firstly we didn’t have the monetary assets to take them, and secondly I knew there was nothing to achieve by doing a visitor look or racing in a scenario the place it wasn’t doable to win.
“Till the primary check [in FR Americas] at New Orleans this yr, I didn’t even sit in a race automobile, I hadn’t been to a race monitor. It was a very powerful two years.”
A troublesome yr in FIA F3 in 2019 yielded a finest results of ninth place
Hyman freely admits that the data the HPD scholarship can be on supply performed the decisive position in taking over the chance to affix TJ Velocity Motorsports in FR Americas.
“We had to decide on a sequence the place you may have a future, as a result of we didn’t have limitless funds to maintain going,” explains Hyman. “I knew I wanted to go to a sequence the place I knew I may win primarily based on the previous outcomes of the workforce – as a result of then, with out wishing to sound boastful, at the least it’s all the way down to you. And should you win, there’s one thing ready for you.”
Hyman went into the FR Americas season as by far probably the most skilled driver, and in the long run he dominated, with a clear sweep of six poles and 11 of a doable 18 wins. However he insists that nothing was assured after two seasons of inactivity.
“The primary stress was figuring out that if I don’t win it, I’m not racing subsequent yr,” he displays. “I used to be coming off two-and-a-half years of not racing, and I had some individuals telling me it could be onerous to return again after that point and be aggressive.
“It was one thing I actually prayed about, to get in and be quick right away. We didn’t even take into consideration the choice. It felt like God was giving me one other likelihood, and I simply needed to take it with out eager about any contingency plans.”
Taking a step again to System Regional stage final yr proved a shrewd transfer
Now Hyman faces the problem of stepping up from System Regional equipment to Tremendous System, a automobile with twice the facility and maybe thrice as a lot downforce. “I used to be coming into the Esses in Sector 1 at Suzuka sooner than I had been all yr on the straights,” he mentioned following his first style of his new B-Max mount within the rookie check.
With the workforce solely having simply taken supply of its second automobile earlier than the check, the two days ended up being little more than a shakedown for Hyman. The excellent news is that subsequent yr Tremendous System is introducing an up to date automobile with a brand new aerodynamics package deal, and that he subsequently faces a extra stage taking part in area as a rookie than he would have achieved.
The 26-year-old nonetheless could have only one extra check at Suzuka in March to acclimatise earlier than the season kicks off at Fuji in April. And he’s keenly conscious that his HPD scholarship has merely obtained him by means of the door – and that if he’s to stay round in Tremendous System past the top of the 2023 season, he must make an enormous impression shortly.
“It’s similar to final season,” he says calmly. “I knew final yr if I didn’t win the scholarship, it is likely to be the top of my profession. This yr I’ve the assist from HPD and HRC, however I additionally know that I must be on the highest doable stage as quickly as doable.
“We solely have yet one more check earlier than the beginning of the season, so we actually must maximise that. It’s a high-pressure scenario, however on the similar time, I believe I’m robust underneath stress.”
Teething points with a brand new chassis made the Suzuka rookie check a baptism of fireplace
Hyman additionally feels that B-Max is well-equipped to offer him the instruments to get the outcomes he wants, regardless of its lack of pedigree versus fellow Honda-engine squads Workforce Mugen, Dandelion Racing and Nakajima Racing.
“That they had a tough yr final yr, however they’ve received titles in Tremendous System Lights, they received a race in Tremendous System, that they had a pole final yr,” he says. “After I noticed the workforce working on the check, you may see they’re at an excellent stage.
“I’m probably not too bothered about what different individuals anticipate. My expectations are that we’re contenders, as a result of that’s what I must be as a way to maintain racing. We have to make progress each single time, however I’ll do my finest to ‘out-work’ everybody else, attempt to make sure we do the identical factor as a workforce, after which I consider the outcomes will come. That’s the plan.”
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the stakes can be greater for Hyman subsequent season than for every other driver on the grid. However having waited so lengthy for this opportunity to race within the land of alternative that’s Japan, it’s clear that he intends to benefit from it.
