Since making his last Formula 1 start in Abu Dhabi at the end of 2014, Kamui Kobayashi has been plying his trade in Japan’s Super Formula series with some success.
The ex-Sauber and Caterham driver joined the Toyota-backed Team LeMans for the 2015 season and ultimately ended the year sixth in the final standings with three podium finishes to his name.
In December, Kobayashi was given the chance to take a Super Formula car around Tsukuba Circuit in a bid to beat the existing lap record of 46.935 seconds set by Juuichi Wakisaka back in 2004.
Kobayashi did so with relative ease, posting a quickest time of 44.008 seconds to smash the benchmark by almost three seconds, as you can see in the above video.
The video released by Toyota also charts the change in Kobayashi’s heart rate from exiting the pits to completing the lap, as well as offering a brilliant insight into the challenge of Tsukuba.