Ex-W Series racer and Toyota junior Koyama has been out of open-wheel cars since she won last year’s Formula Regional Japanese title.
This season, she was named as the third driver for the Arnage Racing Lexus GT300 team in SUPER GT alongside Igor Fraga and Yuga Furutani, albeit only making a single race outing at Fuji, while also participating in the one-make Toyota GR86/BRZ Cup.
However, late last month it was announced that Koyama will be racing on the famous streets of Macau in the F4 race that takes place a week before the main F3 event, with the support of Arnage title sponsor Anest Iwata.
The 26-year-old will be reunited with the Super License team that took her to the Formula Regional title last year, and had the opportunity to test the Tatuus F4-T421 at the Zhuzhou International Circuit in south-central China.
Koyama said she was able to re-acclimatise well during the test, although she admits her lack of Macau experience could count against her.
“I hadn’t driven the car before, so the goal was to prepare the seat and get used to the brakes to allow me to go into Macau feeling fully prepared,” she told Motorsport.com.
“Although the seat wasn’t perfect, the test itself was really good, and I was the fastest of the drivers present. Some drivers from Europe and teams were absent, so things could change when we get to Macau, but for the time being the feeling is really good.
“But because I’ve never driven at Macau, when the walls come into play, I still don’t know how far I can push without hitting the guardrails!”
鈴鹿から中国へマカオ前の事前テストに行ってきました！🇨🇳
— 小山 美姫 MIKI KOYAMA (@mkhouse001) November 1, 2023
初の中国！初のTATUUS F4！
トップタイムで終了しました！
シート合わせが上手くいかなかったので現地でもう一度トライします…(笑)
機会を頂きありがとうございました！#MacauGP#ANESTIWATARACING pic.twitter.com/LOmNEL7pbr
Koyama added that she is aiming to use her first outing in a single-seater in nearly a year as a springboard to make the step up to F3 in the future.
“I’m really happy to be back in a single seater, it’s the thing I want to do,” she said.
“This time I’m doing Macau in an F4 car, but I really want to try driving in F3, so I want to use this opportunity to be able to step up to F3 in the future.”
Among Koyama’s rivals in the Macau F4 races will be Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad, Formula Regional European runner-up Martinius Stenshorne and F1 Academy racer Bianca Bustamante, who recently joined McLaren’s young driver scheme.
The eight-lap qualifying race takes place on Sunday morning ahead of the 12-lap main event, which begins at 1540 local time.
Follow the Macau F4 races with Motorsport.tv's Sunday livestream by clicking here.
