2021.01.15

Honda Announces 2021 Motorsports Program Oyu moves up to GT500 class! Teamed with Sasahara, he drives car No. 16. Two high-potential rookies enter GT300

　On January 15, 2021, Honda Motor Co., Ltd. announced its schedule of motorsports activities and teams for the 2021 season. In past years, the schedule and teams for the coming season have been announced at the Honda booth at the Tokyo Auto Salon held at this time in the new year, but due to the cancellation of this year’s Tokyo Auto Salon as a result of concerns related to the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the motorsports program was announced online.
　In a video posted for the online announcement, Director Koji Watanabe of Honda’s Brand and Communication Operations, Corporate Communications Division, which has jurisdiction over Honda’s motorsports activities, spoke of the company’s commitment, saying, “As in years past, Honda will be participating in various competition categories in Japan and abroad with firm commitment and the strength and determination to win.”

 

　As in 2020, Honda will compete again with five teams in the GT500 class of the SUPER GT series. This season, Honda will again compete with the NSX-GT car that debuted last year in compliance with the CLASS 1 regulation and went on to win four of the series’ eight races and win pole position five times. No announcement was made about the car’s name or the tires to be used.
　As last season’s winners of the Driver and Team championship titles, TEAM KUNIMITSU will exercise its right to use No. 1 as its car’s race number. The drivers will once again be last season’s champion pair of Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino. Under manager Kunimitsu Takahashi, the team will strive for consecutive GT500 class series titles.
　Speaking about his intents for this season in the announcement video, Yamamoto said, “I will strive to compete to the best of my ability and in a way that is worthy of the title of defending champion. Our competitors are strong, but I want to work hard with our team to help develop the car further along with the Honda development team members so that we can deliver strong performances in the races.” As for Makino, who fell ill and was hospitalized after the end of last year’s season, he contributed a written statement during the ensuing medical treatment that said, “I will make sure I am fully fit and able again by the start of the season.”

　The ARTA team will enter their No. 8 car with the same team structure and drivers Tomoki Nojiri and Nirei Fukuzumi. The team’s manager, Aguri Suzuki, commented that, “As proven by the fact that we won pole position in three of last season’s rounds, I thought we had become a strong team, but in the races, we weren’t able to get a good flow going. Although we couldn’t win the championship, we were able to develop the strength of the Honda NSX-GT to a high level and stay in contention for the title until the last round. So, I think it was a good season.” Manager Suzuki went on to say, “Again in 2021, we will field the well-balanced driver pair of Nojiri and Fukuzumi. This season, we are also going to try our best again to chalk up a tally of pole position wins and power through to the championship title. We will show a strong ARTA team once again.”

　As this season’s drivers for car No. 16 of TEAM Red Bull MUGEN, will see the return of Ukyo Sasahara, who debuted in SUPER GT last season, and Toshiki Oyu, who debuted in the GT300 class last year and moves up now to the GT500 class. At ages 24 and 22 respectively, hopes are high for the performance of this young team of Sasahara and Oyu. Team Manager Hirokatsu Tanaka showed his big hopes for the drivers, saying, “These two drivers are both young and riding a strong wave of momentum. They have shown tremendous performances in Formula car racing, so we are looking forward with great expectations for the two of them this season.”

　The REAL RACING team adopts a new team name this season as Astemo REAL RACING. However, their No. 17 car will be driven again this year by the pair of Kodai Tsukakoshi and Bertrand Baguette, who as a team won two races last season. Together with the team manager, Katsutomo Kaneishi, the team will be aiming to claim a long-awaited series championship title.

　The Modulo Nakajima Racing team will enter its car No. 64 this season with the same team make-up as last year. In the 2020 series, the driver pair of Takuya Izawa and Hiroki Otsu showed their speed by winning two pole positions, led by team manager Satoru Nakajima. Manager Nakajima said, “Last season we were able to show that we were fast, but since our race results weren’t good enough, we are making some definitive changes to correct that in hopes of winning the championship this year.”

 

GT500
No.	Team	Driver
1	TEAM KUNIMITSU	Naoki Yamamoto Tadasuke Makino
8	ARTA	Tomoki Nojiri Nirei Fukuzumi
16	TEAM Red Bull MUGEN	Ukyo Sasahara Toshiki Oyu
17	Astemo REAL RACING	Kodai Tsukakoshi Bertrand Baguette
64	Modulo Nakajima Racing	Takuya Izawa Hiroki Otsu

 

　Two teams are officially entered in this year’s GT300 class, and as with last season, they will compete with customized versions of the NSX GT3 Evo model currently used in GT race competitions around the world.
　TEAM UPGARAGE will enter its car No. 18, driven again this year by its ace driver Takashi Kobayashi. Joining him as the second driver will be Teppei Natori, who competes in SUPER GT for the first time this year. After competing in FIA-F4, Natori competed in FIA F3 and overseas races in 2019. Last year, Natori competed in the Japanese SUPER FORMULA LIGHTS championship and scored six podium finishes to finish the season ranked 4th. The 20-year-old hopeful also make spot entries in the SUPER FORMULA series.
　As for car No. 55 that was the 2019 GT300 champion, the team’s ace driver, Shinichi Takagi, returns this year after missing the late races of the 2020 season due to injuries. His driving partner will be a SUPER GT rookie in Ren Sato, replacing Oyu, who has moved up to GT500 this season. The rising young 19-year-old star Sato was the FIA-F4 champion in 2019 and competed last year in France in F4, where he took two wins. Teaming this season with the veteran Takagi, it is hoped that his performances will prove equal to those of his successful predecessors Fukuzumi and Oyu.

 

GT300
No.	Team	Driver
18	TEAM UPGARAGE	Takashi Kobayashi Teppei Natori
55	ARTA	Shinichi Takagi Ren Sato

■The 2021 4-wheeler motorsports participation program announcement: YouTube video (in Japanese)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urO5Egp5EmE&t=1188s

 

■The 2021 Honda motorsports activities program news release (in English)
https://global.honda/newsroom/news/2021/c210115eng.html

 

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