> Super GT star Fujinami joins race winner Yokomizo in Yogibo-backed Ferrari
New Japanese outfit Yogibo Racing will contest this year’s Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS campaign.
The team has committed to entering a Ferrari 488 GT3 at all six rounds, starting at Sepang on May 20-22. However, its Silver Cup crew is not eligible for SRO Motorsports Group’s new Fanatec Japan Cup, which is reserved for Am-Am, Pro-Am and Silver-Am driver combinations at Suzuka, Fuji, Sugo and Okayama.
Furniture brand Yogibo and team manager Misato Haga – who oversaw NISMO/MOLA’s Super GT300 title in 2008 before stepping away from motorsport – have established their own operation after working with Drago Corse in Super GT throughout 2021.
“Personally, in my first year back as a team manager, I was taught a lot of things by many people and I think I was able to grow a lot,” said Haga. “In 2022, Yogibo Racing will participate in Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS with a completely different system and aim to fight on the global stage. It will be a new challenge, but I want to make use of what I've learned up to now and do our best to put on a show that many people can enjoy.”
Yogibo’s Silver Cup driver crew also promises to be one of this year’s strongest. 2020 Super GT300 champion Kiyoto Fujinami finished runner-up in the same category last season while Naoki Yokomizo is a former GT World Challenge Asia race winner with CarGuy. He can also call on existing experience of the Ferrari with the same team.
Other Japanese teams already confirmed include D’Station Racing (Aston Martin), Team Studie (BMW), ABSSA (McLaren) and CarGuy Racing (Ferrari). Further team announcements are expected shortly.