JLOC Confirms 2021 Driver Lineups
At the conclusion of a private test at Fuji Speedway on Wednesday, JLOC (Japan Lamborghini Owners’ Club) have confirmed their driver lineups for the 2021 Autobacs Super GT Series.
One of the few ever-present Super GT teams that have entered every season of competition, JLOC will continue to field two Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo models, both of which will run on Yokohama tyres, and both of which will receive technical support from Lamborghini Squadra Corse.
JLOC’s flagship entry, the number 88 Huracán, will continue to be driven by the duo of Takashi Kogure and Yuya Motojima. Kogure & Motojima endured a difficult season in 2020, highlighted by a single podium finish – 2nd place at the 13 September round at Twin Ring Motegi – but concluded with two DNFs and a total of six non-scoring results.
In two seasons together, the 2010 GT500 Drivers’ Champion Kogure, and his sixth-year teammate Motojima have seven top-ten finishes and three podiums. Motojima, in fact, has scored a podium in four straight seasons since he joined JLOC as a third driver in 2017.
In JLOC’s number 87 car, there’s a new title sponsor joining – upstart land development firm Granseed – and a new driver lineup in the form of veteran Kosuke Matsuura and young Natsu Sakaguchi.
Matsuura comes over after spending two seasons with Team UPGarage, where he scored a 2nd-place finish in the 23 August round at Suzuka Circuit. The 41-year-old best known for his tenure as a Honda works driver, highlighted by four seasons in IndyCar, followed by six-plus seasons in GT500 – where he won the final 1000km running of the Suzuka Summer Endurance Race in 2017.
25-year-old Sakaguchi will leave Team Mach and their Mother Chassis Toyota 86 after four seasons, a tenure that saw the former Suzuka Racing School Formula (SRS-F) scholarship winner return the team to the podium for the first time in a generation: Sakaguchi finished a career-best 2nd place at Suzuka in 2019, ending a 15-year podium drought for Team Mach. Then he opened the 2020 season with a 3rd place finish at Fuji.
All but one GT300 team has confirmed their 2021 driver lineups as of publication, with less than two weeks until the first official pre-season test on 6-7 March at Okayama International Circuit.
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