Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage Introduces All-Rookie Crew For Their Lexus RC F GT3

Machinery manufacturing firm Anest Iwata are making a big push into the Autobacs SUPER GT Series in 2023. On Tuesday, they along with privateer racing team Arnage Racing announced their new joint entry into the GT300 class.

The reorganised team, known as Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage, will compete in 2023 with a Lexus RC F GT3 which replaces their previous Dome MC86, that had been sold to fellow privateers Team Mach.

Founded by former TOM’s engineer Muneharu Ito, Arnage Racing have competed in SUPER GT for ten years, mostly as a Pro-Am team. They were also the maintenance garage that supported the successful but short-lived Team a Speed from 2010 to 2012 – a tenure that included a class win in the 2012 Suzuka 1000km.

Along with the new car, Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage will also deploy an all-rookie crew of three drivers.

Leading the way is Japanese-Brazilian driver Igor Fraga, best known as the inaugural Gran Turismo World Series Nations Cup champion from 2018. The 24-year-old is one of only a handful of eSports drivers that have won the GTWS Nations Cup, Manufacturers Cup (on behalf of Toyota), and Toyota GR GT Cup titles.

But before and after he achieved fame in eSports, Fraga racked up solid credentials in “full metal” motorsport: He won the 2017 Formula 3 Brazil Academy Class title, the 2020 Toyota Racing Series title (ahead of future Super Formula driver Liam Lawson), and even raced in FIA Formula 3 with sponsorship from Gran Turismo. Now turning his attention to Japan, Fraga has tested a Super Formula and Super Formula Lights car this off-season.

He joins a lineage of drivers including GT Academy champions Lucas Ordoñez and Jann Mardenborough, and GTWS prequel champion Yusuke Tomibayashi, who have leveraged success in virtual motorsport into full-time drives in SUPER GT. Fraga’s involvement is also part of a close collaboration between the team and Gran Turismo developers Polyphony Digital for future activations.

His team-mate for the 2022 season is 22-year-old Yuga Furutani. Furutani won the 2021 Formula Regional Japanese Championship title in his second season of automobile racing, then earned a step up to Super Formula lights with TOM’s where he recorded five podiums and finished sixth in the championship standings.

Furutani has also raced for Hiroshima Toyopet HTP Racing in the Super Taikyu Series, most recently driving their Toyota GR Supra GT4.

Reigning Formula Regional Japanese Champion Miki Koyama will be the first woman to race in SUPER GT in eleven years, signed as the team’s third driver for the longer-distance 450km races.

A member of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Driver Challenge (TGR-DC), Koyama raced in Formula 4 and Formula Regional, then captured the attention of the larger racing audience in two seasons in the W Series. Upon returning to Japan in 2022, Koyama became the first woman ever to win an FIA single-seater championship when she took home the Japanese title.

She’ll be the first woman to race in SUPER GT since Cyndie Allemann drove for Hitotsuyama Racing in 2012. Kumi Sato and Junko Mihara are the only two other women that have raced full-time in the series, while Keiko Ihara and Michiko Okuyama have raced part-time in the series.

Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage have also recruited Tenjiro Amazawa as their chief engineer. Amazawa has been an engineer for Dome Racing Co. for 25 years, and managed their Honda GT500 team from 2013-14 before moving on to other projects within the company. Yusuke Matsuura, brother of current SUPER GT driver Kosuke Matsuura, will continue as Team Director, and Yokohama Rubber will supply tyres to the team.

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