After spending almost the entire season fighting to return to Japan, Sacha Fenestraz has secured his work visa which will allow him to contest the remainder of the Japanese racing season beginning in October. This includes the final two rounds of the Super Formula Championship (17 October at Motegi, and the JAF Grand Prix Suzuka on 31 October), and also, the final three rounds of the 2021 Autobacs Super GT Series – where Fenestraz is set to make his season debut at the Autopolis International Racing Course, on 24 October.
Fenestraz has spent the last two years racing full-time in Japan, winning the 2019 All-Japan Formula Three (now Super Formula Lights) Championship, and scoring podium finishes in his first outings in Super GT’s GT500 category and Super Formula last season. Aboard the #36 au TOM’s Toyota GR Supra, Fenestraz scored four podiums in 2020, and finished fourth in the GT500 Drivers’ Championship alongside Yuhi Sekiguchi.
This winter, Fenestraz was set to join Ryo Hirakawa in the #37 KeePer TOM’s GR Supra for the 2021 season, but had been unable to attain a Japanese visa after the conclusion of the 2020 racing season. While barred from entering Japan, Fenestraz took part in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge round at Lime Rock Park, the Buenos Aires 200km touring car race in Argentina, and has served as the reserve driver for the Jaguar Racing Formula E team.
With Japan gradually easing their restrictions on foreign nationals entering the country, Fenestraz was successful in attaining his visa this past week. He is expected to arrive in Japan on 30 September, and will exit his mandatory 14-day quarantine period in time for the next Super Formula race at Motegi.
Speaking with Jorge Magistris on the Argentine radio programme Corazón de F1, Fenestraz said, “I will return to Japan after nine months. It’s my second home after Argentina, because I’m living there. I’m happy to be back on track again. The whole process was difficult – I missed a lot of races.”
“I continued training during this time in order to stay fit. I will spend two weeks in a hotel during quarantine, and I was told on Friday (24 September) that the quarantine period could be reduced from 14 days to 10 days if a person has been vaccinated, which I have already been. So, I will try to make it ten days in quarantine, instead of 14.”
“I want to express my gratitude to all of those who have sent messages of support. In particular, the people in Japan pushed hard for me to return.”
Beginning with the upcoming Autopolis GT 300km Race, Fenestraz is certain to join Hirakawa for the rest of the season, where he’ll also be working for the first time with Team Director Jun Yamada and Chief Engineer Masaki Saeda.
“In Super GT, I’ll be driving a different car, with new setups. If i can score points, it will be great,” commented Fenestraz on his prospects for the remainder of the season.
Sena Sakaguchi, who has filled in for Fenestraz in the first five races of the Super GT season, is expected to move back down to GT300 with K-Tunes Racing in their #96 Lexus RC F GT3.
However, after Sakaguchi won pole position for the opening round at Okayama, and finished on the podium two times this season, the 22-year-old driver is a prime candidate to move back to GT500 next season in the event that there is a vacancy in Toyota’s GT500 driver fleet.
The official entry list for the sixth round of the Super GT Series at Autopolis is expected to be published some time on 8 October, two weeks before the race.
Images courtesy of Toyota and the GT Association (GTA)
Special thanks to Esteban Garcia (Twitter: @egarciapress)
