2012 GT300 Drivers’ Champion Naoki Yokomizo will drive for Pacific CarGuy Racing in the next two rounds of the Autobacs Super GT Series, beginning in two weeks’ time at Twin Ring Motegi for the 300km race on 18 July.
Yokomizo, 41, is filling in for CarGuy Racing president Takeshi Kimura, who has been taking part in the FIA World Endurance Championship GTE Am class in a partnership with Kessel Racing alongside his Super GT schedule. While Kimura will not be taking part in the 6 Hours of Monza on 18 July due to the withdrawal of the Kessel/CarGuy Ferrari 488, he is still planning to make his third start in the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 21-22 August – which clashes with the rescheduled Super GT race at Suzuka Circuit on the same weekend.
The #9 Pacific NAC CarGuy Ferrari 488 GT3 will run with two pro drivers, as Yokomizo joins Kei Cozzolino at Motegi and at Suzuka. The duo won together in CarGuy colours at the 2017 GT World Challenge Asia round at Fuji Speedway, A top-ten finish in either of the next two races would help move Pacific CarGuy Racing into the top 18 in the GT300 Teams’ Championship, securing valuable seeding rights and guaranteed entry into all rounds of the 2022 season.
In addition to winning the 2012 GT300 title at Team Taisan, Yokomizo has also won in the GT500 class as a Nissan factory driver – claiming his only top flight victory at Motegi in 2008. Motegi is also where Yokomizo and Kyosuke Mineo clinched the GT300 title with a race win. It’s been over 18 months since Yokomizo’s last Super GT start at the end of 2019, but he’s been very active in racing during that time – appearing as a commentator on the TV Tokyo digest show Super GT Plus, managing the MZ Supercar Project alongside founder Yusaku Maezawa, and driving for CarGuy spinoff COMET Racing in Super Taikyu.
A few other small changes to note on the entry list for the third race of the 2021 Super GT Series – which will still be listed as “Round 4” as it was originally scheduled to take place after the Suzuka round.
Sean Walkinshaw and Giuliano Alesi will once again link up in the #35 arto Lexus RC F GT3, but the team has changed their entry name to “arto Team Thailand”. The change reflects the departure of previous co-title sponsor Ping An, whose branding was absent from the Fuji 500km in May.
Toyota young driver Hibiki Taira will once again drive for K-Tunes Racing, and Tomei Sports have selected Yudai Uchida as their am driver to partner Takayuki Aoki, in a Nissan GT-R that won the pole at Motegi in September and finished third at the same venue in November.
Over on the GT500 side, Sena Sakaguchi continues for a third race at TGR Team KeePer TOM’s, as Sacha Fenestraz still faces visa issues that have kept him out of Japan.
Images courtesy of Pacific Racing Team and the GT Association (GTA)
