Honda Motor Corporation announced their full range of 2022 motorsports activities, including the confirmation of driver lineups for both classes of the 2022 Autobacs Super GT Series.
Beginning in 2022, all of Honda’s motor racing activities including automobile racing will be consolidated into a reorganised Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) – the division synonymous with Honda’s motorcycle racing programmes.
According to Honda, the change will enable them to “achieve mutual collaboration of the technologies and know-how Honda has amassed in the respective areas of motorcycle and automobile racing and increase the efficiency of motorsports operations. With this change, Honda will conduct its motorsports activities with a goal to establish itself as an even stronger racing brand, through which Honda will establish a robust foundation that ensures continuous inheritance of motorsports as part of Honda DNA.”
As it pertains to the Super GT Series: Honda will continue to field five Honda NSX-GTs, and four out of five driver lineups remain unchanged from the 2021 season. Honda has confirmed that the GT500 NSX will be a “new model”, yet did not make a formal announcement – though, it is all but certain that this will be the NSX-GT ‘Type S’ which has been spotted testing in recent weeks.
Reigning Super Formula Champion Tomoki Nojiri and Nirei Fukuzumi will continue to race for Autobacs Racing Team Aguri (ARTA), and Team Kunimitsu retain the 2020 championship-winning lineup of Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino. Team Red Bull Mugen will also retain their young lineup of Ukyo Sasahara and Toshiki Oyu, and Modulo Nakajima Racing will keep veteran Takuya Izawa and rising star Hiroki Otsu.
Nobuharu Matsushita has rejoined Honda as a full-fledged factory racing driver, after debuting in GT500 with Nissan and Team Impul. Matsushita, an alumnus of the Honda Formula Dream Project (HFDP) driver training programme, will join Astemo Real Racing alongside the team’s ever-present lead driver, Koudai Tsukakoshi.
- #8 – Autobacs Racing Team Aguri – Tomoki Nojiri / Nirei Fukuzumi
- #16 – Team Red Bull Mugen – Ukyo Sasahara / Toshiki Oyu
- #17 – Astemo Real Racing – Koudai Tsukakoshi / Nobuharu Matsushita
- #64 – Modulo Nakajima Racing – Takuya Izawa / Hiroki Otsu
- #100 – Team Kunimitsu – Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino
Nojiri, Fukuzumi, Oyu, Matsushita, Otsu, Yamamoto, and Makino will also represent Honda in the Japanese Super Formula Championship – as will HFDP graduate Ren Sato, who will focus on single-seater racing only this season after a year in GT300 with ARTA.
Honda will also support at least two customer teams in GT300, fielding the NSX GT3 Evo.
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri’s GT300 squad has a completely new driver lineup for the 2022 season: 2013 GT300 champion and veteran of nine-plus GT500 campaigns, Hideki Mutoh, will be the team’s new GT300 ace driver, succeeding Shinichi Takagi who departs after spending the last 15 seasons at ARTA. Mutoh’s co-driver is 22-year-old Russian-Japanese rookie, Iori Kimura, who finished third in the FIA F4 Japanese Championship last season – and, in 2016, raced in the Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup.
Another F4 graduate, 22-year-old Kakunoshin Ohta, will join Team UPGarage for his GT300 debut, joining veteran driver Takashi Kobayashi. Ohta finished fifth in the F4 standings last season, and also has some past sports car racing experience in the Super Taikyu Series, where he raced in the ST-Z (GT4) class last year.
- #18 – Team UPGarage – Takashi Kobayashi / Kakunoshin Ohta
- #55 – Autobacs Racing Team Aguri – Hideki Mutoh / Iori Kimura
Drago Corse were not listed among Honda’s GT300 teams. This was the case when Honda announced their lineups in 2021, as they were trying to secure sponsorship in order to participate. It is being reported that Drago Corse will be looking for another team to collaborate with for 2022, but nothing has been confirmed as of yet.
Images courtesy of Honda
