On Friday at the Toto BMW showroom in Tokyo, BMW Team Studie presented their entry into the 2022 Autobacs Super GT Series with the brand new BMW M4 GT3 race car.
BMW Team Studie also made a bold statement of intent to win the GT300 class championship with the formation of their first all-pro driver lineup in five years, anchored by GT500 veteran and 2004 Le Mans 24 Hours overall winner Seiji Ara, who will race with BMW Motorsport factory driver Augusto Farfus and/or reigning Super Taikyu ST-X class champion Tsubasa Kondo.
It has been known for several months that BMW Team Studie would change vehicles from the aging M6 GT3 to the latest G82-generation M4 GT3, and Studie’s new M4 was just delivered to Tokyo from Germany earlier this week.
Their racing livery is inspired by that of the Le Mans-winning 1999 BMW V12 LMR prototype, and will feature decals commemorating the 50th anniversary of BMW Motorsport.
Studie won a share of the GT300 championship back in 2011, when they were partnered with Goodsmile Racing & Team UKYO. In 2014, Studie spun off from GSR & Team UKYO into a standalone GT300 team, and competed with the E89-generation Z4 GT3 from 2014-15, then with the F13-generation M6 GT3 from 2016-17. After a two year hiatus, Studie partnered with Kazumichi Goh’s company Customer Racing Service Ltd. (CSL) and brought back their M6 GT3, competing as a pro-am team in 2020 and 2021.
Ara, who turns 48 in May, has been a part of BMW Team Studie since 2014. The four-time GT500 class race winner has recorded seven podiums in GT300 with Studie between 2014-17, but is still searching for his first GT300 class victory.
Farfus has been nominated as the team’s second driver. The 38-year-old from Curitiba, Brazil is a race winner in DTM and WTCC; he is the 2020 Intercontinental GT Challenge Drivers’ Champion, 2018 FIA GT World Cup winner in Macau, and a two-time class winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona – where he is currently competing this weekend.
Farfus has previously made three appearances for BMW Team Studie at the Suzuka 1000km, finishing third place in 2014, and 11th in 2017 (with a DNS in 2016). He also won the pole position for the 2019 Suzuka 10 Hours. This, however, would be Farfus’ first full-time Super GT campaign, one which he would balance alongside driving/coaching duties in the European Le Mans Series at BHK Motorsport.
But Farfus’ participation would hinge on his ability to enter Japan, whose borders are currently closed off to foreign citizens through February in the wake of a surge in cases of COVID-19 – specifically the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
In the event that Farfus cannot compete, and to have a three-driver lineup for endurance events, BMW Team Studie have nominated Kondo as their third driver. Kondo, who turns 33 in April, is the four-time and defending Porsche Carrera Cup Japan champion; he is also the reigning champion of the Super Taikyu Series’ ST-X (GT3) class, driving for D’station Racing.
Kondo has driven only one full season in Super GT: In 2020, he was tapped by Audi Team Hitotsuyama to drive in place of an absent Christopher Mies. He won his first GT300 race at Suzuka Circuit in October, and finished 11th in the GT300 Drivers’ Championship.
One other significant change at BMW Team Studie comes via confirmation that Michelin will be the team’s tyre supplier in 2022, replacing Yokohama. This marks Michelin’s return to the GT300 category after a one-year absence. They had most recently supplied LM Corsa and Pacific D’station Racing in 2020, but their last GT300 class victory as a tyre supplier came back in 2014.
Leading the team will be Studie AG president Yasuaki “Bob” Suzuki, general manager Kazumichi Goh, porting director Takashi Kumagai, and chief engineer Yuichiro Kitane.
BMW Team Studie also announced their entry into the GT World Challenge Asia Japan Cup with a BMW M4 GT3. Tomohide Yamaguchi, the gentleman driver for Studie across the last two seasons in Super GT, will drive alongside Ara (pictured above) in their GTWC Asia programme, maintaining his connection with the team.
