PONOS Racing has announced the formation of a new entry into the 2024 Autobacs SUPER GT Series GT300 class, introducing not only the latest Ferrari 296 GT3 to the championship but also announcing that trailblazing Ferrari works GT driver Lilou Wadoux will drive for the team alongside veteran driver Kei Cozzolino.
Yorikatsu Tsujiko, the CEO of Japanese video game developer Ponos, has rapidly increased his involvement in motorsport as a sponsor, stakeholder, and even as a gentleman driver. This past season, Tsujiko brought PONOS and its popular mobile game The Battle Cats to the Centenary 24 Hours of Le Mans for his driving debut in the Grand Prix d’Endurance, sharing a Ferrari 488 GTE EVO with Cozzolino and 2012 GT300 Champion Naoki Yokomizo.
In a race of attrition, Tsujiko was the only gentleman driver to take the chequered flag for their respective team – and later in 2023, Tsujiko would win the GT World Challenge Asia Japan Cup GT3 Am title for Comet Racing.
PONOS also sponsored the number 10 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 of the Gainer team, while Tsujiko served as the General Manager of the car driven last year by Hironobu Yasuda and Riki Okusa.
The formation of the PONOS Racing label is a big step for team General Manager Tsujiko, who remarked: “I have loved motorsports since I was a child and have had great admiration for racing teams.
“PONOS’ vision is ‘to bring smiles to the faces of customers around the world through games and to pursue the possibilities of entertainment,’ and we believe that racing also has the potential for entertainment that brings smiles to the faces of many customers. I would like to contribute to the training of young drivers and the development of the racing industry through PONOS Racing in the future.”
Tsujiko (pictured above, right) has recruited Japanese-Italian driver Cozzolino (centre) to be the lead driver of the new PONOS Racing 296 GT3.
Cozzolino already has experience driving the newest Ferrari around Japan in the GT World Challenge Asia Japan Cup, and by the time the 2024 SUPER GT season begins in April, he’ll have driven the 296 GT3 in the Asian Le Mans Series and the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.
The 35-year-old is a champion of the Asian Le Mans Series GT class and GT World Challenge Asia series, and a veteran of 25 races across five seasons in SUPER GT. He last competed full-time in the series from 2021-2022 with Pacific CarGuy Racing in the previous 488 GT3 EVO – and as a graduate of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Driver Challenge (TGR-DC) academy, he has also raced a full season of Super Formula in 2010.
His new team-mate is Wadoux, who completed her second FIA World Endurance Championship season and first as a Ferrari GT factory driver. The 22-year-old French woman made history at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in April when she became the first woman to win a WEC race in any category, and last month, she was the first woman to test the Le Mans-winning Ferrari 499P Hypercar.
She finished eighth in the LMGTE Am championship despite a scary accident at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, adding a further runner-up finish in Portimaõ and three top-ten finishes. Like Cozzolino, Wadoux is already slated to run the Daytona 24 Hours in an AF Corse-run Oreca LMP2 07.
When she makes her series debut, Wadoux will be the eighth woman to enter a SUPER GT race – and only the second non-Japanese, following Cyndie Allemann who raced in 2012.
The debut of the Ferrari 296 GT3 in SUPER GT also brings the return of the ‘Prancing Horse’ to the series for the first time since 2022. Ferrari is one of only two foreign manufacturers that has won in both the GT500 and GT300 classes, with its last GT300 win coming in 2009.
PONOS Racing’s 296 GT3 will be supplied with Michelin tyres. Despite withdrawing from GT500 after the current season, the French manufacturer affirms its commitment to GT300 customer teams for the foreseeable future.
Images © Dailysportscar, Ferrari
