Real Co., Ltd.
Founded2007
BaseSuzuka, Mie Prefecture
Team principal(s)Katsutomo Kaneishi
Current series
Former series
Current drivers
Teams'
Championships		Japanese F3:
2 (N-Class: 2009, 2010)
Drivers'
Championships		Japanese F3:
3 (C-Class: 2014; N-Class: 2009, 2010)

Real Co., Ltd., better known as Real Racing, is a Japanese company headed by former racing driver Katsutomo Kaneishi.

History

In 2007 Katsutomo Kaneishi had a tie-up with the Japanese version of Rolling Stone to launch Real Racing. The team name originates from their policy of "delivering real motorsports activities and fun to as many people as possible." Hiroshi Tanaka, former representative of Heroes Racing, was invited as the manager. In its debut season in 2007, the team participated in the Japanese Formula 3 Championship and Super GT's GT500 class. In 2009, the Japanese F3 team began racing under the team name HFDP Racing as part of the Honda Formula Dream Project, Honda's young driver development project, and the team also started participating in Formula Nippon with the same name (Real Racing Team was launched in 2011). From that season onwards, Katsutomo Kaneishi has devoted himself to being the manager

Super Formula

Real Racing competed in Formula Nippon under the HFDP Racing banner in 2009 and 2010 with Koudai Tsukakoshi as the driver. In 2011, the team made their debut as Real Racing, fielding cars for Takashi Kobayashi and Hideki Mutoh. The next season their drivers were Yuhki Nakayama and Toshihiro Kaneishi, the cousin of Katsutomo Kaneishi. Tsukakoshi returned to the team for 2013 in place of Kaneishi, and in 2014 former Italian Formula One driver Vitantonio Liuzzi took over Nakayama's seat and raced with the team for a single season. Takuya Izawa replaced Liuzzi for the 2015 and 2016 seasons, with Tsukakoshi maintaining the other seat. The team opted to race with one car from 2017 to 2019.[1] They only fielded Tsukakoshi during these seasons, except in 2019 when Tristan Charpentier replaced him in the first round of the season.[2][3] In 2020, Real Racing announced it has withdrawn from the 2020 season.[4]

Super GT – GT500

In 2007, Real Racing competed in GT500 with Honda as their choice of car manufacturer. Kaneishi himself took the wheel as an owner-driver along with his cousin Toshihiro Kaneishi. The F3 engine and Super GT vehicle were both manufactured by Honda, while tyres came from Bridgestone. The team maintained its F3 cars in-house, although Super GT maintenance was outsourced from ARTA. In 2009, Keihin became the title sponsor of the team in Super GT, a role which it held until the end of the 2020 season. Keihin merged with a number of other companies to form Hitachi Astemo, a joint venture between Hitachi and Honda, and Astemo replaced Keihin as the title sponsor for Real Racing from 2021.[5] Nobuharu Matsushita rejoined Honda as a factory driver for 2022 and signed with Astemo Real Racing.[6] He replaced Bertrand Baguette, who left Honda at the end of 2021.[7] For 2024 Real Racing will have Kakunoshin Ohta as the replacement for Matsushita.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Honda 2017 Motorsports Program Overview". Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Honda Motor Co., Ltd. 13 February 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  2. ↑ Thukral, Rachit (11 January 2019). "Honda reveals details of Super Formula line-up shuffle". motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  3. ↑ Thukral, Rachit (9 May 2019). "Rookie Charpentier axed after one Super Formula race". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  4. ↑ "Real Racing withdraws from 2020 Super Formula season". Motorsport Network. 27 February 2020.
  5. ↑ "Real Racing gets new look as sponsor Keihin exits". motorsport.com. 15 January 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  6. ↑ "Honda Announces 2022 Super GT Lineups". dailysportscar.com. 14 January 2022. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  7. ↑ "Baguette announces exit from Honda SUPER GT fold". motorsport.com. 1 December 2021. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  8. ↑ O’Connell, RJ (12 December 2023). "Honda Announces 2024 GT500 Drivers". dailysportscar.com. Dailysportscar. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
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