The Gran Turismo World Champion and former F3 driver Igor Fraga has been revealed to be part of ANEST IWATA Racing's GT300 entry for the whole 2023 Super GT season, running a Lexus RC F GT3.
He will be paired with 2 other rookies in the series: Yuga Furutani, who raced in Super Formula Lights and Super Taikyu, as well as Miki Koyama, who participated in the all female W-Series and won the 2022 FR-J title.
Interestingly, the team unveiled their livery with pictures taken within Gran Turismo 7. Igor Fraga is an ambassador for the game and has been sponsored by it to race in other real world racing series, as well as also being an ambassador for Super Formula - a racing series which is also partnered with Gran Turismo.
The Brazilian-Japanese athlete has been involved since a very young age in both real and virtual racing, discovering both karting and simracing at the age of 3 and making a name for himself in both scenes from a young age. He participated in the 2017 F1 esports Series with Williams, before winning the McLaren Shadow competition and the FIA GTC Nations Cup the following year. He then proceeded to add two Gran Turismo Manufacturers Cup titles to his belt in 2019 and 2021.
Meanwhile, his motorsport resume includes a national Brazilian F3 title in 2017 and a New Zealand Toyota Racing Series title in 2020 (in front of Liam Lawson), which got him a seat at Charouz in FIA's F3 the same year. Since then, his career in real cars has been on hold due to budget issues, so it's nice to see the fellow simracer return properly in the paddocks.
He will be paired with 2 other rookies in the series: Yuga Furutani, who raced in Super Formula Lights and Super Taikyu, as well as Miki Koyama, who participated in the all female W-Series and won the 2022 FR-J title.
Interestingly, the team unveiled their livery with pictures taken within Gran Turismo 7. Igor Fraga is an ambassador for the game and has been sponsored by it to race in other real world racing series, as well as also being an ambassador for Super Formula - a racing series which is also partnered with Gran Turismo.
The Brazilian-Japanese athlete has been involved since a very young age in both real and virtual racing, discovering both karting and simracing at the age of 3 and making a name for himself in both scenes from a young age. He participated in the 2017 F1 esports Series with Williams, before winning the McLaren Shadow competition and the FIA GTC Nations Cup the following year. He then proceeded to add two Gran Turismo Manufacturers Cup titles to his belt in 2019 and 2021.
Meanwhile, his motorsport resume includes a national Brazilian F3 title in 2017 and a New Zealand Toyota Racing Series title in 2020 (in front of Liam Lawson), which got him a seat at Charouz in FIA's F3 the same year. Since then, his career in real cars has been on hold due to budget issues, so it's nice to see the fellow simracer return properly in the paddocks.
