Super GT: APR Partners with Audi Team Hitotsuyama Racing in Japan

APR Press Release

APR’s long standing Japanese importer, Tom Hatada of APR Japan, has signed a technical partnershipwith Audi Team Hitotsuyama to support their racing efforts in the SUPER GT series.

Hitotsuyama is well known across Japan for its long-standing twenty year racing history, spanning over fifteen different series and classes. The team has a record of success, including several series championships.

In 2011 the team began exclusively racing the then new Audi R8 LMS in multiple series with excellent results in their first year. The team brought home a series championship in the Super Taikyu Series, multiple podiums and first place victories in the GT Asian Series and a third place finish in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.

By 2013, the team moved into the Japan Super GT Series and switched to the new Audi R8 LMS ultra platform. In an effort to improve their competitiveness, APR has partnered with Hitotsuyama to sharing their technical knowhow from competition in the US GRAND-AM series and ADAC GT Masters series in Europe.

The series and Hitotsuyama will enter their fourth race of the season at Sportsland Sugo on June 19th with APR on board. To learn more about Audi Team Hitotsuyama, please visit their website at http://hitotsuyamaracing.net/. To follow the Japan Super GT Series, visit http://supergt.net.

Photo credit: APR 

PHOTOS: Audi Team Hitotsuyama at Autopolis

A selection of great photos from Audi Team Hitotsuyama at Autopolis, round 3 of the Japanese Super GT series.

Photo credit: Hitotsuyama Racing

Super GT: Audi Team Hitotsuyama at the official Sugo test days

By Johan Laubscher

The Japanese Super GT hosted another set of official test days this weekend. This time Sportsland Sugo was the scene for the official testing, the second official test this year.

Audi Team Hitotsuyama was present with their GT300 classed #21 Audi R8 LMS ultra. The car was driven by their regular duo of Richard Lyons and Tomonobu Fujii.

The Japanese Audi Sport customer racing squad showed good pace during the four test sessions. They placed sixth in GT300 during the Saturday morning session and fourth during the afternoon.

They rounded out a good weekend with fifth and eighth positions during the morning and afternoon sessions on Sunday.

Round three of the Super GT will be heading to Autopolis, 31 May - 1 June.

Photo credit: Audi Communications - Motorsport

Super GT: Audi Team Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS ultra at Fuji Speedway

By Johan Laubscher

Round two of the Japanese Super GT headed to Fuji Speedway this weekend. Audi Team Hitotsuyama entered their Audi R8 LMS ultra at the event.

The #21 Audi R8 LMS ultra was driven by Carlo van Dam and Tomonobu Fujii. Carlo van Dam substituted for Richard Lyons this weekend, as he was competing in the British GT Championship at Rockingham.

The Hitotsuyama duo qualified twenty-first in the GT300 class and finished the 500 km race in fourteenth, two laps down.

Round three of the Super GT will be held at Autopolis, 31 May -1 June.

Photo credit: Audi Communications - Motorsport

Super GT: Top 10 result for Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama at Okayama

By Tarek Ramchani

Okayama hosted today the opening round of the 2014 Super GT series. A single Audi R8 LMS ultra is entering the event from Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama.

The Japanese team is back in Super GT for the third straight season with the Audi. A big change this year, Hitotsuyama Racing was promoted as a factory supported effort under Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama banner.

The #21 Audi R8 LMS ultra was driven by Richard Lyons from the UK and Tomonobu Fujii. They qualified yesterday in sixteenth position within the GT300 class. Today the Audi team was able to improve in the 300km endurance event.

Both Richard Lyons and Tomonobu Fujii were fast and able to overtake several rivals in a very healthy GT300 field. The Hitotsuyama R8 LMS ultra finished the race an eighth place within the class.

Up ahead it was an all BMW with a 1-2 victory. The #4 BMW Z4 GT3 from Goodsmile Hatsunemiku was victorious ahead of the #7 BMW Z4 GT3 from Team Studie in second and the #11 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG3 from GAINER in third.

In the upper GT500 class, Audi works driver Oliver Jarvis finished in a very strong fourth overall. Olly was very fast in his stint driving the Denso SARD Lexus RC F.

Next round for the Super GT will be at Fuji Speedway, May 3rd and 4th.

Photo credit: 1to8.net

Super GT: Mixed qualifying for Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama at Okayama

By Tarek Ramchani

Okayama is hosting this weekend the season opener of the 2014 Japanese based Super GT series. A single Audi R8 LMS ultra is entering the event from  Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama.

The Japanese team is back in Super GT for the third straight season with the Audi. A big change this year,  Hitotsuyama Racing was promoted as a factory supported effort under Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama banner.

The #21 Audi R8 LMS ultra is shared by drivers Richard Lyons from the UK and Tomonobu Fujii. The two drivers had a mixed qualifying session today at Okayam. The Hitotsuyama Audi qualified sixteenth within the GT300 class. The Audi entry will have to fight hard tomorrow against strong rivals from FIA GT3 and JAF GT300 cars. With two strong drivers like Lyons and Fujii,  Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama could perform well tomorrow. Earlier this year the two drivers were always among the strongest in GT300 in the official test days.

GT300 pole postion went to the #31 Toyota Prius entered by OGT Panasonic. The #4 BMW Z4 GT3 of team Goodsmile Hatsunemiku qualified second. The #55 Honda CR-Z from team ARTA qualified third. GT300 qualifying results can be seen HERE.

It's Interesting to note that Audi factory driver Oliver Jarvis qualified ninth in the upper GT500 class. Olly is driving a factory supported Lexus, the #39 RC F from team Denso SARD.

The 300km endurance race is set for tomorrow. We wish the best of luck to Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama and their two drivers.

Photo credit: 1to8.net

Super GT: Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS ultra at the official Okayama test days

By Johan Laubscher

The Japanese Super GT hosted its official test days at Okayama this weekend. Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama took part in the event with their #21 Audi R8 LMS ultra.

Richard Lyons and Tomonobu Fujii were behind the wheel of the newly liveried Audi R8 LMS ultra and took part in the four test sessions, two each on Saturday and Sunday.

The Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama placed fourth within the GT300 class during the first session on Saturday and was third fastest during the second session.

The final day of testing on Sunday concluded with the #21 Audi R8 LMS ultra in third place during the morning and in seventh during the afternoon.

The 2014 Super GT will be getting underway at Okayama from 5-6 April.

Photo credit: 藤井誠暢 - Tomonobu Fujii

Super GT: Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama reveals Audi R8 LMS ultra livery

By Johan Laubscher

Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama revealed their 2014 Super GT livery on Thursday.

The Japanese team will be fielding the #21 Audi R8 LMS ultra in the Super GT GT300 class this year. Their car will be driven by Richard Lyons and Tomonobu Fujii.

Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama will be at the official Okayama Super GT test days this coming weekend, 15-16 March.

The Japanese Super GT season will be getting underway at Okayama, 5-6 April.

Photo credit: 
Hitotsuyama Racing
RacerLink Japan
RacerLink

Super GT: Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama strong at the Suzuka test days

By Johan Laubscher

Official Japanese Super GT test days were held at Suzuka on Thursday and Friday this week. Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama was present with one Audi R8 LMS ultra and performed very well amongst the GT300 competitors.

Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama’s one all-black carbon-fiber #21 Audi R8 LMS ultra was driven by Richard Lyons and Tomonobu Fujii.

Two test sessions were held on Thursday and Friday. Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama topped the first session during the morning, setting the fastest time within the GT300 class, a lap time of 2:09.842. The team did not take part in the second session during Thursday afternoon.

Friday saw the final day of testing at Suzuka. Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama again set the fastest time within GT300 during the morning session, setting a lap time of 2:00.558.

The final session on Friday saw the Audi R8 LMS ultra as the fourth fastest GT300 runner with a lap time of 2'00"853, versus the fastest time of 1:59.870, set by the #55 ARTA Mugen CR-Z GT.

The Japanese Super GT season will be getting underway at Okayama, 5-6 April.

Photo credit: Hitotsuyama Racing

Super GT: Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama announced in Japan

By Johan Laubscher

Earlier this week Hitotsuyama Racing mentioned that they would be announcing their 2014 plans on Saturday. The announcement today has included a new team name for 2014, Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama, as the team has been upgraded to Audi works status in Japan.

The team will be returning to the Japanese Super GT this year. Currently their press release includes details of one Audi R8 LMS ultra entry in the GT300 class. The #21 Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama entry will be driven by Richard Lyons and Tomonobu Fujii.

The team also acquired and took delivery of a second Audi R8 LMS ultra this week, the car that was used by äpr racing during the 2012 and 2013 Super GT seasons. More announcements regarding this car are expected soon.

It is very exciting news that Hitotsuyama Racing has been upgraded to Audi works status and it will greatly boost their program for the 2014 Super GT season. The team will be making more announcements ahead of the 2014 season.

Photo credit: 
Hitotsuyama Racing
TomonobuFujii.com