Autobacs Racing Team Aguri (ARTA) is a joint racing project formed between former F1 driver Aguri Suzuki and Autobacs in 1997. The team's original name was "ARTA F1 Project," but due to trademark claims based on the usage of the word "F1", the name has since been shortened to "ARTA". ARTA was the 2007 Super GT GT500 series champion in both the drivers' and team championship.

History

The team was created with the objective of developing drivers that could compete in the highest levels of F1 racing. In addition to competing in racing competitions such as Formula Nippon and Super GT, the team also holds its youth kart racing competition, the "ARTA Challenge," to find the next generation of competitive race drivers.

Toshihiro Kaneishi, a driver who received support from ARTA, won the German Formula Three Championship in 2001.

As of 2007, the team competed in, or offered support to other drivers who competed in the following categories: Formula Nippon Super GT Indy Racing League All-Japan Formula Three Championship Formula Challenge Japan Karting World Championship

The team maintained a close relationship with Aguri Suzuki's F1 team, Super Aguri F1, before they were forced to withdraw from Formula One in 2008. ARTA is currently the largest racing team in Japan.

Super GT

GT500

The team participated with the Nissan Skyline GT-R from 1998 to 1999. In 2000, the team joined up with Honda, and began using the Honda NSX. Owner Aguri Suzuki and Keiichi Tsuchiya drove in the first year with Honda, and Katsutomo Kaneishi replaced Aguri in 2001. In 2003, Kaneishi moved on to participate in the DTM series, and his cousin, Toshihiro Kaneishi, took over as driver. Tsuchiya also announced his retirement the same year. Katsutomo Kaneishi returned from DTM in 2004, and became driver along with Daisuke Ito. Tsuchiya became team director this year, but various mechanical failures caused the team to win only 2 points in the entire competition. In 2005, ARTA became a Honda team (Team Honda Racing), along with Takata Dome NSX. Aguri returned as team director, with Ito and Ralph Firman as drivers. The team took pole position 3 times, and was competitive all season. The team won the 7th race at Autopolis. ARTA kept the same drivers for 2006, but was unable to win the competition despite taking the pole position several times. The team did win the 4th race at Sepang. Team Honda Racing was dissolved in 2007, and ARTA participated in the competition with the same lineup as 2006. They won 3 races during the season on their way to championship victory. For 2008 Firman is joined by class newcomer Takuya Izawa while former driver Daisuke Ito left the team to drive for ENEOS TOYOTA Team LeMans.

GT300 The team made its debut in 2001 with the Toyota MR-S, and became series champion in 2002 with drivers Morio Nitta and Shinichi Takagi.

In 2003, ARTA participated with the ASL Garaiya, which had been developed by Autobacs. The machine showed good cornering, but the Nissan SR engine lacked power, resulting in a poor finish. In 2004, the team switched over to the Nissan VQ engine, and won two consecutive races. However, they failed to win the competition by a margin of 1 point. In 2005, the team was leading in points at the 7th race, (Autopolis) but lost in the final race to place 3rd in the final standings. The team director had announced during the season that the team would be dissolved if they failed to become champion, leading ARTA to end its participation in the GT300 series.

However, in 2007, Aguri Suzuki announced that he would like to race the Garaiya to commemorate the ten-year anniversary of the start of ARTA, and the team renewed its participation in the series with the same lineup as 2005. The Garaiya won the 3rd race at Fuji Speedway but crashed in all of the proceeding races and was forced to retire from the competition. The Garaiya was replaced by the Honda CR-Z GT for 2013 (with the car renumbered from #43 to #55), followed by BMW M6 GT3 in 2016 and Honda NSX GT3 in 2019, winning the GT300 championship that year.

IndyCar Series ARTA first entered the IndyCar Series in 2003, backing a car driven by Japanese-American Roger Yasukawa that was prepared by Fernandez Racing. This car was called "Super Aguri Fernandez Racing" and Aguri Suzuki was listed as a team owner. Despite the partnership, Autobacs Racing Team Aguri didn't have de facto ownership stake with Fernandez Racing. In 2004, Yasukawa was replaced by Kosuke Matsuura, who won rookie of the year honors for both the Indianapolis 500 and the league, and finishing fourth at Kentucky. Matsuura continued with Aguri in 2005 and 2006, scoring several top 10s but no top 5s.

In 2007, ARTA and Aguri switched their support from Fernandez to Panther Racing, bringing Matsuura with them. He scored a fourth-place finish at Michigan and a fifth at Detroit. He finished no better than 13th in IndyCar Series points in his four years in the series.

Also in 2007, Aguri signed Japanese driver Hideki Mutoh to run in the Indy Pro Series developmental league. Mutoh won 2 races, finished second in Pro Series points, and made his IndyCar debut at the final race of the 2007 season, finishing 8th and recording the fastest race lap.

For 2008, Mutoh took on the Panasonic and Formula Dream sponsorship and moved to Andretti Green Racing, winning Rookie of the Year honors. However, the entry was no longer branded as an ARTA project.

Results

Japanese Grand Touring Championship (JGTC) (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year CarTyresClassNo.Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 89 Pos Pts 1998Nissan Skyline GT-R (R33)GT50050 Takeshi Tsuchiya Satoshi Motoyama Hiroki KatohSUZFUJSENFUJMOTMINSUGNC19th171999Nissan Skyline GT-R (R34)GT5002 Aguri Suzuki Michael Krumm Armin HahneSUZFUJSUGMINFUJOKAMOTNC12nd*91* 2000Honda NSXGT5008 Aguri Suzuki Keiichi TsuchiyaMOTFUJSUGNC1FUJOKAMINSUZ8th24Toyota MR-SGT30031 Morio Nitta Yudai Igarashi Shinichi TakagiMOTFUJSUGNC1FUJOKAMINSUZ6th39 2001Honda NSXGT5008 Katsutomo Kaneishi Keiichi TsuchiyaOKAFUJSUGNC1FUJMOTSUZMIN4th56Toyota MR-SGT30031 Morio Nitta Shinichi TakagiOKAFUJSUGNC1FUJMOTSUZMIN6th40 2002Honda NSXGT5008 Katsutomo Kaneishi Keiichi TsuchiyaOKAFUJSUGSEPFUJMOTMINSUZ8th46Toyota MR-SGT30031 Morio Nitta Shinichi TakagiOKAFUJSUGSEPFUJMOTMINSUZ3rd75 2003Honda NSXGT5008 Keiichi Tsuchiya Toshihiro Kaneishi Katsutomo KaneishiOKAFUJSUGFUJFUJMOTAUTSUZ13th9ASL ARTA GaraiyaGT30043 Morio Nitta Shinichi TakagiOKAFUJSUGFUJFUJMOTAUTSUZ7th55 2004Honda NSXGT5008 Katsutomo Kaneishi Daisuke ItoOKASUGSEPTOKMOTAUTSUZNC1NC213th2ASL ARTA GaraiyaGT30043 Morio Nitta Shinichi TakagiOKASUGSEPTOKMOTAUTSUZNC1NC22nd92

Note: In 1999, the No. 2 ARTA was run by NISMO and scored points for NISMO in the Teams Championship

Complete Super GT Results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year CarTyres Class No. Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 910 Pos Points 2005 Honda NSX GT500 8 Ralph Firman Daisuke ItoOKAFUJSEPSUGMOTFUJAUTSUZ2nd82ASL ARTA GaraiyaGT30043 Morio Nitta Shinichi TakagiOKAFUJSEPSUGMOTFUJAUTSUZ3rd74 2006Honda NSX GT500 8 Ralph Firman Daisuke Ito Toshihiro KaneishiSUZOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZMOTAUTFUJ9th48 2007 Honda NSX GT500 8 Ralph Firman Daisuke Ito Yuji IdeSUZOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZMOTAUTFUJ1st108ASL ARTA GaraiyaGT30043 Morio Nitta Shinichi TakagiSUZOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZMOTAUTFUJ6th72 2008 Honda NSX GT500 8 Ralph Firman Takuya IzawaSUZOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZMOTAUTFUJ12th54ASL ARTA GaraiyaGT30043 Morio Nitta Shinichi Takagi Kyosuke MineoSUZOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZMOTAUTFUJ2nd89 2009 Honda NSX GT500 8 Ralph Firman Takuya IzawaOKASUZFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOT2nd102ASL ARTA GaraiyaGT30043 Morio Nitta Shinichi TakagiOKASUZFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOT4th96 2010 Honda HSV-010 GT GT500 8 Ralph Firman Yuji Ide Takashi KobayashiSUZOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJMOTNC1NC211th42ASL ARTA GaraiyaGT30043 Morio Nitta Shinichi Takagi Kyosuke MineoSUZOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJMOTNC1NC22nd73 2011 Honda HSV-010 GT GT500 8 Hideki Mutoh Takashi KobayashiOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOTNC1NC215th26ASL ARTA GaraiyaGT30043 Shinichi Takagi Kosuke MatsuuraOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOTNC1NC210th46 2012 Honda HSV-010 GT GT500 8 Ralph Firman Takashi KobayashiOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOTNC1NC215th25ASL ARTA GaraiyaGT30043 Shinichi Takagi Kosuke MatsuuraOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOTNC1NC28th51 2013 Honda HSV-010 GT GT500 8 Ralph Firman Kosuke MatsuuraOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOTNC1NC211th49Honda CR-Z GTGT30055 Shinichi Takagi Takashi Kobayashi Tomoki NojiriOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJFUJAUTMOTNC1NC27th52 2014 Honda NSX GT500 GT500 8 Vitantonio Liuzzi Kosuke MatsuuraOKAFUJAUTSUGFUJSUZBURMOT 14th 25Honda CR-Z GTGT30055 Shinichi Takagi Takashi KobayashiOKAFUJAUTSUGFUJSUZBURMOT10th41 2015 Honda NSX GT500 GT500 8 Kosuke Matsuura Tomoki NojiriOKAFUJCHAFUJSUZSUGAUTMOT14th19Honda CR-Z GTGT30055 Shinichi Takagi Takashi Kobayashi Nirei FukuzumiOKAFUJCHAFUJSUZSUGAUTMOT5th69 2016 Honda NSX GT500 GT500 8 Kosuke Matsuura Tomoki NojiriOKAFUJSUGFUJSUZCHAMOTMOT13th33BMW M6 GT3GT30055 Shinichi Takagi Takashi KobayashiOKAFUJSUGFUJSUZCHAMOTMOT8th59 2017 Honda NSX GT500 GT500 8 Tomoki Nojiri Takashi KobayashiOKAFUJAUTSUGFUJSUZCHAMOT 9th 50BMW M6 GT3GT30055 Shinichi Takagi Sean WalkinshawOKAFUJAUTSUGFUJSUZCHAMOT4th76 2018 Honda NSX GT500 GT500 8 Tomoki Nojiri Takuya IzawaOKAFUJSUZCHAFUJSUGAUTMOT3rd89BMW M6 GT3GT30055 Shinichi Takagi Sean WalkinshawOKAFUJSUZCHAFUJSUGAUTMOT2nd85 2019 Honda NSX GT500 GT500 8 Tomoki Nojiri Takuya IzawaOKAFUJSUZBURFUJAUTSUGMOTNC1NC2 10th 47Honda NSX GT3 EvoGT30055 Shinichi Takagi Nirei FukuzumiOKAFUJSUZBURFUJAUTSUGMOTNC1NC21st92.5 2020 Honda NSX GT500 GT500 8 Tomoki Nojiri Nirei FukuzumiFUJFUJSUZMOTFUJSUZMOTFUJ7th68Honda NSX GT3 EvoGT30055 Toshiki Oyu Shinichi Takagi Nobuharu MatsushitaFUJFUJSUZMOTFUJSUZMOTFUJ4th67 2021 Honda NSX GT500 GT500 8 Tomoki Nojiri Nirei FukuzumiOKAFUJMOTSUZSUGAUTMOTFUJ2nd81Honda NSX GT3 EvoGT30055 Shinichi Takagi Ren SatoOKAFUJMOTSUZSUGAUTMOTFUJ5th64 2022 Honda NSX GT500 GT500 8 Tomoki Nojiri Nirei FukuzumiOKAFUJSUZFUJSUZSUGAUTMOT12th42.5Honda NSX GT3 EvoGT30055 Hideki Mutoh Iori KimuraOKAFUJSUZFUJSUZSUGAUTMOT13th412023Honda NSX GT500GT5008 Tomoki Nojiri Toshiki Oyu Iori KimuraOKAFUJSUZFUJSUZSUGAUTMOT9th5416 Nirei Fukuzumi Hiroki OtsuOKAFUJSUZFUJSUZSUGAUTMOT4th732024Honda Civic Type R-GTGT5008 Tomoki Nojiri Nobuharu MatsushitaOKAFUJSUZFUJSUGAUTMOTSUZ9th5516 Hiroki Otsu Ren SatoOKAFUJSUZFUJSUGAUTMOTSUZ10th542025Honda Civic Type R-GTGT5008 Tomoki Nojiri Nobuharu MatsushitaOKAFUJSEPFS1FS2SUZSUGAUTMOT8th54.516 Hiroki Otsu Ren SatoOKAFUJSEPFS1FS2SUZSUGAUTMOT9th50.5 Note: Non-championship (NC1, NC2) races are major races that do not count towards the championship.

Complete Japanese Top Formula racing results

Source:

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)