Rookie Racing

Rookie Racing Co., Ltd. (stylized as ROOKIE Racing) is a Japanese racing team that competes in Super Formula, Super GT & Super Taikyu. Rookie Racing is a sister team of Toyota Gazoo Racing and based close to Fuji Speedway.

Rookie Racing

Founded	2017
Base	Oyama, Shizuoka Prefecture
Team principal(s)	Akio Toyoda
Current series	Super GT Super Formula Super Taikyu
Current drivers	Super GT: Kazuya Oshima Nirei Fukuzumi Super Formula: Kazuya Oshima Super Taikyu ST-X: Ryuta Ukai Giuliano Alesi Naoya Gamou Tatsuya Kataoka Super Taikyu ST-Q: Eisuke Sasaki Sho Tsuboi Kazuya Oshima Daisuke Toyoda "Morizo" Masahiro Sasaki Hiroaki Ishiura Yasuhiro Ogura
Teams' Championships	2023 Super Taikyu Series
Website	www.rookie-racing.co.jp

History

ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra at 2022 Takanoko no Hotel Suzuka GT 300km

In 2017, Tatsuya Kataoka launched a private team "T's Concept" for the purpose of training young and gentleman drivers. T's Concept participated in the Super Taikyu ST-4 class with two Toyota 86's sponsored by Ogura Clutch. Drivers such as Ogura Clutch's President Yasuhiro Ogura and Miki Koyama competed with T's Concept on the team's inaugural season on Super Taikyu. T's Concept continued to field two cars for the 2018 season and signed Masahiro Sasaki to compete alongside Ogura in the #29 team while Tohjiro Azuma and Daisuke Matsunaga competed in the #28 team.^[1] One of the T's Concept cars was later rebranded into "ROOKIE Racing" in 2019 with Daisuke Toyota, son of Toyota president Akio, and former GT500 champion Akira Iida joining the team as Rookie's lead drivers in the 2019 Super Taikyu season.^[2]

In 2020, Akio Toyoda purchased the team in its entirety and entered both Super Formula and Super GT after Team LeMans left from both series at the end of the 2019 season.^[3][4] While the team had previously entered rookie drivers that was part of the Toyota Young Driver Programme, Rookie's name was taken from Akio's pet dog "Rookie". In the team's first year on Super GT, Rookie's entry was run as part of Team Cerumo. Kazuya Oshima drove in both the Super Formula and Super GT championship with Sho Tsuboi acting as Oshima's teammate in Super GT. In 2021, Rookie took full charge of the team from Cerumo. Oshima stayed with the team, competing in both series and was paired up with Kenta Yamashita for 2021 Super GT season.^[5] For 2022, the team set up a new factory base close to Fuji Speedway.^[6]

Race results

Complete Super GT results

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

Year	Car	Tyres	Class	No.	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Pos	Points
2020	Toyota GR Supra GT500	B	GT500	14	Kazuya Oshima Sho Tsuboi	FUJ 3	FUJ 3	SUZ 9	MOT 4	FUJ 2	SUZ 12	MOT 12	FUJ Ret	7th	47
2021	Toyota GR Supra GT500	B	GT500	14	Kazuya Oshima Kenta Yamashita	OKA 1	FUJ 2	MOT 13	SUZ 12	SUG 12†	AUT 11	MOT 6	FUJ 3	5th	52
2022	Toyota GR Supra GT500	B	GT500	14	Kazuya Oshima Kenta Yamashita	OKA 1	FUJ 7‡	SUZ 8	FUJ 7	SUZ 14	SUG 11	AUT 4	MOT 3	5th	49
2023	Toyota GR Supra GT500	B	GT500	14	Kazuya Oshima Kenta Yamashita	OKA 4	FUJ 4	SUZ 6	FUJ 11	SUZ 3	SUG 6	AUT 8	MOT 6	7th	45
2024	Toyota GR Supra GT500	B	GT500	14	Kazuya Oshima Nirei Fukuzumi	OKA NC	FUJ 8	SUZ 2	FUJ	SUZ	SUG	AUT	MOT	6th*	19*

^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.
^* Season still in progress.

Complete Super Formula results

Year	Driver	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	DC	Pts
2020	Kazuya Oshima	MOT 10	OKA 16	SUG 9	AUT 17	SUZ 12	SUZ 9	FUJ 14				19th	5
2021	Kazuya Oshima	FUJ 10	SUZ1 15	AUT 8	SUG 18	MOT1 Ret	MOT2 11	SUZ2 17				19th	2.5
2022	Kazuya Oshima	FUJ 15	FUJ 18	SUZ 19	AUT 15	SUG 14	FUJ 13	MOT 17	MOT 18	SUZ 19	SUZ 15	21st	0
2023	Kazuya Oshima	FUJ 9	FUJ 11	SUZ 13	AUT 12	SUG 4	FUJ 12	MOT 8	SUZ 19	SUZ 14		14th	13
2024	Kazuya Oshima	SUZ 13	AUT 11	SUG Ret	FUJ 16	MOT 14	FUJ 15	FUJ Ret	SUZ Ret	SUZ 15		19th	0

^* Season still in progress.

References

1. R.J. O'Connell (31 March 2018). "Super Taikyu Season Preview". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
2. R.J. O'Connell (21 March 2019). "2019 Super Taikyu Series Suzuka Preview". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
3. "Toyota Team Cerumo Adds Second GT500 Car For 2020 Super GT Series". dailysportscar.com. 11 February 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
4. "TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Announces 2020 Driver Line-Up". superformula.net. 18 December 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
5. "Toyota's 'new' Super GT team facing same old problems". motorsport.com. Mar 21, 2021. Retrieved Mar 21, 2021.
6. "Is Rookie Racing mega-factory an ominous sign for its rivals?". motorsport.com. Mar 31, 2022. Retrieved Mar 31, 2022.

External links

• Official website