Nirei Fukuzumi

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Nirei Fukuzumi
NationalityJapan Japanese
Born (1997-01-24) 24 January 1997 (age 27)
Ishii, Tokushima, Japan
Super GT career
Debut season2019
Current teamROOKIE Racing
Car number14
Former teamsARTA
Starts41
Wins6
Podiums12
Poles7
Fastest laps2
Best finish2nd in 2021
Super Formula career
Debut season2018
Current teamKids com Team KCMG
Car number8
Former teamsTeam Mugen, Docomo Team Dandelion Racing, Threebond Racing
Starts45
Wins2
Podiums5
Poles1
Fastest laps2
Best finish2nd in 2021
Previous series
2018
2016-17
2015
2015,2019
FIA Formula 2 Championship
GP3 Series
All-Japan Formula Three
Super GT
Championship titles
2019Super GT GT300

Nirei Fukuzumi (福住仁嶺, Fukuzumi Nirei, born 24 January 1997) is a Japanese racing driver affiliated with Toyota Gazoo Racing who currently competes in Super GT for ROOKIE Racing and in Super Formula for KCMG. He won the GT300 class championship in Super GT in 2019, driving for ARTA alongside series veteran Shinichi Takagi, and is a race winner in the GP3 Series and Super Formula.

Fukuzumi was previously a factory driver for Honda until 2023, and spent much of his junior racing career as a member of the Honda Formula Dream Project, competing internationally in the GP3 Series and FIA Formula 2 Championship. He is also a former member of the McLaren Driver Development Programme and the Red Bull Junior Team.

Early and personal life[edit]

Fukuzumi comes from a rather unusual background for a racing driver; his father Shūhō is the chief priest of Sanbōin, a Shingon Buddhist temple in his hometown of Ishii.[1]

Career[edit]

Karting[edit]

Fukuzumi drove a kart for the first time at the age of 5 and began his karting career in 2006. He remained in karting until 2013, finishing second to Ukyo Sasahara in the All-Japan Junior Karting Championship in 2009 and concluding his career by taking the All-Japan Karting Championship title in the top-level KF1 class in 2013.[2] He also made a handful of appearances internationally, most notably finishing second in the ROK Cup International Final in 2012.

Lower formulae[edit]

In 2014, he began to compete in open-wheel racing, moving up to Japanese F3 the next year. He won four races and finished fourth in the standings.

GP3 Series[edit]

In 2016, Nirei débuted in the GP3 Series with ART Grand Prix,[3] scoring three podium finishes and finishing seventh in the championship. Fukuzumi stayed on for another season of GP3 in 2017.[4] He racked up two victories, both coming at feature races, and ended up third in the standings, only behind teammates George Russell and Jack Aitken. In 2017, he was part of McLaren Young Driver Programme as he's part of Honda Junior Program.

Fukuzumi racing at Monza during the 2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship

FIA Formula 2 Championship[edit]

The Japanese driver made his Formula 2 debut in 2018 with BWT Arden,[5] partnering Maximilian Günther. In that season, he managed to join Red Bull Junior Team. Fukuzumi scored a total of 17 points, finishing 17th, three positions behind Günther in the championship. After this unfortunate season, Red Bull dropped him from the Academy.

Super Formula[edit]

While the main focus was to race in Formula 2 for 2018, Fukuzumi competed in Super Formula with Team Mugen for 4 rounds.[5] After 3 seasons in Europe, Fukuzumi returned to Japan, and competed in Super Formula with Dandelion Racing.[6] Fukuzumi had his best season by far, managed to claim runners up in the standings for Super Formula with 2 wins & 1 pole to his name in that season. For 2022, Fukuzumi moves from Front runner Dandelion Racing to Drago Corse for Super Formula, while for Super GT stays with ARTA.[7] In 2023, Fukuzumi continues to stay at Drago Corse where the team rebranded as Threebond Racing. Fukuzumi continues to do well in Threebond where collecting couple of points, and qualiflying to Q2 very often, with 16th place.

Fukuzumi left Honda after being contracted by the manufacturer since his junior years, to join Toyota and drive the No. 8 entry for KCMG alongside Kamui Kobayashi.[8]

Super GT[edit]

Fukuzumi make his Super GT debut in GT300 Class with ARTA as Shinichi Takagi's teammate.[6] In that season, he managed to claim the Super GT GT300 Title, while in Super Formula full debut managed to get 7th place in the standings.

In 2020, he stayed with the same team but promoted to GT500 class in Super GT with Tomoki Nojiri as his teammate. For 2021, He stays with the same team in both series. And in 2021 with 1 win both Nojiri Fukuzumi clinched runners up place. Fukuzumi continues to compete in Super GT with ARTA, but this time he moves to the new 16 car after ARTA work together with Mugen Team where he paired with Hiroki Otsu.[9][10] Meanwhile Fukuzumi, and Otsu claimed their car number 16 maiden win, alongside 3 podiums, and a pole position. Both of them initially fight for the title, but fall short where they end up outside the Top 3, and ended up in 4th place.

After left Honda, Fukuzumi will drive for TGR Team Eneos ROOKIE alongside 2019 GT500 champion, Kazuya Oshima.[11]

Karting record[edit]

Karting career summary[edit]

Season Series Team Position
2010 Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals — Junior 30th
2011 ROK Cup International Final — Junior ROK 5th
Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals — Junior Eiko Japan 5th
2012 ROK Cup International Final — Junior ROK 2nd
CIK-FIA European ChampionshipKF2 Kosmic Racing Dept 16th
CIK-FIA World CupKF2 21st
CIK-FIA Asia Pacific Championship — KF2 5th
2013 CIK-FIA World ChampionshipKF2 33rd

Racing record[edit]

Career summary[edit]

Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position
2014 JAF Formula 4 East - FC HFDP Racing 5 1 –** –** 4 72 1st
JAF Formula 4 West - FC 6 3 –** –** 5 100 1st
JAF Formula 4 Overall - FC 11 4 –** –** 9 172 1st
2015 Japanese Formula 3 Championship HFDP Racing 17 2 3 3 6 72 4th
Super GT - GT300 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC†
2016 GP3 Series ART Grand Prix 18 0 0 0 3 91 7th
2017 GP3 Series ART Grand Prix 14 2 2 0 6 134 3rd
2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship BWT Arden 23 0 0 0 0 17 17th
Super Formula Team Mugen 4 0 0 1 0 0 20th
2019 Super GT - GT300 ARTA 8 1 1 0 3 69.5 1st
Super Formula Docomo Team Dandelion Racing 7 0 0 0 1 18 7th
2020 Super GT ARTA 8 1 3 1 3 54 5th
Super Formula Docomo Team Dandelion Racing 7 0 0 2 1 29 8th
2021 Super GT ARTA 8 2 1 0 2 60 2nd
Super Formula Docomo Team Dandelion Racing 7 1 1 0 3 55 2nd
2022 Super Formula ThreeBond Drago Corse 10 0 0 0 0 3 19th
Super GT ARTA 8 1 0 0 1 24 12th
2023 Super Formula ThreeBond Racing 9 0 0 0 0 9 16th
Super GT ARTA 8 1 2 1 3 53 4th
2024 Super GT TGR Team ENEOS ROOKIE
Super Formula Kids com Team KCMG 1 0 0 0 0 5 7th*

As Fukuzumi was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score championship points.
** The FC class was a class using modified Formula Challenge Japan's FC106 chassis and running with the JAF Formula 4's "C" class, an upper grade class. So, there were neither pole position nor fastest lap.[12]

Complete Japanese Formula 3 Championship results[edit]

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

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Pos Points
2015 HFDP Racing SUZ
1

5
SUZ
2

7
MOT1
1

4
MOT1
2

4
MOT1
3

2
OKA1
1

7
OKA1
1

5
FUJ1
1

5
FUJ1
2

4
OKA2
1

4
OKA2
2

5
FUJ2
1

2
FUJ2
2

3
MOT2
1

1
MOT2
2

1
SUG
1

3
SUG
2

5
4th 72

Complete GP3 Series results[edit]

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

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Points
2016 ART Grand Prix CAT
FEA

3
CAT
SPR

13
RBR
FEA

7
RBR
SPR

Ret
SIL
FEA

11
SIL
SPR

7
HUN
FEA

4
HUN
SPR

4
HOC
FEA

Ret
HOC
SPR

11
SPA
FEA

Ret
SPA
SPR

15
MNZ
FEA

5
MNZ
SPR

Ret
SEP
FEA

7
SEP
SPR

2
YMC
FEA

5
YMC
SPR

3
7th 91
2017 ART Grand Prix CAT
FEA

1
CAT
SPR

6
RBR
FEA

3
RBR
SPR

3
SIL
FEA

Ret
SIL
SPR

16
HUN
FEA

2
HUN
SPR

Ret
SPA
FEA

3
SPA
SPR

4
MNZ
FEA

DNS
MNZ
SPR

C
JER
FEA

1
JER
SPR

5
YMC
FEA

15
YMC
SPR

14
3rd 134

Complete FIA Formula 2 Championship results[edit]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 DC Points
2018 BWT Arden BHR
FEA

18
BHR
SPR

8
BAK
FEA

13
BAK
SPR

12
CAT
FEA

11
CAT
SPR

Ret
MON
FEA

10
MON
SPR

11†
LEC
FEA

9
LEC
SPR

12
RBR
FEA

9
RBR
SPR

9
SIL
FEA

Ret
SIL
SPR

DNS
HUN
FEA

10
HUN
SPR

6
SPA
FEA

Ret
SPA
SPR

17
MNZ
FEA

14
MNZ
SPR

13
SOC
FEA

8
SOC
SPR

7
YMC
FEA

Ret
YMC
SPR

12
17th 17

Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete Super GT results[edit]

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

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DC Points
2015 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda CR-Z GT300 OKA FUJ CHA FUJ SUZ
12
SUG AUT MOT NC† 0†
2019 ARTA Honda NSX GT3 Evo OKA
2‡
FUJ
2
SUZ
6
CHA
9
FUJ
6
AUT
6
SUG
1
MOT
4
1st 69.5
2020 Honda NSX-GT GT500 FUJ
8
FUJ
14
SUZ
13
MOT
Ret
FUJ
3
SUZ
3
MOT
1
FUJ
5
5th 54
2021 OKA
7
FUJ
8
MOT
5
SUZ
11
SUG
10
AUT
1
MOT
1
FUJ
6
2nd 60
2022 OKA
10
FUJ
1‡
SUZ
7
FUJ
5
SUZ
13
SUG
13
AUT
11
MOT
8
12th 24
2023 OKA
11
FUJ
10
SUZ
7
FUJ
3
SUZ
1
SUG
12
AUT
2
MOT
12
4th 53
2024 TGR Team ENEOS ROOKIE Toyota GR Supra GT500 OKA
FUJ
SUZ
FUJ
SUZ
SUG
AUT
MOT

As Fukuzumi was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score championship points.
Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.

Complete Super Formula results[edit]

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

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DC Points
2018 Team Mugen SUZ
Ret
AUT SUG FUJ MOT
17
OKA
18
SUZ
12
20th 0
2019 Docomo Team Dandelion Racing SUZ
11
AUT
5
SUG
5
FUJ
9
MOT
5
OKA
Ret
SUZ
3
7th 18
2020 MOT
5
OKA
8
SUG
10
AUT
9
SUZ
Ret
SUZ
2
FUJ
16
8th 29
2021 FUJ
3
SUZ
Ret
AUT
13
SUG
1
MOT
Ret
MOT
12
SUZ
1
2nd 55
2022 ThreeBond Drago Corse FUJ
Ret
FUJ
16
SUZ
17
AUT
DSQ
SUG
8
FUJ
11
MOT
Ret
MOT
Ret
SUZ
15
SUZ
Ret
19th 3
2023 ThreeBond Racing FUJ
Ret
FUJ
7
SUZ
10
AUT
8
SUG
16
FUJ
16
MOT
14
SUZ
9‡
SUZ
Ret
16th 9
2024 Kids Com Team KCMG SUZ
6
AUT
SUG
FUJ
MOT
FUJ
FUJ
SUZ
SUZ
7th* 5*

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

References[edit]

  1. ^ "SUPER FORMULA STAGE 2018 Vol.01" (PDF). SUPER FORMULA (in Japanese). Japan Race Promotion, Inc. 7 June 2018.
  2. ^ "GP直送:日本人ドライバーがGP3テストに参加". autosport web (in Japanese). 29 November 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
  3. ^ "Nirei Fukuzumi joins ART for rookie GP3 campaign". Formula Scout. 12 February 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  4. ^ "Honda's Matsushita and Fukuzumi continue with ART". Formula Scout. 13 February 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  5. ^ a b "Nirei Fukuzumi to race in both Formula 2 and Super Formula in 2018". Formula Scout. 12 January 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  6. ^ a b "Matsushita back to F2 with Carlin, Makino and Fukuzumi set for Super Formula". Formula Scout. 26 November 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  7. ^ "Honda outlines Super Formula driver roster for 2022". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  8. ^ "TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Presents its 2024 motorsport team setups in Japan". Toyota Gazoo Racing. 12 December 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  9. ^ "SUPER GT: The logic behind Honda's ARTA/Mugen 'superteam'". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  10. ^ "Honda 2023 Motorsports Program Overview". Honda Racing. 12 December 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference :TGR24 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ "Result". 日本フォーミュラー・フォー協会 (Japan Formula 4 Forum). Archived from the original on 27 August 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2016.

External links[edit]

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Haruki Kurosawa
Naoya Gamou
Super GT
GT300 Champion

2019
With: Shinichi Takagi
Succeeded by