 | |
| Founded | 2010 |
|---|---|
| Base | Ayase, Kanagawa |
| Founder(s) | Ryūji Kumita |
| Current series | |
| Former series | |
| Current drivers |
|
B-Max Racing Co., Ltd also known as B-Max Racing Team and B-Max Engineering is a Japanese race car constructor and racing team headquartered in Ayase, Kanagawa, Japan.
Byobugaura Kogyo Co., Ltd. established the race division "B-Max Engineering" in 2009, and started participating in Super FJ and Porsche Carrera Cup Japan in 2010. Since then, the participation category has been expanded. Ryūji Kumita, the president and team representative, competes in the race himself under the pseudonym "Dragon".
In 2014, the team name was changed to "B-Max Racing Team" (Vehicle Division). In addition, B-Max Racing participate in the Japanese Formula 3 Championship. [1] In November 2017, spun off from Byobugaura Kogyo Co., Ltd. as B-MAX RACING Co., Ltd. [2]
The team have also participated in Super Formula Championship from 2017 with Takashi Kogure their first driver. [3] In 2019, they participated in Super Formula with two cars, in collaboration with the German racing team Motopark Academy. [4] For 2021, B-Max & Motopark ended their partnership, and the team did not race for first round of the season. Nobuharu Matsushita: joined B-Max Racing from the second round at Suzuka. He was initially denied an engine lease from Honda, after signing a factory racing contract with Nissan in the Super GT Series. This prevented him from racing in the opening round at Fuji. Honda would reverse their decision after Masaya Nagai replaced Hiroshi Shimizu as the Director of Motorsport at Honda. [5] They planned to enter two cars, after running just one car for Nobuharu Matsushita in 2021. They confirmed on 4 March that they would continue to run one car, after a failed attempt to enter a non-Japanese driver in their second car, as 2021 Formula Regional Americas Championship champion Kyffin Simpson declined the opportunity offered by Honda Performance Development (Honda's United States motorsport operation, which supplies engines to the Formula 4 United States and Formula Regional Americas championships) to the series champion because of pandemic-related restrictions. [6] Raoul Hyman was awarded a Honda Super Formula scholarship for winning the 2022 Formula Regional Americas Championship title, and drove for B-Max Racing. The team is currently scheduled to downsize from running two cars in 2023 to a single-car entry in 2024, to be piloted by reigning Super Formula Lights champion Iori Kimura. [7]
B-Max Racing venture in Super GT started in 2014 where they are set up with NDDP Racing which is the NISMO Nissan Driver Academy as they discontinued their partnership with Nova Engineering. Kazuki Hoshino as the leading senior driver, he has partnered up with Lucas Ordóñez, and Jann Mardenborough who won the Nissan Gran Turismo Academy. Mitsunori Takaboshi raced as well for two seasons. In 2018 NDDP Racing moved up to the GT500 class, entering as NDDP Racing with B-Max. They take the place of MOLA, who withdrew from the series at the end of 2017. [8] [9] B-Max formed an all-new driver lineup: Kohei Hirate transferred to Nissan and secured his return to GT500 after a seventeen-year association with Toyota, while former Honda GT500 driver Frédéric Makowiecki returned to the series for the first time since 2014. [10] For 2020 Katsumasa Chiyo, who raced full-time in the Intercontinental GT Challenge for Nissan in 2019, returns to GT500 on a full-time basis at NDDP Racing with B-Max, replacing Makowiecki. [11] In 2022, NISMO takes over the NDDP Team, thus ends B-Max Racing program in Super GT.
| Year | Chassis | Engine | Drivers | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | D.C. | T.C. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Dallara SF14 | Honda HR-414E I4 t |  Takashi Kogure | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18th | 11th | 0 |
| 2018 | Dallara SF14 | Honda HR-414E I4 t | Katsumasa Chiyo | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18th | 11th | 0 |
| 2019 | Dallara SF19 | Honda HR-417E I4 t |  Lucas Auer | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 9th | 8th | 20 |
 Harrison Newey | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 15th | |||||
| 2020 | Dallara SF19 | Honda HR-417E I4 t | Nobuharu Matsushita | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 15th | 9th | 16 |
 Sérgio Sette Câmara | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 20th | |||||
 Charles Milesi | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21st | |||||
| Mitsunori Takaboshi | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26th | |||||
| Teppei Natori | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | |||||
| 2021 | Dallara SF19 | Honda HR-417E I4 t | Nobuharu Matsushita | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 33.5 | 8th | 8th | 29.5 |
| 2022 | Dallara SF19 | Honda HR-417E I4 t | Nobuharu Matsushita | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 13th | 9th | 21 |
| 2023 | Dallara SF23 | Honda HR-417E I4 t | Nobuharu Matsushita | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 19th | 12th | 4 |
| Raoul Hyman | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25th |
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | T.C. | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | SUZ | OKA | OKA | FUJ | MOT | AUT | SUG | SUZ | SUZ | 11th | 0 | ||
| Takashi Kogure | 15 | 18 | 15 | 13 | 17 | 12 | 14 | C | C | ||||
| 2018 | SUZ | AUT | SUG | FUJ | MOT | OKA | SUZ | 11th | 0 | ||||
| Katsumasa Chiyo | 14 | C | Ret | 17 | 19 | 15 | 10 | ||||||
| 2019 | SUZ | AUT | SUG | FUJ | MOT | OKA | SUZ | 8th | 20 | ||||
| Lucas Auer | 7 | 11 | 3 | Ret | 7 | 5 | 11 | ||||||
| Harrison Newey | Ret | 17 | Ret | 16 | 19 | 3 | 20 | ||||||
| 2020 | MOT | OKA | SUG | AUT | SUZ | SUZ | FUJ | 9th | 16 | ||||
| Teppei Natori | DNS | ||||||||||||
| Mitsunori Takaboshi | 14 | ||||||||||||
| Sérgio Sette Câmara | Ret | ||||||||||||
| Nobuharu Matsushita | 6 | Ret | 14 | 3 | |||||||||
| Charles Milesi | 15 | 11 | 13 | DNS | |||||||||
| 2021 | FUJ | SUZ | AUT | SUG | MOT | MOT | SUZ | 8th | 29.5 | ||||
| Nobuharu Matsushita | 13 | 3‡ | 4 | 3 | 7 | 12 | |||||||
| 2022 | FUJ | FUJ | SUZ | AUT | SUG | FUJ | MOT | MOT | SUZ | SUZ | 9th | 21 | |
| Nobuharu Matsushita | Ret | 19 | 1 | 10 | Ret | Ret | 11 | 11 | 17 | Ret | |||
| 2023 | FUJ | FUJ | SUZ | AUT | SUG | FUJ | MOT | SUZ | SUZ | 12th | 4 | ||
| Nobuharu Matsushita | 13 | 12 | 12 | Ret | Ret | 13 | Ret | 13 | 7 | ||||
| Raoul Hyman | 16 | 18 | 18 | 17 | 18 | Ret | 15 | 21 | 18 |
| Year | Car | Drivers | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | D.C. | T.C. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Dallara 320-Volkswagen | Sena Sakaguchi | 17 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 16 | 116 | 2nd | N/A |
| Yoshiaki Katayama | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 6th | |||
| Mitsunori Takaboshi | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 7th | |||
| Mizuki Ishizaka | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 11th | |||
| "Dragon" | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 12th | |||
| Kiyoto Fujinami | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 13th | |||
| Masami Kageyama | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14th | |||
| Sakon Yamamoto | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16th | |||
| Satoshi Motoyama | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17th | |||
| Nobuhiro Imada | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18th | |||
| Motoyoshi Yoshida | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19th | |||
| Takashi Hata | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20th | |||
| 2021 | Dallara 320-Spiess | Nobuhiro Imada | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10th | 2nd |
| "Dragon" | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12th | |||
| Miki Koyama | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13th | |||
| "Syuji" | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14th | |||
| Takashi Hata | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17th | |||
| 2022 | Dallara 320-Spiess | Iori Kimura | 18 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 85 | 3rd | 3rd |
| Togo Suganami | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 25 | 7th | |||
| "Dragon" | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11th | |||
| Nobuhiro Imada | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12th | |||
 Roberto Merhi | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14th | |||
| 2023 | Dallara 320-Spiess | Iori Kimura | 18 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 113 | 1st | 1st |
| Igor Fraga | 18 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 62 | 4th | |||
| Togo Suganami | 9 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 39 | 6th | |||
| David Vidales | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 9th | |||
| Nobuhiro Imada | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12th | |||
| Takashi Hata | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14th | |||
| Dallara 320-TOMEI | "Dragon" | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13th |
| Year | Car | Drivers | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | D.C. | T.C. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Dome F111/3 | "Dragon" | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 76 | 6th | N/A |
| "Syuji" | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 10th | |||
| Motoyoshi Yoshida | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22nd | |||
| 2021 | Dome F111/3 | Nobuhiro Imada | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 54 | 10th | 5th |
| "Takumi" | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 11th | |||
| "Dragon" | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 18th | |||
| "Syuji" | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 19th | |||
| 2022 | Dome F111/3 | Nobuhiro Imada | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 11th | 9th |
| Year | Car | Drivers | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | D.C. | T.C. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Dome F110 | Shinji Sawada | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 106 | 7th | 5th |
| Motoyoshi Yoshida | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38th | |||
| "Syuji" | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48th | |||
| 2017 | Dome F110 | Shinji Sawada | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 85 | 6th | 4th |
| Ayumu Iwasa | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28th | |||
 Chia Wing Hoong | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31st | |||
| Motoyoshi Yoshida | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45th | |||
| 2018 | Dome F110 | "Syuji" | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40th | NC |
| Motoyoshi Yoshida | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 43rd | |||
| "Dragon" | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | |||
| 2019 | Dome F110 | "Dragon" | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22nd | NC |
| "Syuji" | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39th | |||
| 2021 | Dome F110 | Nobuhiro Imada | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28th | NC |
| "Syuji" | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 42nd | |||
| 2022 | Dome F110 | Yuki Mishima | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 21st | 12th |
| "Dragon" | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35th | |||
| Nobuhiro Imada | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46th | |||
| 2023 | Dome F110 | Nobuhiro Imada | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37th | NC |
| "Dragon" | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40th | |||
| Makoto Fujiwara | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36th | |||
| 2024 | Toray Carbon Magic | "Dragon" | ||||||||
| Nobuhiro Imada | ||||||||||
| Yuto Nomura | ||||||||||
| Ryota Horachi |
| Year | Car | Drivers | Races | Wins | Poles | F.Laps | Podiums | Points | D.C. | T.C. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Tatuus F4-T421 | "Dragon" | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 27th | 10th |
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.
| Year | Car | Drivers | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | D.C. | T.C. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Tatuus F3 T-318 | "Dragon" | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23rd | 11th |
| Tairoku Yamaguchi | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24th | |||
| 2019 Summer | Tatuus F3 T-318 | Miki Koyama† | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 15th | 9th |
| Kiyoto Fujinami | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 16th | |||
| "Dragon" | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21st | |||
| Tairoku Yamaguchi | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22nd | |||
| 2019 Winter | Tatuus F3 T-318 | Motoyoshi Yoshida | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 14th | 6th |
| Tairoku Yamaguchi | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 15th | |||
| "Dragon" | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16th | |||
| Miki Koyama | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC‡ |
† Koyama drove for BlackArts Racing Team in round 3.
‡ Guest driver
| Current series | |
|---|---|
| F4 Japanese Championship | 2016–2019, 2021–present |
| Super Formula Championship | 2017–present |
| Super Formula Lights | 2020–present |
| Formula 4 South East Asia Championship | 2023–present |
| Former Series | |
| Japanese Formula 3 Championship | 2011–2019 |
| Super GT | 2012–2021 |
| Formula Challenge Japan | 2013 |
| Super Taikyu Series | 2018 |
| F3 Asian Championship | 2018–2019 |
| Formula Regional Japanese Championship | 2020–2022 |
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The 2017 Autobacs Super GT Series was the twenty-fifth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era, and the thirteenth season under the name Super GT. It was the thirty-fifth overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The season began on April 9 and ended on November 12, after 8 races.
The 2018 Autobacs Super GT Series was the twenty-sixth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the fourteenth season the series has competed under the Super GT name. It was the thirty-sixth overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The season began on April 8 and ended on November 11, after 8 races.
The 2019 Super GT Series was a motor racing championship based in Japan for grand touring cars. The series is sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and run by the GT Association (GTA). It was the twenty-seventh season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship which includes the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the fifteenth season the series has competed under the Super GT name. It was the thirty-seventh overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The season began on April 14 and ended on November 24, after 8 championship races & 2 non-championship races.
The 2020 Super GT Series was motor racing championship based in Japan for grand touring cars. The series is sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and run by the GT Association (GTA). It was the twenty-eighth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship which includes the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the sixteenth season the series to compete under the Super GT name. It was the thirty-eighth overall season of a JAF national sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship.
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The 2023 Super GT Series was a motor racing championship based in Japan for grand touring cars, sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and ran by the GT Association (GTA). It was the thirty-first season of the JAF Super GT Championship, which included the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship era, and the nineteenth season under the Super GT name. It was also the forty-first overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Endurance/Sports Prototype Championship.
Kazuki Hiramine is a Japanese racing driver, currently racing in the Super GT Series as a Nissan factory driver with Team Impul. He won the Super GT GT500 Championship in 2022, alongside co-driver Bertrand Baguette.
The 2024 Super GT Series is a motor racing championship based in Japan for grand touring cars. The series is sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and run by the GT Association (GTA). It is the thirty-first season of the JAF Super GT Championship, which includes the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship era, and the nineteenth season under the Super GT name. It is also the forty-first overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Endurance/Sports Prototype Championship.
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