KC Motorgroup

KC Motorgroup

Founded	2007
Team principal(s)	Paul Ip
Current series	Super Formula GT World Challenge Asia Super Taikyu Kyojo Cup
Former series	GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup FIA World Touring Car Cup FIA World Endurance Championship IMSA SportsCar Championship China Touring Car Championship Asian Formula Three Championship Super GT Clio Cup China Series Hong Kong Touring Car Championship Asian Le Mans Series All-Japan Formula Three Championship NASCAR Xfinity Series (supported by Richard Childress Racing) Intercontinental GT Challenge
Current drivers	Dennis Olsen Nick Tandy Laurens Vanthoor Alexandre Imperatori Patrick Pilet Kamui Kobayashi Yuji Kunimoto Pablo Sarrazin

KCMG racing at Le Mans in 2013.

KC Motorgroup Ltd, known as KCMG, is an auto racing team based in Hong Kong. Founded by former racing driver Paul Ip in 2007, KCMG has participated in a variety of championships across the world in touring car, sports car, and open-wheel racing. ^[1]

History

KCMG entered the Formula Nippon series in 2010 as a Toyota customer team, with Katsuyuki Hiranaka finishing 12th. In 2011, Alexandre Imperatori finished 12th. In 2012, Ryo Orime finished 19th. In the 2013 Super Formula, Richard Bradley finished 21st. Yuichi Nakayama finished 20th in 2014, 16th in 2015, and 18th in 2016.

In 2013, KCMG expanded outside Asia with an entry in the 24 Hours of Le Mans ^[2] before entering the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2014, during which the team won three races. ^[3] The team went on to win the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP2 category on its way to a second-place finish in the 2015 WEC season. However, in the following year, KCMG pared down its LMP2 participation to a one-off entry at Le Mans. KCMG did contest the full 2016 WEC season, albeit in the GTE Am category, ^[4] finishing fourth in what would be its final season in the championship.

Nirei Fukuzumi and Kamui Kobayashi driving for KCMG in 2024.

Beginning in 2017, KCMG has partnered with Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, sponsoring drivers Brandon Jones, Matt Tifft, Tyler Reddick and Earl Bamber. ^[5] Reddick won the 2019 LTi Printing 250 with KCMG as the sponsor.

KCMG Driver Development Project

In April 2021, KCMG announced the launch of a new young driver programme named the KCMG Driver Development Project with Irish racer Alex Dunne being named as its first signing the following day. ^{[6] [7]} The program provides its members with dedicated coaching staff on race weekends, and physiotherapists, managers and tutors to improve their fitness, media skills and education.

Current members

Driver	Years	Series
Pablo Sarrazin [8]	2022–	WRC2 Championship

Former members

Driver	Years	Series
Alex Dunne [9]	2021	F4 Spanish Championship

Drivers

See also: Category:KCMG drivers

• Alexandre Imperatori (2011, 2013–2014, 2018–present)
• Matthew Howson (2013–2016)
• Ho-Pin Tung (2013)
• Richard Bradley (2013–2016)
• Tsugio Matsuda (2014–2016, 2018–present)
• Nick Tandy (2015)
• Nicolas Lapierre (2015)
• Christian Ried (2016)
• Wolf Henzler (2016)
• Joel Camathias (2016)
• Yuichi Nakayama (2014–2016, 2018)
• Katsuyuki Hiranaka (2010)
• Ryo Orime (2012)
• Kamui Kobayashi (2017–present)
• Katsumasa Chiyo (2019–present)
• Oliver Jarvis (2018–present)
• Brandon Jones (2017)
• Matt Tifft (2018)
• Tyler Reddick (2019)
• Josh Burdon (2018–present)
• Attila Tassi (2018–present)
• Kris Richard (2018–present)
• Tiago Monteiro (2019–present)
• Earl Bamber (2020)

Racing record

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Entrant	No	Car	Drivers	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2013	KCMG	47	Morgan LMP2-Nissan	Matthew Howson Alexandre Imperatori Ho-Pin Tung	LMP2	241	DNF	DNF
2014	KCMG	47	Oreca 03R-Nissan	Richard Bradley Matthew Howson Alexandre Imperatori	LMP2	87	DNF	DNF
2015	KCMG	47	Oreca 05-Nissan	Richard Bradley Matthew Howson Nicolas Lapierre	LMP2	358	9th	1st
2016	KCMG	47	Oreca 05-Nissan	Richard Bradley Matthew Howson Tsugio Matsuda	LMP2	116	DNF	DNF
		78	Porsche 911 RSR	Joël Camathias Wolf Henzler Christian Ried	GTE Am	300	41st	10th

FIA World Endurance Championship results

Year	Class	Drivers	No.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	WEP pos.	Points
2014	LMP2	Matthew Howson Richard Bradley Tsugio Matsuda Alexandre Imperatori	47	SIL 2	SPA 2	LMS Ret	COA 1	FUJ 2	SHA Ret	BHR 1	SÃO 1		3rd	130
2015	LMP2	Matthew Howson Richard Bradley Nick Tandy Nicolas Lapierre	47	SIL 4	SPA 3	LMN 1	NÜR 1	COA 2	FUJ Ret	SHA 3	BHR 2		2nd	155
2016	LMGTE Am	Christian Ried Wolf Henzler Joël Camathias	78	SIL 4	SPA 4	LMN 5	NÜR EX	MEX 3	COA 2	FUJ 3	SHA 3	BHR 2	4th	125

Formula Nippon/Super Formula results

Year	Chassis	Engine	No.	Driver	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	T.C.	Points
2010	Swift 017.n	Toyota RV8K			SUZ	MOT	FUJ	MOT	SUG	AUT	SUZ				7th	4
			18	Katsuyuki Hiranaka	Ret	DNS	13	7	Ret	7	12	13
2011	Swift 017.n	Toyota RV8K			SUZ	AUT	FUJ	MOT	SUZ	SUG	MOT				9th	2.5
			18	Alexandre Imperatori	10	7	Ret	11	C	12	8	12
2012	Swift 017.n	Toyota RV8K			SUZ	MOT	AUT	FUJ	MOT	SUG	SUZ				12th	0
			18	Ryo Orime	17	15	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	18	15
2013	Swift 017.n	Toyota RV8K			SUZ	AUT	FUJ	MOT	SUG	SUZ					11th	0
			18	Richard Bradley	19	Ret	Ret	14	Ret	13	18
2014	Dallara SF14	Toyota RI4A			SUZ	FUJ		FUJ	MOT	AUT	SUG	SUZ			10th	0
			18	Yuichi Nakayama	Ret	13	16	10	Ret	16	13	Ret	18
2015	Dallara SF14	Toyota RI4A			SUZ	OKA	FUJ	MOT	AUT	SUG	SUZ				11th	1.5
			18	Yuichi Nakayama	13	Ret	15	16	19	10	Ret	6
2016	Dallara SF14	Toyota RI4A			SUZ	OKA	FUJ	MOT	OKA		SUG	SUZ			11th	0
			18	Yuichi Nakayama	13	10	9	15	17	13	Ret	14	11
2017	Dallara SF14	Toyota RI4A			SUZ	OKA		FUJ	MOT	AUT	SUG	SUZ			6th	16.5
			18	Kamui Kobayashi	9	4	5	15	2	7	7	C	C
2018	Dallara SF14	Toyota RI4A			SUZ	AUT	SUG	FUJ	MOT	OKA	SUZ				9th	7
			18	Kamui Kobayashi	10	C	6	12		2	13
				Yuichi Nakayama					13
2019	Dallara SF19	Toyota RI4A			SUZ	AUT	SUG	FUJ	MOT	OKA	SUZ				9th	19
			18	Kamui Kobayashi	9	10	2	6	2	18	12
2020	Dallara SF19	Toyota RI4A			SUG	MOT	OKA	SUZ		FUJ	AUT				8th	37
			7	Kamui Kobayashi	14		14		4	15	11
				Yuichi Nakayama		11		18
			18	Yuji Kunimoto	Ret	7	5	4	3	Ret	15
2021	Dallara SF19	Toyota RI4A			FUJ	SUZ	AUT	SUG	MOT	MOT	SUZ				10th	4
			7	Kazuto Kotaka	15	16	16†	17	14		18
				Kamui Kobayashi						10
			18	Yuji Kunimoto	8	Ret	Ret	13	11	Ret	15
2022	Dallara SF19	Toyota RI4A			FUJ		SUZ	AUT	SUG	FUJ	MOT		SUZ		10th	19
			7	Kamui Kobayashi	18	9	5	Ret	17	14	14	17	18	10
			18	Yuji Kunimoto	13	15	6	11	9	8	15	12	20	18
2023	Dallara SF23	Toyota RI4A			FUJ		SUZ	AUT	SUG	FUJ	MOT	SUZ			8th	24.5
			7	Kamui Kobayashi	Ret	6	14	11	6	9	7	8	17
			18	Yuji Kunimoto	12	16	16	10	9	15	10	16	8
2024	Dallara SF23	Toyota TRD-01F			SUZ	AUT	SUG	FUJ	MOT	FUJ		SUZ			4th	77.5
			7	Kamui Kobayashi	19†	10	10	8	12	3	5	14	10
			8	Nirei Fukuzumi	6	8	13	4	9	5	2	6	3

Notes

• * – Season still in progress.

References

1. "Interview of Paul Ip about Asian Le Mans Series". Endurance-Info. 30 January 2013. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
2. "KCMG takes delivery of Morgan LMP2 car for Le Mans". Endurance-Info. 13 February 2013. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
3. Dagys, John (29 January 2015). "KCMG Confirms Purchase of First Oreca 05". Sportscar365. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
4. "WEC: KCMG drops LMP2 program". Racer.com. 12 January 2016. Archived from the original on 30 January 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
5. "Richard Childress Racing, KCMG expand partnership in 2018". NASCAR.com. April 2, 2018.
6. Wood, Ida (April 29, 2021). "Super Formula team KCMG launches driver development project". Formula Scout. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
7. Wood, Ida (April 30, 2021). "F4 racer Alex Dunne revealed as KCMG's first junior driver". Formula Scout. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
8. "Pablo Sarrazin added to KCMG's driver development programme". Formula Scout. 2022-03-31. Retrieved 2022-04-01.
9. "F4 racer Alex Dunne revealed as KCMG's first junior driver". Formula Scout. 2021-04-30. Retrieved 2021-04-30.

External links

• Official website