Igor Omura Fraga (born September 26, 1998) is a Japanese-born Brazilian racing driver, esports player, and former member of the Red Bull Junior Team.[1] He currently competes in the 2024 Super GT Series for Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage in the GT300 class, and is a reserve driver for Nakajima Racing in the Super Formula Championship.[2] He was the 2020 Toyota Racing Series champion, winning the title by six points ahead of Liam Lawson.[3] Fraga also currently serves as the esports ambassador for the Super Formula Championship.[4]
| Igor Fraga | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |  Brazilian |
| Born | September 26, 1998 Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan |
| Super GT career | |
| Debut season | 2023 |
| Current team | Arnage Racing |
| Car number | 50 |
| Starts | 7 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Poles | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| Best finish | 23rd in 2023 |
| Super Formula Lights career | |
| Debut season | 2023 |
| Current team | B-Max Racing |
| Car number | 52 |
| Starts | 18 |
| Wins | 1 |
| Podiums | 7 |
| Poles | 1 |
| Fastest laps | 1 |
| Previous series | |
| 2020 2020 2019 2018 2017–18 2015–17 | FIA Formula 3 Championship Toyota Racing Series FR European Championship U.S. F2000 National Championship NACAM Formula 4 Championship Formula 3 Brasil |
| Championship titles | |
| 2020 2017 | Toyota Racing Series Formula 3 Brasil Academy Class |
He has achieved success in esports as well, winning the inaugural FIA Gran Turismo Nations Cup and McLaren Shadow Project racing series in 2018.[5] Fraga holds a joint-record four total championships in the Gran Turismo World Series, tied with Takuma Miyazono, across three disciplines. He also competed in the 2017 Formula One eSports Series but with limited success.
Racing career
editEarly career
editFraga began his career through karting in 2004 at the Biwako SL Series. He won the Kids Karting class championship during consecutive years in 2004 and 2005, and continued to win the Mini ROK class championships in 2006 and 2007. Fraga would later win the 2008 Asian Karting Open Championship in the Mini ROK class the following year.[6]
2015-18: Junior formula in the Americas
editFraga raced in Formula 3 Brasil for three years, all with Prop Car Racing. Fraga's first season in 2015 did not start well, retiring in its first three races under Class B. At the following race, he finished eighth overall, and third in class. Fraga would earn a total of two pole positions, four fastest laps, nine podiums, and four class wins in the season and would finish third in Class B with 117 points. In 2016, Fraga was promoted to Class A, but only raced in four races, those being the first event at the Velopark and the last event at Interlagos. He would finish eleventh in the Class A standings, with one podium and 19 points. Fraga would return to the newly renamed Academy class in 2017. Fraga won the class, finishing the season with 190 points, with seven pole positions, seven fastest laps, 13 podiums, and 10 class wins. Simultaneously with Formula 3 Brasil, Fraga also raced in NACAM Formula 4 Championship in 2017. In his only season in 2017–18, Fraga finished second overall and earned 286 points, with five pole positions, seven fastest laps, 12 podiums, and six race wins. In 2018, Fraga participated in the U.S. F2000 National Championship. He ended the season in fourth overall, with three podiums and 213 points.
2019-20: Debut in European and Oceanian formula
editIn 2019, Fraga made his European debut in the inaugural Formula Regional European Championship with RP Motorsport, winning four races and finishing 3rd and therefore best of the non-Prema drivers, behind Frederik Vesti and Enzo Fittipaldi.[7]
The following year in 2020 saw him participate in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, racing with Charouz Racing System alongside Roman Staněk and David Schumacher.[8] Having only scored one point throughout the season, Fraga was set to switch to Hitech Grand Prix at the final round in Mugello, replacing Max Fewtrell, but Charouz would not authorize the move, which would place Fraga on the sidelines for the finale.[9] He would finish the season in 24th.
In March of that year, Fraga was named as a new signing to the Red Bull Junior Team, after winning the Toyota Racing Series championship in 2020, beating out fellow Red Bull Junior Liam Lawson.[1] He was released from the programme following the 2020 season.
2023-24: Super GT and Super Formula Lights
editAt the end of 2022, Fraga partook in a Super Formula test with B-Max Racing.[10] Fraga later took part in the post-season rookie test with Team Impul, driving Yuhi Sekiguchi's #19 car.[11] For 2023, he was confirmed to compete in the 2023 Super Formula Lights championship, racing with B-Max Racing,[12] later earning his first win in the series at Sportsland Sugo.
Fraga also participated in the 2023 Super GT Series that same year in the GT300 class, competing with Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage in the Lexus RC F GT3 alongside Yuga Furutani and Miki Koyama, the latter joining the lineup in five of the eight rounds.[13] Fraga and Furutani would score twice across the season, with two consecutive points finishes at Suzuka Circuit and Sugo, finishing 10th and 7th respectively. Koyama, who entered with the team for the Suzuka round, did not run a stint during the race and thus remained scoreless. Igor Fraga is set to return for a second season with Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage for 2024. In February 2024, Fraga was announced as a reserve driver for Nakajima Racing in the Super Formula Championship.[2]
Esports career
edit| Fraga in esports | |
|---|---|
| Career highlights and awards | |
|
In 2017, Fraga qualified for the first Formula One Esports Series final, having finished 4th and 2nd in his Heat group. His results in the final however weren't as good, finishing the three races 14th, 18th and scored six points in the last race where he finished 15th. He ended the final 18th out of 20 drivers.
Fraga has participated in the FIA-Certified Gran Turismo Championships, and made his first appearance in the series in the inaugural 2018 season, participating in the Nations Cup. On the build-up to the World Final, Igor Fraga won the Americas regional final event in Las Vegas, finishing first overall with 43 points in three races and securing a World Final spot. Fraga would take the inaugural Nations Cup championship in the World Final in Monaco with 54 points.[14] Fraga returned to the series in 2019 for both Nations Cup and Manufacturer Series championships. A first corner spin in Red Bull Ring at the first semi-final of the World Final sent Fraga to last place and he would later be eliminated in the Nations Cup as a result, finishing 10th.[15] He later won that year's Manufacturer Series championship for Toyota with teammates Rayan Derrouiche and Tomoaki Yamanaka. Fraga returned for the rebooted 2020 season in both competitive series. He did not qualify for the World Finals for the Nations Cup, but did finish 4th overall in the World Finals for the Manufacturer Series alongside Shohei Sugimori and Valerio Gallo.[16]
Fraga competed in the inaugural McLaren Shadow Project in 2018 and won the series, beating runners-up Nuno Pinto and Miguel Ballester in the grand final.[17][18]
In 2021, Fraga would compete in the inaugural Olympic Virtual Series, participating in the 'Motor Sport' event in the Gran Turismo Sport game.[19][20] Fraga scored a 2nd-place finish in the first race, but would not be able to complete the following two races due to a network problem, which he later clarified on his Twitter.[21] In 2022, Fraga won the Toyota GR GT Cup championship in the Gran Turismo World Series.[3] Fraga was also appointed as the esports ambassador for the Super Formula Championship later that year.[4]
Personal life
editFraga was born in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan to Brazilian parents.[22] He previously resided in Ipatinga, Brazil, but later moved back to Japan in 2022, which he had announced on his Twitter account.[17][23] Fraga is a multilinguist, capable of speaking Portuguese, English, Japanese, and Spanish.[24]
Karting record
editKarting career summary
edit| Season | Series | Team | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Biwako SL Series — Kids Karting | Peter Pan | 1st |
| 2005 | Nishi Nihon Challenge — Kids Karting | Peter Pan | 1st |
| Biwako SL Series — Kids Karting | 1st | ||
| 2006 | Biwako SL Series — Mini ROK | CRG Japan | 1st |
| 2007 | Biwako SL Series — Mini ROK | CRG Japan | 1st |
| Asian Karting Open Championship — Mini ROK | NC | ||
| 2008 | Asian Karting Open Championship — Mini ROK | CRG Japan | 1st |
| Biwako SL Series — Mini ROK | NC |
Career summary
editCareer summary
edit| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Fórmula 3 Brasil - Class B | Prop Car Racing | 16 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 117 | 3rd |
| 2016 | Fórmula 3 Brasil | Prop Car Racing | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 11th |
| 2017 | Fórmula 3 Brasil - Academy Class | Prop Car Racing | 16 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 13 | 190 | 1st |
| 2017–18 | NACAM Formula 4 Championship | Prop Car Racing | 18 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 280 | 2nd |
| 2018 | U.S. F2000 National Championship | Exclusive Autosport | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 213 | 4th |
| 2019 | Formula Regional European Championship | DR Formula RP Motorsport | 24 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 300 | 3rd |
| 2020 | FIA Formula 3 Championship | Charouz Racing System | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 24th |
| Toyota Racing Series | M2 Competition | 15 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 362 | 1st | |
| 2023 | Super Formula Lights | B-Max Racing Team | 18 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 62 | 4th |
| Super GT - GT300 | Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 23rd | |
| 2024 | Super GT - GT300 | Arnage Racing | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0* | —* |
| Super Formula | PONOS Nakajima Racing | Reserve driver | |||||||
Complete U.S. F2000 National Championship results
edit| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Exclusive Autosport | STP 8 |
STP 2 |
IMS 8 |
IMS 17 |
LOR 7 |
ROA 8 |
ROA 5 |
TOR 7 |
TOR 2 |
MDO 17 |
MDO 3 |
MDO 5 |
POR 15 |
POR 4 |
4th | 213 |
Complete Formula Regional European 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 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | DR Formula RP Motorsport |
LEC 1 3 |
LEC 2 3 |
LEC 3 7 |
VLL 1 7 |
VLL 2 8 |
VLL 3 C |
HUN 1 5 |
HUN 2 DNS |
HUN 3 4 |
RBR 1 2 |
RBR 2 9 |
RBR 3 1 |
IMO 1 1 |
IMO 2 3 |
IMO 3 2 |
IMO 4 3 |
CAT 1 10 |
CAT 2 4 |
CAT 3 7 |
MUG 1 5 |
MUG 2 5 |
MUG 3 5 |
MNZ 1 1 |
MNZ 2 1 |
MNZ 3 3 |
3rd | 300 |
Complete Toyota Racing Series results
edit(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | M2 Competition | HIG 1 2 |
HIG 2 7 |
HIG 3 3 |
TER 1 3 |
TER 2 6 |
TER 3 2 |
HMP 1 1 |
HMP 2 4 |
HMP 3 1 |
PUK 1 2 |
PUK 2 5 |
PUK 3 8 |
MAN 1 1 |
MAN 2 4 |
MAN 3 1 |
1st | 362 |
Complete FIA 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 | 18 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Charouz Racing System | RBR FEA 16 |
RBR SPR 25 |
RBR FEA 26 |
RBR SPR 14 |
HUN FEA 15 |
HUN SPR Ret |
SIL FEA 15 |
SIL SPR Ret |
SIL FEA 18 |
SIL SPR 10 |
CAT FEA 24 |
CAT SPR 18 |
SPA FEA 19 |
SPA SPR 27 |
MNZ FEA 24 |
MNZ SPR 17 |
MUG FEA |
MUG SPR |
24th | 1 |
Complete Super Formula Lights 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | B-Max Racing Team | AUT 1 Ret |
AUT 2 4 |
AUT 3 7 |
SUG 1 2 |
SUG 2 6 |
SUG 3 1 |
SUZ 1 Ret |
SUZ 2 9 |
SUZ 3 7 |
FUJ 1 8 |
FUJ 2 4 |
FUJ 3 8 |
OKA 1 2 |
OKA 2 2 |
OKA 3 2 |
MOT 1 3 |
MOT 2 2 |
MOT 3 4 |
4th | 62 |
Complete Super GT Results
edit| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | DC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage | Lexus RC F GT3 | GT300 | OKA 12 |
FUJ 14 |
SUZ 17 |
FUJ 19 |
SUZ 10 |
SUG 7 |
AUT 11 |
MOT 17 |
23rd | 5 |
| 2024 | Arnage Racing | OKA 17 |
FUJ 14 |
SUZ |
FUJ |
SUZ |
SUG |
AUT |
MOT |
—* | 0* |
Notes
edit- ^ Known as SK Telecom T1 from 2014 to 2019.
References
edit- ^ a b Hensby, Paul (2020-03-23). "Igor Fraga Joins Red Bull Junior Team Programme For 2020". The Checkered Flag. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
- ^ a b Evans, Andrew (2024-02-14). "Igor Fraga Secures Super Formula Reserve Seat at Ponos Nakajima Racing". GTPlanet. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ a b "Igor Fraga Wins 2020 Toyota Racing Series Title in Final Race Decider". GTPlanet. 2020-02-16. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ^ a b "Real and virtual – a two-sword athlete in motorsports! Japanese-Brazilian Driver – Igor Fraga Appointed as "SUPER FORMULA e-Motorsports Ambassador" | SUPER FORMULA Official Website". superformula.net. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
- ^ "The First Nations Cup Champion is Crowned! - gran-turismo.com". www.gran-turismo.com. Retrieved 2019-03-28.
- ^ "The inside scout – Igor Fraga". FIAFormula3® – The Official F3® Website. Retrieved 2022-05-05.
- ^ "Can an Esports star end Brazil's F1 drought?". The Race. 2020-02-23. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ^ "F1 Esports finalist Igor Fraga becomes first sim racer to join FIA F3 grid | Formula 1®". www.formula1.com. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
- ^ "Red Bull junior misses F3 finale amid contract saga". Motorsport Week. 2020-09-12. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
- ^ Klein, James (18 November 2022). "B-Max to hold SF Lights test for international drivers". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
- ^ "Super Formula reveals Suzuka rookie test entry list". www.motorsport.com. 5 December 2022. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
- ^ "Igor Fraga completes B-Max Super Formula Lights line-up". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
- ^ "Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage Introduces All-Rookie Crew For Their Lexus RC F GT3". dailysportscar.com. 7 February 2023. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
- ^ Lumb, Tim (18 November 2018). "Brazil's Igor Fraga wins GT Sport Nations Cup World Final in Monaco". Autosport.com. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
- ^ "Reigning champ Fraga in shock exit from Gran Turismo Finals". www.motorsport.com. 22 November 2019. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
- ^ "Competitors - gran-turismo.com". www.gran-turismo.com. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
- ^ a b "McLaren Racing – Igor Fraga wins McLaren Shadow Project 2018". www.mclaren.com. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
- ^ "Igor Fraga earns spot on McLaren Shadow F1 Esports team". F1Esports News. 2019-01-18. Archived from the original on 2020-11-25. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
- ^ Lyon, Peter. "Olympic Season Kicks Off With Virtual Racing World Final". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-08-04.
- ^ "Inaugural Olympic Virtual Series concludes successfully – Olympic News". International Olympic Committee. 2021-07-15. Retrieved 2021-08-04.
- ^ "About what happened today in the OVS final..." Twitter. Retrieved 2021-08-04.
- ^ "McLaren Racing – Getting to know: Igor Fraga". www.mclaren.com. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
- ^ https://twitter.com/1gorfraga/status/1555532938850504704 [bare URL]
- ^ "Igor Fraga - USF2000.com". USF2000. Retrieved 2019-06-22. [permanent dead link]
External links
edit- Igor Fraga career summary at DriverDB.com