# Nirei Fukuzumi

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

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.

## Career
### Karting

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. He also made a handful of appearances internationally, most notably finishing second in the ROK Cup International Final in 2012.

### Lower formulae

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

In 2016, Nirei débuted in the GP3 Series with ART Grand Prix, scoring three podium finishes and finishing seventh in the championship. Fukuzumi stayed on for another season of GP3 in 2017. 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.

### FIA Formula 2 Championship

The Japanese driver made his Formula 2 debut in 2018 with BWT Arden, 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
#### Honda

While the main focus was to race in Formula 2 for 2018, Fukuzumi competed in Super Formula with Team Mugen for 4 rounds. After 3 seasons in Europe, Fukuzumi returned to Japan, and competed in Super Formula with Dandelion Racing. 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. In 2023, Fukuzumi continues to stay at ThreeBond Racing. Fukuzumi continues to do well in Threebond where collecting couple of points, and qualiflying to Q2 very often, with 16th place.

#### Toyota

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.

### Super GT
#### GT300

Fukuzumi make his Super GT debut in GT300 Class with ARTA as Shinichi Takagi's teammate. 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.

#### GT500

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. 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.

## Karting record
### Karting career summary

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

## Racing record
### Career summary

| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
| 2014 | JAF Formula 4 East - FC | HFDP Racing | 5 | 1 | –** | –** | 4 | 72 | 1st |
| 2014 | JAF Formula 4 West - FC | HFDP Racing | 6 | 3 | –** | –** | 5 | 100 | 1st |
| 2014 | JAF Formula 4 Overall - FC | HFDP Racing | 11 | 4 | –** | –** | 9 | 172 | 1st |
| 2015 | Japanese Formula 3 Championship | HFDP Racing | 17 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 72 | 4th |
| 2015 | 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 |
| 2018 | Super Formula | Team Mugen | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 20th |
| 2019 | Super GT - GT300 | ARTA | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 69.5 | 1st |
| 2019 | Super Formula | Docomo Team Dandelion Racing | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 18 | 7th |
| 2020 | Super GT - GT500 | ARTA | 8 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 54 | 5th |
| 2020 | Super Formula | Docomo Team Dandelion Racing | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 29 | 8th |
| 2021 | Super GT - GT500 | ARTA | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 60 | 2nd |
| 2021 | Super Formula | Docomo Team Dandelion Racing | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 55 | 2nd |
| 2022 | Super GT - GT500 | ARTA | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 12th |
| 2022 | Super Formula | ThreeBond Drago Corse | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 19th |
| 2023 | Super GT - GT500 | ARTA | 8 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 53 | 4th |
| 2023 | Super Formula | ThreeBond Racing | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 16th |
| 2024 | Super Formula | Kids com Team KCMG | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 62 | 6th |
| 2024 | Super GT - GT500 | TGR Team ENEOS ROOKIE | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 38 | 11th |
| 2024 | Super Taikyu - ST-Q | ORC ROOKIE Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | NC‡ |
| 2025 | Super Formula | Kids com Team KCMG | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18th* |
| 2025 | Super GT - GT500 | TGR Team ENEOS ROOKIE | | | | | | | |
| 2025 | SRO Japan Cup - GT3 | K-tunes Racing | | | | | | | |
$^†$ 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. $^*$ Season still in progress. ‡ Team standing.

### Complete Japanese Formula 3 Championship results

(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

(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

(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

(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 | GT300 | OKA 2‡ | FUJ 2 | SUZ 6 | CHA 9 | FUJ 6 | AUT 6 | SUG 1 | MOT 4 | 1st | 69.5 |
| 2020 | ARTA | Honda NSX-GT | GT500 | FUJ 8 | FUJ 14 | SUZ 13 | MOT Ret | FUJ 3 | SUZ 3 | MOT 1 | FUJ 5 | 5th | 54 |
| 2021 | ARTA | Honda NSX-GT | GT500 | OKA 7 | FUJ 8 | MOT 5 | SUZ 11 | SUG 10 | AUT 1 | MOT 1 | FUJ 6 | 2nd | 60 |
| 2022 | ARTA | Honda NSX-GT | GT500 | OKA 10 | FUJ 1‡ | SUZ 7 | FUJ 5 | SUZ 13 | SUG 13 | AUT 11 | MOT 8 | 12th | 24 |
| 2023 | ARTA | Honda NSX-GT | GT500 | 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 | GT500 | OKA NC | FUJ 8 | SUZ 2 | FUJ 4 | SUG 9 | AUT 9 | MOT 13† | SUZ 6 | 11th | 38 |
| 2025 | TGR Team ENEOS ROOKIE | Toyota GR Supra GT500 | GT500 | OKA | FUJ | SEP | FUJ | SUZ | SUG | AUT | MOT | | |
$^†$ Driver did not finish, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance. $^{††}$ 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

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | DC | Points |
| 2018 | Team Mugen | Honda | SUZ Ret | AUT | SUG | FUJ | MOT 17 | OKA 18 | SUZ 12 | | | | | | 20th | 0 |
| 2019 | Docomo Team Dandelion Racing | Honda | SUZ 11 | AUT 5 | SUG 5 | FUJ 9 | MOT 5 | OKA Ret | SUZ 3 | | | | | | 7th | 18 |
| 2020 | Docomo Team Dandelion Racing | Honda | MOT 5 | OKA 8 | SUG 10 | AUT 9$^2$ | SUZ Ret$^3$ | SUZ 2 | FUJ 16 | | | | | | 8th | 29 |
| 2021 | Docomo Team Dandelion Racing | Honda | FUJ 3 | SUZ Ret$^1$ | AUT 13 | SUG 1 | MOT Ret | MOT 12 | SUZ 1$^3$ | | | | | | 2nd | 55 |
| 2022 | ThreeBond Drago Corse | Honda | 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 | Honda | 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 | Toyota | SUZ 6 | AUT 8 | SUG 13 | FUJ 4$^1$ | MOT 9 | FUJ 5$^1$ | FUJ 2$^3$ | SUZ 6 | SUZ 3 | | | | 6th | 62 |
| 2025 | Kids com Team KCMG | Toyota | SUZ Ret | SUZ 14 | MOT | MOT | AUT | FUJ | FUJ | SUG | FUJ | FUJ | SUZ | SUZ | 18th* | 0 |
$^‡$ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed. $^*$ Season still in progress.