Greater Kanto Motorsports

(WIP)

**Greater Kanto Motorsports (GKM, formerly 6AM Motorsports)** is a Japanese professional stock car racing team currently competing in the ESPLAR Elite Series. The team is based in Tokyo, Japan.

Greater Kanto Motorsports is one of ESPLAR's most influential teams, alongside rival Japanese team **Saihara Motorsports**. With their star drivers **Julia Truong** and **Katya Alarcon**, GKM have secured a EES driver's title in 2018 and 2 consecutive ESPLAR Elite Series team championships and are expected to remain a top force in 2020.

GKM is the only top ESPLAR team to not field teams outside of the ESPLAR Elite Series. This will change in mid 2020 as GKM will begin fielding an ESPLAR Lites team in order to remain a top force in ESPLAR once Julia Truong and Katya Alarcon leave ESPLAR at the end of 2021.

## History

6AM Motorsports were founded through support of Toyota Motorsports in 2016, having heard about the success of Saihara Motorsports and wanted another Japanese team to better balance the competition between a growing number of Japanese teams that would ultimately fold or be absorbed into Saihara Motorsports later in 2017 and 2018.

Founded under the philosophy that the driver is the most important part of the car, not just the parts the make up the car, 6AM Motorsports' idea that driver skills were what made races as long as the car held together were intended to ensure consistent top tier results. This idea was similar to many small teams that did not have the money to afford top-quality parts, like Turvali-Koralia Racing. However 6AM Motorsports' idea pushed the driver portion of this philosophy to the extreme, and as a result in their early years 6AM Motorsports were far behind most other teams in terms of development and car performance. Despite this, fans from across Kanto began donating to help the team financially and help put the team's early financial struggles behind them.

Originally the headquarters of 6AM Motorsports were in Saitama, but late in 2017, just before their official name change to Greater Kanto Motorsports, they moved their headquarters to Motegi, where the team remained as their official headquarters to this day.

### 2017 ESPLAR Lites Season

Enter a certain **Julia Truong** who was a fan of Kazuichi Saihara when Kaz was competing for the ESPLAR Elite Series title in 2016. Kaz ultimately was taken out in the Big One in the 2016 Evanshire 700 and Turvali-Koralia's Lean Campana ended up in 4th to take the Morson-Austin Trophy. 6AM Motorsports approached Truong with a drive in the 2017 ESPLAR Lites Series, and considering Japanese interest in the series was increasing over time, Truong accepted and was signed for the #14 Fuji Television Toyota.

The 2017 ESPLAR Lites series consisted of 22 races, which started at Daytona and, as it has always been in ESPLAR, ended at Evanshire. Races in the season include:

1. Daytona
2. Carbondale
3. Georgia
4. Kansas
5. Bristol
6. North Carolina
7. South Carolina
8. Michigan
9. Indiana (Salem)
10. Western Illinois
11. Texas
12. Altruras
13. Wisconsin
14. North Dakota
15. Alabama
16. Minnesota
17. California
18. Poland
19. Norway
20. Germany
21. Central Illinois
22. Evanshire

(WIP)

## Current Info

Despite not retaining the Morson-Austin Trophy in 2019, Greater Kanto Motorsports are not letting that hamper then in 2020. They have brought along Toyota's backing for the season, leaving FunnyCar Racing and Zorbach Motorsports in the dust. Both Julia Truong and Katya Alarcon remain committed to ensuring that GKM takes back the Morson-Austin Trophy which will ensure they make a really powerful statement on who is the better team between them and Saihara Motorsports this season.

## Trivia

* Both of GKM's drivers, because of their status in ESPLAR, earned "VIP" Status within the league, meaning that they are guaranteed spots in the ESPLAR Elite Series within GKM unless they express their desire to move to another series. This guarantee lasts until at least 2021.
* The team is expected to make an appearance in the GP4 OC 2019 Indy 500, as the team won the 2020 ESPLAR Elite Series championship.