Team Sakura

Sakura Motorsports' current logo

### Team Principals

Maria Takami (Champ Car)Hiromi Tanaka (Atlantic)Ai Mitsuhara (GP1)Hana Tachibana (GP2)Umi Kobayashi (GP3)Kokoro Fukuda (MGA GP3)

### Founded

2016

**Team Sakura**, formerly known as **Sakura Motorsports** is a Japanese motor racing team currently competing in the AT&T Champ Car World Series, and the Nissan Atlantic Championship.

## Background

Team Sakura was founded as Sakura Motorsports in 2016, based on an idea that "focuses on the future of motorsport, while also being rooted in the present."

Founded in 2016 by Naomi Kitsune, she had one goal in mind, and that goal was to create something that was a rarity in motorsport. A team that consisted of an all female staff, from the driver's to the engineer's and even the r&d department as well was made up from young female workers as well as experienced workers, both domestically within Japan and internationally.

The team began to enter that year's GP3 Championship with a young lineup, and overall the team did well in their first season, racking up a few wins as well as some podiums, earning them top 5 within the teams championship that season. The following year, Sakaura Motorsports began their GP2 campaign and for the team, It was their best campagin to date as by the end of the 2018 season, the team would finish 3rd in the teams championship and also clinched a 3rd place drivers title with Sakura Kunikida.

Sakura Motorsport's 2019 began with a partnership with Meguhashi Girls Academy in Kyoto, not only sponsoring a mechanical engineering award, but also supporting the school's motorsport club, allowing it's members to attend race weekends and tinker with their GP3 cars, the school also has an offcial entry in the GP3 championship that is supported by Sakura Motorsports. Also that same year, the team competed in their first season in the Japanese GP1 championship.

Midway through 2020, Naomi Kitsune announced that Sakura Motorsport's will compete abroad for the first time in the teams history, becoming one of the new teams that will race in the 2021 Nissan Atlantics Championship season. For the team, not only it will showcase up and coming female racers from Japan, but also a future that will bloom eternally, like the cherry blossom trees that bloom every spring

## Champ Car history

**2023**

After the folding of the stillborn Microsoft IndyCar Series, the team pivoted its efforts to the Indycar World Championships in 2023, entering a single car for Sakura Kunikida. Due to processing issues with the team's initial sponsor, Nicola, the team started off with sponsorship with White Claw branding, as the brand was purchased by Nicola in late 2022.

## Atlantics history

**2021 (A Year Of Learning)**

TBA

**2022**

For 2022, Sakura Motorsports wanted to keep the momentum that they have gained throughout their first season in the Atlantics Championship, hoping to be in the conversation for a potential teams championship. Staying with the team this season is Fumiko Nakajima, who is looking to improve on her performance after becoming one of the standouts from the second half of the 2020 Atlantic's season that saw her grab her first win at Mid-Ohio, she will also be the number one driver for the Atlantics team as her teammate Sakura Kunikida was picked to be the driver for Sakura Motorsports Indycar campaign.

Joining alongside Fumiko for 2022 is Arashi Seto, Sakura Motorsports newest driver. Arashi is known within her fanbase as the "Idol Racer" due to her media appearences, ranging from photoshots, tv interviews to having her own streaming channel where she streams games in her spare time.

## Drivers

### Current Drivers

* Sakura Kunikida (2021-present), Champ Car
* Fumiko Nakajima (2021-present), Atlantics
* Arashi Seto (2022-present), Atlantics