D'Station Racing come up short in Super GT's finale
Having already lost their chance at the GT300 class crown after an untimely string of three no or low points scoring rounds, their arrival at a circuit not exactly suited to their car’s performance characteristics didn’t raise any hopes of a final resurgence going into this final round either.
Those differences quickly became apparent in qualifying after the #777 crew of Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg ended up seventh out of a class size of twenty-eight cars – albeit two point three seconds off the leading GT300 pace.
Contact from a Ferrari coming up the inside from a long way backdropped the Aston Martin right back to the rear of the pack as the season closing 300km race got underway before the remaining time was a long, hard claw back up the order to eventually finish P12 overall.
Despite claiming the two class wins at the two solo driven rounds from Fuji Speedway earlier in the year which saw them come very close to the overall class lead, the second half to their season has been far from kind ending with the team coming up short of their ultimate ambition of the class championship.
The team already appear to be planning for their 2026 campaign.
Photo credits - Team
Sunday, November 02, 2025 |
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Last dance for the D'Station Racing team in Super GT this weekend
Now with three outings out within the GT300 class producing no or low championship points finishes for their #777 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 entry of Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg, their class championship battles are sadly at an end although there are of course possibilities for them to climb back up the leaderboard slightly by the end of Sunday’s 300km finale from Motegi.
The duo sit nineth in class and now sixty-eight points behind the leaders with just twenty-five points being available.
Being the eighth round of the season, Motegi will again welcome fifteen GT500 entries alongside the twenty-eight GT300 entries for their finale.
Photo credits – Team / social media
Monday, October 27, 2025 |
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Disappointment for the D'Station Racing AMR team at Autopolis
With Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg again combining well this season, this weekend’s visit to Autopolis needed the #777 crew to be on top form again in order to cut the points deficit to those crews ahead of theme within their GT300 class going into the final round of the season but poor pace from their car took them in the opposite direction.
Despite a significant drop in success ballast this time around, the best that the crew could do in qualifying was way down in P22 but by the time their three-hour race was over, the Dunlop shod Aston Martin struggled for pace around the dry but greasy circuit to eventually finish P21 in class and two laps down to the leaders.
That third non-points scoring end to their season effectively sees all championship chances disappear to just the slightest of mathematical chances as the crew slips further to seventh overall – twenty-two and a half points behind with just twenty-five points being on offer at the final round from Motegi at the start of November.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
That third non-points scoring end to their season effectively sees all championship chances disappear to just the slightest of mathematical chances as the crew slips further to seventh overall – twenty-two and a half points behind with just twenty-five points being on offer at the final round from Motegi at the start of November.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Sunday, October 19, 2025 |
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D'Station Racing looking to recover their championship position in Super GT this weekend
Within the midst of the combined GT500 and GT300 entries should be the #777 D’Station Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 of Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg again as they look to see if there’s anything that could be done to rejuvenate their GT300 championship charge after their DNF last time out at Sugo.
With Fujii having suffered a heavy impact with the barrier and then following cars just before their pit stop and driver change at Sugo, that has meant that the #777 crew have now dropped down to fourth within their drivers’ championship yet still only twelve and a half points behind the Mercedes AMG GT3 crew still leading the class.
Twenty-five points per round still await the winner of this three-hour affair as well as the season finale from Motegi in early November with another plus point for the team being the halving of their success weight tally to 57kg.
This three-hour race will be ran as usual on Sunday.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Tuesday, October 14, 2025 |
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D'Station Racings AMR Vantage GT3 within the Super Taikyu Series rounds off this weekends AMR powered participation
Round two of the season from Suzuka and this time it’s a five-hour affair for the #777 D’Station Racing AMR Vantage GT3 Evo of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Yuta Kamimura within their ST-X classed machine now of course racing its bright red livery.
Not that was always the case at the opening round to the season from Motegi after an early session off for the lead to the aesthetically bizarre sight of the car running in a mix of its new red and more traditional green livery colours for the race.
Although at the time, the #777 was unable to make the qualifying sessions whilst repairs were being undertaken, the crew did come back from the back of the grid to secure an overall and class P4 finish at the end of that four-hour race.
Hopefully, they will have more luck this time around.
Photo credits – Team / social media
Thursday, April 24, 2025 |
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A multi-tonal D'Station AMR completes opening round of their Super Taikyu Series return
Returning to the second tier of domestic GT racing in Japan with one of the Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 Evo’s, the #777 Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and (substitute driver) Yuta Kamimura had intended to start the year with an all-new red livery however, an incident during Qualifying saw the need for need panels which were of the more familiar green colour scheme.
That incident saw the A+B drivers within the car (Hoshino and Fujii) unable to complete the required session.
With the team having to spend much of the time after qualifying conducting the necessary repairs, the #777 was at least able to take part within the four-hour season opener from Motegi where they eventually claimed P3 within the ST-X class – albeit four laps down to their peers.
With the team having to spend much of the time after qualifying conducting the necessary repairs, the #777 was at least able to take part within the four-hour season opener from Motegi where they eventually claimed P3 within the ST-X class – albeit four laps down to their peers.
The next round of the series will be from Suzuka at the end of the April.
We think that this ad-hoc livery design is somewhat pleasing to the eye!!
Photo credits – Team / series / social media
Photo credits – Team / series / social media
Sunday, March 23, 2025 |
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When red is the new green for the D'Station Racing AMR team
Having already completed the official test weekend at the circuit back in early March, the D’Station Racing team are back at Motegi for the season’s opening four-hour race with one of the new AMR Vantage GT3 Evo’s.
Sporting a very familiar driver line up of both team owner Satoshi Hoshino and team manager Tomonobu Fujii, the pair with this time be joined by third driver Yuta Kamimura for their five strong ST-X class battle as the team step back to the more domestic home roots having competed upon the word stage for the last few years in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Another sixty strong mixed class grid will be at the circuit this weekend however, the fastest and the slowest cars classes will be split again into two individual races – on the grounds of safety if nothing else.
Another sixty strong mixed class grid will be at the circuit this weekend however, the fastest and the slowest cars classes will be split again into two individual races – on the grounds of safety if nothing else.
The team do run with a second car within the ST-1 class but their previous AMR Vantage GT8R machine has now been replaced by a Porsche 992 platform to again battle with the all dominant KTM X-Bow from the KS frontier team.
Photo credits – Team / social media
Thursday, March 20, 2025 |
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D'Station Racing lose out on their Super GT hopes at Motegi
Racing out what has turned out to be their final WEC race at the season finale in Bahrain saw them eventually finish that eight-hour marathon twelfth out of the eventual fourteen LMGT3 finishes whilst their results from Motegi earlier this morning has effectively seen off any championship hopes that they may have had within their similarly numbered #777 Aston Martin Racing GT3.
With all the teams ‘bigwigs’ this time electing to stay within their national theatre of racing at Motegi this weekend, their #777 car of overall team manager Tomonobu Fujii and their former WEC driver in Charlie Fagg needed to at least continue their recent streak of GT300 class podium finishes in order to keep their class hopes alive in both this race and the season finale from Suzuka in a month’s time.
The wet conditions of Free Practice allowed Fujii to claim the top position in class during the morning session, but they were unable to replicate that feat come Qualifying where the #777 eventually claimed a fifth row slot.
Race day on Sunday and at least the rains had passed leaving a clear and bright day for this three-hour penultimate round. Despite making up early places, the inevitable sequence of multiple Full Course Yellows and Safety Cars again caught the #777 out of sequence for them to eventually sixth in class.
This result also saw the two of the three cars above them in class again finish upon the podium in a 1-2 position, so the points position now is that the team now do not have any championship hopes at the final round next month but as we know, their 2025 priorities have now changed with the Super GT Series now their main racing focus over the WEC moving forward.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Sunday, November 03, 2024 |
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D'Station Racing search for that edge that will keep them in Super GT GT300 Championship contention
That means that this weekend’s trip to Twin Ring Motegi circuit will be its penultimate three-hour round before a rescheduled trip to Suzuka in mid-December.
For the D’Station Racing entry, this weekend sees another clash with its World Endurance Championship crew as they embark upon the final eight-hour round of that series over in Bahrain in what mainstream media has reported to be, their final WEC involvement before a more concentrated Super GT Series approach next season.
That means that Team Manager Tomonobu Fujii will be again on domestic racing duties this weekend as he and co-driver Charlie Fagg seek out that little bit of difference in race pace that will see them break their recent performance mould and take the GT300 Championship race to the two crews presently listed above them in class.
That means that Team Manager Tomonobu Fujii will be again on domestic racing duties this weekend as he and co-driver Charlie Fagg seek out that little bit of difference in race pace that will see them break their recent performance mould and take the GT300 Championship race to the two crews presently listed above them in class.
Despite a decent Qualifying and early race pace last time out at Autopolis two weeks ago, a late Safety Car period for a heavy impact involving a topflight GT500 car saw the #777 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 get caught out in its final push to the flag to finish fifth overall in class despite having lead the class for much of the race.
Going into this penultimate round, results from Autopolis have seen the crew slip to fourth in the drivers table (from third beforehand) but still just twenty points behind the class leaders and with twenty points being available per round, the GT300 class is still wide open.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Monday, October 28, 2024 |
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A late Safety Car hampers D'Station Racing progress through the ranks in Super GTs visit Autopolis
With Qualifying being cancelled yesterday due to lingering fog and later torrential rain and thunderstorms, that session was rescheduled for an early start this morning giving the teams little time to address any problems that may have arisen in-between sessions.
For the #777 D’Station Racing AMR of Fujii and Fagg, that equation into another second row start within their GT300 class as the race was started was eventually started under new dry conditions.
Early battles from Fujii within the opening laps saw that battle be for the class lead before their first pit stop of the race on lap 29. A heavy ‘off’ for a GT500 car brought out the Safety Car for the first time on lap 38 as Fagg then found himself heavily involved amongst the GT500 frontrunners when the race went back to green.
Cycling through the remainder of the race, their championship rivals within the #2 Toyota was given a drive through penalty just ahead of another GT500 going off into the barriers to bring out the Safety Car again – all of which helped the cause of the #777 P3 in class at the time.
Then with just twelve minutes remaining, a third heavy off for a GT500 car brought out the Safety Car for a third and final time which thwarted the #777 D’Station final charge back up the order following their final pit stop to see them eventually finish P5 overall and yet still behind the #2 car that finished second in class to extend their points deficit between them with two rounds still to go.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Sunday, October 20, 2024 |
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When a P2 podium is no longer considered enough for D'Station Racing
Have competed at three rounds so far, the #47 Vantage crew of Tatsuya Hoshino, Kenji Hama, Max Orido and Jake Parsons have only beaten the #2 KS Frontier KTM X-Box once this season so far at the opening round to then follow the #2 car home per round thereafter to trail them by just 9.5 points going into today’s five-hour round of the Twin Ring Motegi Circuit to the north of Tokyo.
Ran under sweltering conditions, the #47 car qualified eighth overall within the mixed class grid – albeit P2 to the KTM again to then suffer slight contact during the race with an ST-X classed car to lose one of its door mirrors.
Having to pit for repairs, that delay allowed the already faster KTM to develop a one lap lead over the #47 car from which there was no hope of recovering even with some subsequent periods of caution.
That leaves the team just two further rounds at both Okayama and Fuji to overcome that now double-digit deficit – all starting in about six weeks’ time as team attention now turns to the World Endurance Championship form their home track of Fuji this weekend.
Photo credits - Team
Sunday, September 03, 2023 |
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Another battle scared GT World Challenge Asia experience for D'Station Racing at Motegi
Having started off at Monza, Italy at the start of the month for the latest round of the World Endurance Championship, they then returned home to Japan for the third round of the GTWCAsia Series from Suzuka to then continued to Motegi for this weekend’s fourth round.
This time avoiding the rain, the #47 AMR Vantage GT3 of Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii would finish the early private testing sessions mid table with a best lap time of just under one second to the then pace setting Mercedes AMG GT3.
Going into the weekend’s more formally timed Free Practice sessions however, saw that gap increase to just over two seconds although their ultimate finishing position within their class improved. Next up would be the two Qualifying sessions with Hoshino out for Race 1 and Fujii for Race 2 but there would be no front of the pack relief for the crew this time around as early contact from a Porsche behind would hamper their opening stint in race 1 having started from P23.
Eventually finishing still further down the order than what they are used to, their P11 in GT3 Pro-Am finish was still worthy of a P3 finish in their overall target of the GT3 Japan Cup.
Sunday’s second race went much the same way but with Fujii able to consolidate his starting position of P15 until the pit stop window at halfway despite further contact and a half spin caused by the car behind. Further progress was made during the second half of the race for the #47 crew able to finish P8 in their class – and for an improved P2 finish in the GT3 Japan Cup.
Despite these finishes, the D’Station Racing crew have slipped back slightly within their favoured Japan Cup class as the series takes a few weeks off before its next round at Okayama towards the end of August.
Photo credits – Team / Series
Sunday, July 23, 2023 |
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Finally something to cheer for D'Station Racing with Japan Cup class win at Suzuka
Having been taken out of yesterday’s hour-long opener within just a few hundred metres of the start line, todays concluding race quickly became a race of high morale importance for the team as having suffered both race ending technical and accident issues within their prior rounds of the World Endurance Champiosnhip.
Flying back into Japan for this latest round of the SRO series from Monza, drivers Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii were looking a for good performances from the off and Hoshino’s Qualifying position of P10 for race 1 looked promising.
Unfortunately, bad luck again quickly came their way as Hoshino was first tapped into a spin by one Porsche before being collected by another even before the opening lap was a quarter finished. Whilst Hoshino was able to quickly move his car out of immediate harm’s way from further contact, he was unable to get the car going again and would retire the car on the spot.
Race 2 on Sunday would go better as Fujii opened the proceedings for the D’Station team, vigorously at times defending their track position of P10 from Saturdays race winner for much of his stint.
Handing back over to Hoshino, a wide track through the chicane gave a brief cause for concern before he adopted a more conventional route around the circuit and whilst others were ‘losing their heads’ and gaining themselves race and post-race penalties, the #47 car would eventually be classified sixth overall – P5 in GT3 Pro-Am.
Handing back over to Hoshino, a wide track through the chicane gave a brief cause for concern before he adopted a more conventional route around the circuit and whilst others were ‘losing their heads’ and gaining themselves race and post-race penalties, the #47 car would eventually be classified sixth overall – P5 in GT3 Pro-Am.
That result also gave the team a GT3 Japan Cup class win and lifts them up to second within that championship table as the series quickly moves onto Motegi next weekend.
Photo credits – Team / Series
Sunday, July 16, 2023 |
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Bittersweet for D'Station Racing at Super Taikyu visits Motegi
Having Qualified their #777 car onto the second row of the grid, the Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Tsubasa Kondo driven car was easily staying at the head of the ST-X lead class as the five-hour event entered its final half of the race.
Unfortunately for them, a rear hub issue for Kondo forced him to return the car to pit lane at a very slow pace where the connectivity of the rear nearside wheel was set to an obvious precarious angle. The car would play no further part in the event and would be classified as finishing in P33 out of the fifty-one car, multi-class entry.
Having said that, the teams #47 AMR Vantage GT8R of Tatsuya Hoshino, Max Orido, Kenji Hama and Jake Parsons would continue their recent podium finishing streak with an ST-1 pole to flag class win by the end of the five-hour race to narrow the gap to the #2 KTM car that finished third in class.
The next round of the series is at Okayama in mid-October but next up for the team will be the penultimate round of the World Endurance Championship from Fuji Speedway next weekend.
Photo Credits – Team / series
Sunday, September 04, 2022 |
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Another five hour rehearsal for the D'Station Racing team ahead of the visit of the WEC to Japan next weekend
One last-minute piece of domestic GT racing for the Japanese D’Station Racing Aston Martin Racing team this coming weekend when they will have both of their Vantage GT3 and GT8R cars out for the latest round of the Super Taikyu Series from Motegi.
Now just a week away of their much-awaited appearance in their home round of the World Endurance Championship at Fuji next weekend, this five-hour race on Sunday will serve as good final practice for drivers Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii ahead of that race weekend before they swap out their Vantage GT3 for their TF Sport prepared AMR Vantage GTE in that event.
Having claimed a double podium in both their ST-X and ST-1 Classes last time out at Autopolis, the #777 Vantage GT3 car will again be driven by both Hoshino and Fujii as well as series regular co-driver Tsubasa Kondo.
Their full season Vantage GT8R entry will also be out on track after their class win at Autopolis with drivers Tatsuya Hoshino, Max Orido, Kenji Hama and Jake Parsons again behind the wheel, chasing down that 17.5-point deficit to the class leading KTM crew with this and two further rounds of the season to go.
Photo credits – D’Station Racing
Wednesday, August 31, 2022 |
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Double AMR Vantage success across the world last night
Over at the Sebring International Raceway saw the Heart of Racing team take part in the second round of the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship with the 12Hours of Sebring aboard their AMR Vantage GTD (GTD) around notoriously bumpy and car breaking concrete/asphalt circuit in Florida.
Roman de Angelis and Ian James were again joined by AMR factory driver Ross Gunn in yesterday’s 12-hour endurance as they started the proceedings yesterday from P9 in class. That track position soon increased to around the P3-4 which they held for much of the race circulating as little as just 10 seconds behind the class leaders.
Eventually, and under the cover of darkness, the #23 AMR Vantage eventually claimed their first podium of the season with a P3 finish.
Excellent stuff guys.
Subsequent to this excitement meanwhile saw the Japanese Super Taikyu Series hold their opening round at the rain swept Twin Ring Motegi Circuit.
Starting on the front row for their #777 AMR Vantage GT3 of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Tsubasa Kondo as well as on class pole position for their #47 AMR Vantage GT4 of Tatsuya Hoshino, Max Orido, Takuro Shinohara and Kenji Hama as the opening five hour round started.
Starting on the front row for their #777 AMR Vantage GT3 of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Tsubasa Kondo as well as on class pole position for their #47 AMR Vantage GT4 of Tatsuya Hoshino, Max Orido, Takuro Shinohara and Kenji Hama as the opening five hour round started.
Quickly taking control of the race, the #777 went on to dominate a race interrupted by periods of Caution as the large multi-class field struggled in the conditions. With race just 3.5 hours old, another Safety Car procedure was called for as visibility deteriorated before ultimately the race was Red Flagged with the finishing positions called as the provisional result.
That left the #777 car claiming a provisional race win after the completed 80 laps with it’s sister GT4 car P6 in the ST-Z class having surrendered the class lead to a necessary full service stop just before the Safety Car period.
That left the #777 car claiming a provisional race win after the completed 80 laps with it’s sister GT4 car P6 in the ST-Z class having surrendered the class lead to a necessary full service stop just before the Safety Car period.
All in all – that’s a pretty good race weekend!
Photo credits – D’Station Racing / Heart of Racing / CSJ Motorsport / Super Taikyu
Photo credits – D’Station Racing / Heart of Racing / CSJ Motorsport / Super Taikyu
Sunday, March 21, 2021 |
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