TGM Grand Prix or TGMGP, formerly Team Goh Motorsports, is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

team founded by Kazumichi Goh in 1996. Now the team compete in

Super Formula The Japanese Super Formula Championship is a formula racing series held primarily in Japan. It is considered to be the pinnacle of single-seater racing in Japan or Asia as a whole, making it one of the top motorsport series in the region. The s ...

Championship since 2023.

History

Initially competing in the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC), Team Goh won the 1996 championship with a

McLaren F1 GTR The McLaren F1 GTR is the racing variant of the McLaren F1 sports car first produced in 1995 for grand touring style racing, such as the BPR Global GT Series, FIA GT Championship, JGTC, and British GT Championship. It was powered by the na ...

and drivers John Nielsen and

David Brabham David Philip Brabham (born 5 September 1965) is an Australian racing driver and one of the most successful and experienced specialists in sports car racing. He has won three international Sports Car series and is one of four Australians to have ...

24 Hours of Le Mans

The team next set its sights on the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

, initially entering the McLaren in , then a former works BMW V12 LM in , and a pair of Panoz LMP-1s in . In 2001, Team Goh partnered with the Danish Den Blå Avis team, running a

Dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

- Judd in the

FIA Sportscar Championship The FIA Sportscar Championship was a sports car racing series created by John Mangoletsi and got the approval of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in 2001. It was a series similar to the FIA GT Championship, concentrating on tw ...

, earning two wins and finishing second in the championship. The following year, Kazumichi Goh purchased an

Audi R8 The Audi R8 is a mid-engine, 2-seater sports car, which uses Audi's trademark quattro permanent all-wheel drive system. It was introduced by the German car manufacturer Audi AG in 2006. Production ended in the first quarter of 2024. The car is ...

, as part of a three-year program at Le Mans. The team finished in seventh in and fourth in . Goh also participated in the 1000 km of Spa and 1000 km of Le Mans, winning both events with drivers

Seiji Ara Seiji Ara (荒聖治; Ara Seiji) (born May 5, 1974 in Chiba, Japan) is a Japanese race car driver. He was the winner of the 24-hour Le Mans race in 2004, driving an Audi R8. In the same year he also raced in the Le Mans Endurance Series and ...

and

Tom Kristensen Tom Kristensen (born 7 July 1967) is a Danish former racing driver. He holds the record for the most wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with nine, six of which were consecutive (from 2000 to 2005). In 1997, he won the race with the Joest Racing te ...

. In 2004, Goh entered the new

Le Mans Endurance Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

with their R8, finishing the season third in the championship. At the

, Goh drivers Ara and Kristensen were joined by

Rinaldo Capello Rinaldo "Dindo" Capello (born 17 June 1964) is an Italian professional racing driver. He is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Bentley in 2003 and Audi in 2004 and 2008. Capello is a two-time American Le Mans Series champion, ...

, and won the race overall, becoming only the second Japanese team to take the overall victory. The team then focused on a return to the JGTC, which had by then been renamed to Super GT, acquiring a new GT1-spec

Maserati MC12 The Maserati MC12 (''Tipo M144S'') is a limited production two-seater sports car produced by Italian car maker Maserati from 2004 to 2005, to allow a racing variant to compete in the FIA GT Championship. The car entered production in 2004, with ...

with the aim of entering the 2006 season. However, the GT1-spec car was well off the pace of its Japanese GT500-class competitors during pre-season testing, causing the team to withdraw from the championship. Three years later, the team would return to competition, entering a

Porsche RS Spyder The RS Spyder (Type 9R6) is a racing car designed by Porsche in conjunction with Penske to compete in Le Mans Prototype Class 2 (LMP2) racing. The car takes its name from the legendary Porsche 550 Spyder of the 1950s (combined with Porsche's ...

in the

2009 24 Hours of Le Mans The 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans () was the 77th Grand Prix of Endurance, an endurance racing (motorsport), endurance auto racing, auto race run over 24 hours. It took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France, and was organised by the Aut ...

. It was running second in class when driver Seiji Ara suffered a large accident on the

Mulsanne Straight The Mulsanne Straight (, "Straight Line of Les Hunaudières") is the name used in English for a formerly long straight of the Circuit de la Sarthe around which the 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race takes place. Since 1990, the straight is interrup ...

, forcing the car's retirement. It would turn out to be the team's only outing with the Porsche, as the car was sold in August 2009, only two months after the race. Moreover, the race turned out to be Goh's only outing in what was planned to be a multi-year programme, as the collapse of the team's title sponsor in February 2010 forced the suspension of all activity.

2019

In 2019, after a hiatus of nearly nine years, Kazumichi Goh announced the return of Team Goh, along with a new partnership with McLaren. Competing as McLaren Customer Racing Japan, Team Goh planned to field a McLaren 720S GT3 in Super GT's GT300 class, alongside an additional 720S in the

2019 Suzuka 10 Hours The 2019 Suzuka 10 Hours was an endurance event that took place on August 25, 2019, at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka City, Japan. It was the 48th edition of the Summer Endurance Classic at Suzuka, and the third round of the 2019 Intercontinental ...

. The team had originally planned to enter its second car in the

Super Taikyu Super Taikyu (スーパー耐久, ''Super Endurance''), formerly known as the Super N1 Taikyu Series prior to 2005 and N1 Endurance Series prior to 1995, and currently named the Eneos Super Taikyu Series Empowered by Bridgestone for sponsorship ...

series, but was forced to abandon its plans prior to the season opener, citing a lack of parts. The team later withdrew from the Suzuka 10 Hours as well, citing a

Balance of Performance In sports car racing, balance of performance (BoP) is a regulation and mechanism that maintains parity between competing vehicles by adjusting the limits and parameters of a vehicle such as horsepower, weight, engine management, and aerodynamics ...

that Goh felt was unfavorable to the team's McLarens. Goh's Super GT entry did go ahead, the team contesting all rounds of the season save for the flyaway

Buriram Buriram (, , ; Northern Khmer: ) is a city municipality ('' thesaban nakhon'') in Thailand, capital of Buriram Province, about northeast of Bangkok. incorporating Nai Mueang and Isan Subdistricts and parts Samet Subdistricts of Mueang Burira ...

round. After a disappointing season in which the team finished 14th in the teams' standings despite taking a podium at

Autopolis is a international racing circuit located near Kamitsue, Ōita, Kamitsue village in Ōita Prefecture, Japan on the northeast of Kumamoto. Nippon Autopolis">F1 News - Grandprix.com > GP Encyclopedia > Circuits > Nippon Autopolis/ref> Tsurumaki ...

and pole at Motegi, the team withdrew from Super GT at the end of 2019.

2020

Team Goh partnered with

Dale Coyne Racing Dale Coyne Racing (DCR) is an American professional open-wheel racing team that currently competes in the IndyCar Series and Indy NXT. The team was founded in 1984 and is owned by former driver Dale Coyne. From 1995 to 2000, the team was known ...

for the 2020 IndyCar Series, entering the series as Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh, with its ex-Super GT driver Alex Palou driving the team's No. 55 entry. Palou finished third in just his third career start at

Road America Road America is a motorsport Road racing, road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the IndyCar Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship, Sports Car Club ...

. He would finish the season 16th in the drivers' standings, before Palou and Team Goh departed Dale Coyne Racing ahead of the 2021 IndyCar season. In 2020, Team Goh announced a partnership with BMW Team Studie in Super GT, with McLaren Customer Racing Japan now operating as Customer Racing Support Limited (CSL). Kazumichi Goh was named the General Manager of BMW Team Studie x CSL's GT300 entry, and Seiji Ara was named one of the team's drivers, alongside gentleman racer Tomohide Yamaguchi. Goh's involvement with BMW Team Studie continued for the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

2021

In 2021, Team Goh partnered with Team Mugen to form Red Bull Mugen Team Goh, which entered the number 15

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks created and owned by the Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With a market share of 43%, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2020, and the third most valuable soft drink brand, behind Coca-Cola and ...

Dallara SF19/Honda for Hiroki Otsu in the

Super Formula Championship The Japanese Super Formula Championship is a formula racing series held primarily in Japan. It is considered to be the pinnacle of single-seater racing in Japan or Asia as a whole, making it one of the top motorsport series in the region. The ...

. Otsu finished the season sixth in the drivers' championship and won Rookie of the Year honours, while Mugen/Team Goh finished seventh in the teams' championship with their single car entry.

2022

For their second season in Super Formula, Team Goh ran as an independent, two-car team with Honda engines. Kazuhiro Ikeda, the president of Servus Japan, succeeded Kazumichi Goh as the team principal and representative director of the company, while Red Bull junior driver Ren Sato and Atsushi Miyake were announced as the drivers for the

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

season. The former Honda Formula One project manager, Masashi Yamamoto, was appointed the team manager. Sato finished the season twelfth in the drivers' championship, with Miyake fifteenth. The team finished seventh in the teams' championship for the second year in a row.

TGM Grand Prix (2023 - Current)

Following the loss of Red Bull backing, Team Goh withdrew from Super Formula at the end of the season. Its former partner Servus Japan took over the entry for the 2023 season, renaming the team TGM Grand Prix. TGM is short for 'Team Goh Motorsport' in a nod to the team's former identity. They signed Toshiki Oyu and rookie

Cem Bölükbaşı Cem Bölükbaşı (; born 9 February 1998) is a Turkish racing driver and former sim racer who competes in the 2025 European Le Mans Series for Nielsen Racing. He previously drove for DKR Engineering in the 2024 European Le Mans Series. Bölük ...

, who competed in Formula 2 in 2022. Bölükbaşı was the first Turkish driver to race in the series. Toshiki Oyu suffered from a broken collarbone during training ahead of round 6. Hiroki Otsu once again stepped in as a replacement driver. Ahead of the final Suzuka weekend, TGM Grand Prix announced that Toshiki Oyu would not be competing in the double-header, with Riki Okusa as the replacement driver making his Super Formula debut. Juju Noda or will be known as "Juju" make her debut in Super Formula with the Team for 2024. Tgm-grand-prix-1

TGM Grand Prix changed both their name and their engine supplier. The team will no longer run Honda engines and instead now joined Rookie Racing in serving as

Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) is a motorsport division of the Japanese car manufacturer Toyota. Alongside competition activities, the division develops technologies for the Gazoo Racing (GR) sub-brand of Toyota's sports and performance-oriented pro ...

's junior team, called TGR-DC. The team also acquired a new title sponsor in telecommunications operator

KDDI () is a Japanese telecommunications operator. It was established in 2000 through the merger of , , and . In 2001, it merged with a subsidiary named Au, which was formed through the merger of seven automotive and mobile phone companies from t ...

, with the team entering the 2025 season under the name ''KDDI TGMGP TGR-DC''.

Racing results

24 Hours of Le Mans

IndyCar Series

( key) * Season still in progress

Super Formula

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Team Goh Japanese auto racing teams Auto racing teams established in 1996 1996 establishments in Japan 24 Hours of Le Mans teams FIA GT Championship teams European Le Mans Series teams Super GT teams Super Formula teams FIA Sportscar Championship entrants Honda in motorsport IndyCar Series teams