Ihara Joins OAK Team TOTAL for Fuji

Photo: DPPI

Keiko Ihara will join OAK Racing Team TOTAL in next weekend’s Asian Le Mans Series round at Fuji Speedway.

The Japanese driver, who contested the European Le Mans Series season-opener at Silverstone and the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year in a Larbre Competition Morgan-Judd,  will team with championship leaders David Cheng and Ho-Pin Tung in OAK’s similar LMP2 contender.

Ihara drove for OAK in four rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship last year.

“I’m really looking forward to racing with my skilled OAK teammates, David who was my teammate last year, and Ho-Pin who was one of my rivals when he raced in the Formula BMW Championship in which I also took part,” Ihara said.

“I’d like to say thank you so much to Jacques Nicolet and the OAK staff for giving me this great opportunity. I will do my best in my home race, the ALMS round at the Fuji Speedway.”

OAK Racing Team TOTAL team manager Remy Brouard added: “Keiko knows the Fuji circuit like the back of her hand and in addition she’s very popular in Japan. These are two very important factors.”

Cheng and Tung are coming off a dominant victory in last month’s season-opener at Inje, which saw the Michelin-shod entry claim a 10-lap win over the competition.

The entry list for the second round of the season at Fuji Speedway has yet to be released. Six cars took the green flag in Korea, although more are expected for the Japanese round.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John