Matsuda Confirmed at KCMG for Silverstone, COTA

Japanese sports car racing ace Tsugio Matsuda has been confirmed for a partial-season drive with KCMG in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The Super Formula and Super GT veteran will join full-season drivers Richard Bradley and Matt Howson at the wheel of the Hong Kong-based team’s Oreca 03 Nissan for the season-opening Six Hours of Silverstone as well as the Circuit of The Americas round in September.

Matsuda made two starts in KCMG’s LMP2 effort last year, including the FIA WEC event at Fuji as well as the Asian Le Mans Series season finale at Sepang.

“It is my objective to give back to the team and my supporters by delivering positive results in the upcoming events,” Matsuda said. “I am looking forward to this challenge and can’t wait to test the Oreca Nissan LMP2 at Paul Ricard next week and to compete alongside Richard and Matt in April.”

Managing Director Paul Ip added:  “This latest addition to our driver line up strengthens our aim to be one of the LMP2 frontrunners on the WEC grid this season.

“Tsugio has raced and won titles in top level Formula and GT championships in Japan. His skill and competitiveness translates to wins and we saw how he delivered strong results in our LMP2 in the 6 Hours of Fuji and 3 Hours of Sepang last year.”

No word has been given on the third driver for the remaining six FIA WEC events.

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