AWD Racing Steps Up to GT3 With Audi, Hitotsuyama Support

AWD Racing has revealed plans to step up to GT3 competition for this year’s SRO Japan Cup using an Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II with support from Hitotsuyama Racing.

The team is entering a full season of SRO competition for the first time after a one-off outing in last year’s second round at Fuji Speedway, where Jake Parsons and Jesse Swinimer won in the GTC class sharing a Porsche 992 GT3 Cup car.

Now Australian ex-SUPER GT racer Parsons and Canadian driver Swinimer, who also enjoyed success in Porsche Carrera Cup last season, will take on the full four-round season in the GT3 Pro/Am class starting at Sportsland Sugo in May.

It comes as part of a tie-up with Hitotsuyama, which has a long history of operating Audi machinery in SUPER GT and also fields an example of the R8 in Super Taikyu.

“Last year was the team’s introduction to SRO racing, and the results were good,” driver/team director Parsons told Sportscar365. “Jesse performed well, so we felt we were ready to step up to Pro-Am in GT3 instead of doing a full season of GTC.

“The decision was down to Jesse’s level. It has been a very expedited process. He only got his International C licence at the start of the year and drove a GT4 car in January, and by the end of the year was winning in the Cup car.

“It was my view and the engineers’ view that his performance was good enough to try GT3, so we decided to take on the challenge and make that happen. There wasn’t really anything holding us back as far as his abilities were concerned.

“The plan now is to get Jesse up to speed in a GT3, and also for me to refamiliarize myself because it’s been a couple of years since I last raced one.”

Parsons, whose last race outing in GT3 machinery came for D’station Racing in Super Taikyu in 2023, admits that the increase in competition could be a “shock to the system” for Swinimer given his success in Cup machinery last year.

“I’m definitely not expecting that we can podium every race,” he said. “The field has SUPER GT drivers and some very seasoned Ams, with a lot of experience of the cars.

“I think it will be a transition year for us, also because the R8 is not the newest car out there anymore. It might take us a few races to be fighting at the front.”