GT500 Champion team ARTA gives a seat to Takuya Izawa for '08
15 January 2008, By SuperGT.net
Giving a shot at a GT rookie to replace team's former ace Ito!
ARTA Project announced that the team will welcome Takuya Izawa to fill up their driver's line-up for 2008 SUPER GT series.
Izawa showed his aggressive driving in the race at the Round 6 Pokka 1000km (Suzuka) last year where he drove for REAL NSX as their third driver and contributed for team's fifth place finish. Considering that Pokka 1000km was his first ever SUPER GT race and that he has no experience as a regular driver in GT300 class, this will be his de facto rookie season.
For ARTA, the team has to fill in their former ace driver's spot with a new and enthusiastic driver since Daisuke Ito who played a key part in capturing the series title for the ARTA NSX has announced to join a member of the SC430 camp, Team LeMans. Izawa's teammate is yet to be known from the team release but it is most likely that Ralph Firman will be back with the team for this season.
Izawa is 23 years old and from Tokyo. After competing in racing karts, he graduated from the Suzuka Circuit Racing School. Then, in '03, he took his career to Formula Renault in Germany and Formula Dream. He competed in All-Japan F3 Championship in '06 and '07 and won 2 races. For '08 season, he will also compete in Formula Nippon driving for ARTA. Izawa is a young hope for both Honda and ARTA.
