Since switching to the NSX GT3 in 2019, ARTA had struck upon a solid formula by pairing veteran Shinichi Takagi with the next bright young thing from the Honda junior stable - winning the title that year with Nirei Fukuzumi before he was promoted to the GT500 ranks.
Fellow Honda-backed youngsters Toshiki Oyu and Ren Sato then took over the second seat in successive years, albeit not with the same level of success as Fukuzumi. But for 2022, 52-year-old Takagi’s unexpected move to rejoin his old teammate Morio Nitta at K-tunes Racing forced ARTA to opt for a new lead driver in its line-up for the first time in more than 20 years.
