Aoi Formula Group
| File:AoiFGroup.png | |
| Full Name | Aoi Formula Group |
| Base | Fuji, Shizuoka, Japan |
| Founder(s) |  Kyoko Aoi
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| Team Principal(s) | Kyoko Aoi
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| Technical Director | Kyoshiro Nagumo
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Aoi Formula Group is the racing team of the Japanese sportscar and tuning company Aoi Motors Group. It focuses primarly on LMP and GT racing in Asia, but recently it has seen it's attention turn on international racing, with the hope of spreading the brand of Aoi in other parts of the world.
Early Ventures
Aoi Motors was founded in 1997 by Ukyo Aoi. Ukyo was fascinated by new technologies arising, and given his background as car designer for both the Kojima team and Honda, he hoped to make "the ultimate sportscar". Giving his previous background and it's interesting concept, Honda agreeded to provide engine, technical and financial support to the project. Thus, in 2004, Aoi released it's first car, the Aurora GE. The Aurora GE was a unique sportscars in that used a V6 diesel powered engine by Honda that reached up to 650 bhp at max revs. This high output was thanks to it's twincharging, a method Ukyo loved to use while building cars. The results was a highly-complicated yet very fast car. Other aspects that stand out was it's moveable rear wings, a rear-engined design, and a CVT. All of this made the Aurora GE one of the most innovative cars of it's time. However, Ukyo refused to let it's creation do racing, as he felt that "he wanted to make the fastest road cars, not the fastest racing cars". The car, while a hit in Japan and East Asia, was never popular internationally; prizing was the main contention point, as well as lack of exposure. Ukyo, turning 75 by 2011, gave the role of CEO to his son, Hideki Aoi. Hideki, with the approval of his father, took the company on a different direction, and started focusing on a new model that would be ready for race. This model became the Superion GTO, released in 2015. This model expiremented with a new technology; hydrogen engines, made again by Honda. These engines could total 550 bhp at it's maximum output, and the car contained a new KERS system - that would only be present at the racing version of the GTO. The car became even more of a hit than the Aurora GE, becoming a success not only in roads, but also on the circuit.
ALMS and PES
On late 2015, shortly after the release of the Superion GTO, Hideki Aoi announced that a racing team operation would open for the manufacturer, with their operation being naturally centered around Asia. The racing team was spearheaded by Hideki's daughter, Kyoko Aoi. The team debuted in ALMS with a racing version of the Superion GTO called the Superion GTP. They also competed in PES with a Honda NSX provided by the manufacturer. Aoi became an incredibly successfull team on ALMS, frequently winning the championship, as well as doing incredibly well on several one-offs at PES' GT500 class. This success gave Kyoko and Hideki the idea to expand the Aoi Formula Group internationally; as 2018 was coming around, the interests of the team grew high on the Endurance Challenge.
Endurance Challenge project
On late 2018, Aoi announced to the world it's intention to compete in the FIA Endurance Challenge, with it also announcing a GTSS part-time customer operation, as Kyoko Aoi said; "While we are very confident that we will take home trophies, at this state in time, our crews are very inexperienced with international racing, and thus need to overcome the hurdles." The designer was announced to be Kyoshiro Nagumo; Nagumo is known for his radical approach to car design, of which Aoi said "It fits our image perfectly". In 2019, Aoi Formula Group revealed that the EC LMP is gonna be called "Al-Zard NP-1".
List of cars produced by Aoi
Road-legal cars
Aurora GE - 2004-2015 - 174 models (total)
- Ex-Aurora GE - 2008-2012 - 25 models
- Ex-Aurora GE/2 - 2012-2015 - 16 models
- Ex-Aurora GE/3 - 2015 - 5 models
Superion GTO - 2015- - 92 models (total)
- Fire Superion GTO - 2019- - 5 models
Racing cars
Superion GTP - 2016- - ALMS
Al-Zard NP-1 - 2020- - FIA Endurance Challenge