Japan Racing Promotion (JRP) announced on 26th October that real and virtual (e-Motorsports) racing driver Igor Fraga, is to be appointed as their ‘SUPER FORMULA e-Motorsports Ambassador’. He will assume his new role on 1st November.

Of Brazilian descent but born in Japan, Igor Fraga (full name Igor Omura Fraga), started competing in kart racing at the age of three in Japan and won seven national karting championships. In 2008, he entered and won the Asian Karting Championship held across four different countries.

Since moving on from karts, his rise has been spectacular winning the Brazilian Formula 3 Championship in 2017 and achieving four wins and placing third in the European F3 Championship in 2019. In 2020, Fraga won the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand, defeating current F1driver Yuki Tsunoda on the way.

Fraga is also a passionate racing game player and has played them since he was a small child. In 2018, he won the inaugural FIA Gran Turismo Nations Cup e-Motorsport event. He would again be crowned world champion in 2019 and 2021, this time representing Toyota in the Manufacturer Series of the same competition. Fraga is a racing driver who continues to steer between the real and the virtual worlds of motorsports.

Making the dream of becoming a real racing driver, a reality

In the ambassador announcement, JRP made the following comment.

"JRP is determined to continue to work actively in cooperating and strengthening the ties with the e-Motorsports industry which includes also the "SUPER FORMULA NEXT50 (GO) Project”. By appointing Igor Fraga, who is globally active both in the real and the virtual racing world, as the SUPER FORMULA Ambassador, our goal is also that e-Motorsports players around the world will become more aware of the exclusive value and power that characterize our one and only SUPER FORMULA series. JRP is determined to support and promote the unique and prized “two-sword” concept that is: "from the virtual e-Motorsports world to a successful racing driver on track”.”

In e-Motorsports, Fraga is currently competing in the ‘Gran Turismo World Series 2022’. It will be fascinating to see what will happen next on his journey as he continues to blur the lines between real and virtual racing.