Gran Turismo World Series champion Igor Fraga has won his first race in the Japanese single-seater series, Super Formula.
The 2018 Gran Turismo World Series Nations Cup champion secured victory in round ten of the championship at Japan’s Suzuka Circuit.
2025 marks the debut year for Fraga competing in Super Formula, after moving from the Super Formula Lights feeder series to race in the highest tier of Japanese single-seater motorsport.
The two-time Gran Turismo Manufacturers Cup champion started round ten of the championship from the front row of the grid, passing polesitter Tadasuke Makino around the outside of the first corner to take the lead.
Fraga led for the remainder of the race, taking victory by two seconds. The win also earned Nakajima Racing its first win in five years.
Gran Turismo has played a pivotal role in supporting the real-world racing career of Fraga, who has become 2025’s Super Formula Rookie of the Year after scoring victory at Suzuka. The sim racing title’s logo features across Fraga’s racing overalls and helmet. In addition to Gran Turismo’s support, sim racing hardware brand Fanatec is also a sponsor of the driver.
Real World Sim Racing Success
Fraga joins several former sim racers who have competed and succeeded in real-world motorsport.
In 2019, James Baldwin won the World’s Fastest Gamer competition and has since competed in several motorsport series across Europe. During the 2020 British GT Championship, Baldwin won on debu and went on going on to finish fourth in the overall standings.
Sim racing is one of the few esports genres where skills from the virtual world can transfer to the real-world racetrack. With Fraga cementing his place in Super Formula, the win is another milestone for sim racing, acting as a platform to equip aspiring drivers with the skills required to compete in traditional motorsport.
