Igor Fraga

Igor Omura Fraga (born September 26, 1998) is a Japanese-born Brazilian racing driver, esports player, and former member of the Red Bull Junior Team. He currently competes in the 2024 Super GT Series for Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage in the GT300 class, and is a reserve driver for Nakajima Racing in the Super Formula Championship. He was the 2020 Toyota Racing Series champion, winning the title by six points ahead of Liam Lawson. Fraga also currently serves as the esports ambassador for the Super Formula Championship.

He has achieved success in esports as well, winning the inaugural FIA Gran Turismo Nations Cup and McLaren Shadow Project racing series in 2018. Fraga holds a joint-record four total championships in the Gran Turismo World Series, tied with Takuma Miyazono, across three disciplines. He also competed in the 2017 Formula One eSports Series but with limited success.

Early career
Fraga began his career through karting in 2004 at the Biwako SL Series. He won the Kids Karting class championship during consecutive years in 2004 and 2005, and continued to win the Mini ROK class championships in 2006 and 2007. Fraga would later win the 2008 Asian Karting Open Championship in the Mini ROK class the following year.

2015-18: Junior formula in the Americas
Fraga raced in Formula 3 Brasil for three years, all with Prop Car Racing. Fraga's first season in 2015 did not start well, retiring in its first three races under Class B. At the following race, he finished eighth overall, and third in class. Fraga would earn a total of two pole positions, four fastest laps, nine podiums, and four class wins in the season and would finish third in Class B with 117 points. In 2016, Fraga was promoted to Class A, but only raced in four races, those being the first event at the Velopark and the last event at Interlagos. He would finish eleventh in the Class A standings, with one podium and 19 points. Fraga would return to the newly renamed Academy class in 2017. Fraga won the class, finishing the season with 190 points, with seven pole positions, seven fastest laps, 13 podiums, and 10 class wins. Simultaneously with Formula 3 Brasil, Fraga also raced in NACAM Formula 4 Championship in 2017. In his only season in 2017–18, Fraga finished second overall and earned 286 points, with five pole positions, seven fastest laps, 12 podiums, and six race wins. In 2018, Fraga participated in the U.S. F2000 National Championship. He ended the season in fourth overall, with three podiums and 213 points.

2019-20: Debut in European and Oceanian formula
In 2019, Fraga made his European debut in the inaugural Formula Regional European Championship with RP Motorsport, winning four races and finishing 3rd and therefore best of the non-Prema drivers, behind Frederik Vesti and Enzo Fittipaldi.

The following year in 2020 saw him participate in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, racing with Charouz Racing System alongside Roman Staněk and David Schumacher. Having only scored one point throughout the season, Fraga was set to switch to Hitech Grand Prix at the final round in Mugello, replacing Max Fewtrell, but Charouz would not authorize the move, which would place Fraga on the sidelines for the finale. He would finish the season in 24th.

In March of that year, Fraga was named as a new signing to the Red Bull Junior Team, after winning the Toyota Racing Series championship in 2020, beating out fellow Red Bull Junior Liam Lawson. He was released from the programme following the 2020 season.

2023-24: Super GT and Super Formula Lights
At the end of 2022, Fraga partook in a Super Formula test with B-Max Racing. Fraga later took part in the post-season rookie test with Team Impul, driving Yuhi Sekiguchi's #19 car. For 2023, he was confirmed to compete in the 2023 Super Formula Lights championship, racing with B-Max Racing, later earning his first win in the series at Sportsland Sugo.

Fraga also participated in the 2023 Super GT Series that same year in the GT300 class, competing with Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage in the Lexus RC F GT3 alongside Yuga Furutani and Miki Koyama, the latter joining the lineup in five of the eight rounds. Fraga and Furutani would score twice across the season, with two consecutive points finishes at Suzuka Circuit and Sugo, finishing 10th and 7th respectively. Koyama, who entered with the team for the Suzuka round, did not run a stint during the race and thus remained scoreless. Igor Fraga is set to return for a second season with Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage for 2024. On February 2024, Fraga was announced as a reserve driver for Nakajima Racing in the Super Formula Championship.

Esports career
In 2017, Fraga qualified for the first Formula One Esports Series final, having finished 4th and 2nd in his Heat group. His results in the final however weren't as good, finishing the three races 14th, 18th and scored six points in the last race where he finished 15th. He ended the final 18th out of 20 drivers.

Fraga has participated in the FIA-Certified Gran Turismo Championships, and made his first appearance in the series in the inaugural 2018 season, participating in the Nations Cup. On the build-up to the World Final, Igor Fraga won the Americas regional final event in Las Vegas, finishing first overall with 43 points in three races and securing a World Final spot. Fraga would take the inaugural Nations Cup championship in the World Final in Monaco with 54 points. Fraga returned to the series in 2019 for both Nations Cup and Manufacturer Series championships. A first corner spin in Red Bull Ring at the first semi-final of the World Final sent Fraga to last place and he would later be eliminated in the Nations Cup as a result, finishing 10th. He later won that year's Manufacturer Series championship for Toyota with teammates Rayan Derrouiche and Tomoaki Yamanaka. Fraga returned for the rebooted 2020 season in both competitive series. He did not qualify for the World Finals for the Nations Cup, but did finish 4th overall in the World Finals for the Manufacturer Series alongside Shohei Sugimori and Valerio Gallo.

Fraga competed in the inaugural McLaren Shadow Project in 2018 and won the series, beating runners-up Nuno Pinto and Miguel Ballester in the grand final.

In 2021, Fraga would compete in the inaugural Olympic Virtual Series, participating in the 'Motor Sport' event in the Gran Turismo Sport game. Fraga scored a 2nd-place finish in the first race, but would not be able to complete the following two races due to a network problem, which he later clarified on his Twitter. In 2022, Fraga won the Toyota GR GT Cup championship in the Gran Turismo World Series. Fraga was also appointed as the esports ambassador for the Super Formula Championship later that year.

Personal life
Fraga was born in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan to Brazilian parents. He previously resided in Ipatinga, Brazil, but later moved back to Japan in 2022, which he had announced on his Twitter account. Fraga is a multilinguist, capable of speaking Portuguese, English, Japanese, and Spanish.

Complete Formula Regional European Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Toyota Racing Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete FIA Formula 3 Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Super Formula Lights results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)