Autosport - 5 March 2015 | Page 110

WorldMags.net INTRODUCING Nobuharu Matsushita 110 ISHIHARA/LAT Born October 13 1993 From Tokyo, Japan 2015 GP2 Series with ART Grand Prix 2014 Wins the Japanese F3 Championship for HFDP Racing (6 wins), makes GP2 test debut in Abu Dhabi in late November 2013 Finishes fifth in first Japanese F3 season, with five podiums but no wins 2012 Wins the Formula Challenge Japan single-seater title (5 wins), beating now-Super Formula racer Ryo Hirakawa to the crown 2011 Finishes second in Formula Challenge Japan with one win 2010 First season in car racing, finishing sixth in Formula Challenge Japan as well as starting three races in Formula BMW Asia ince it made its second Formula 1 coming in the 1980s, Honda has always been keen to develop Japanese drivers. Even when outside F1, the company has invested heavily in driver development, with plenty of home-based drivers carving themselves successful careers both nationally and internationally off the back of its support. Honda’s return to grand prix racing with McLaren was always likely to fire further interest in junior drivers, hence the arrival of Nobuharu Matsushita at ART Grand Prix for this year’s GP2 Series. The 21-year-old’s dream of F1 was fired by a trip to the Japanese Grand Prix with his father at the age of four. “Even now I remember clearly,” he says. “The moment you enter the circuit and the unique, sweet smell of fuel, and the tremendous roar of the F1 machines going past in a flash. After that I never went on rollercoasters or to amusement parks – I would just put 100-yen coins into car-arcade games. So my father took me to the local kart track, and that was the beginning of my racing life.” Eighteen years later Matsushita replaces Takuya Izawa in an ART squad that has become effectively a McLarenHonda junior team. Izawa, now 30, was never likely to emerge as the driver for Honda to take into grand prix racing, but Matsushita has a much greater chance of doing so having won last year’s Japanese F3 Championship. Traditionally, most domestic drivers would then switch to Super Formula and/or the thriving Super GT series. But, off S DUNBAR/GP2 MATSUSHITA CV Move to GP2 comes with top team ART NEXT WEEK 110 AUTOSPORT.COM MARCH 5 2015 ISHIHARA/LAT The Honda protege and Japanese F3 champ heads to GP2 with ART in 2015 the back of a promising GP2 test in Abu Dhabi late last year, Honda has opted to dispatch ‘Nobu’ to Europe. After a quiet first morning of running, ending the session slowest, Matsushita made a significant step the following afternoon, ending up 11th fastest, 1.3s off the pace. While it was not a dramatic start, he outpaced drivers with more experience both of the track and this kind of car. “Nobuharu quickly integrated himself into the team at the Abu Dhabi test,” said ART team manager Sebastien Philippe. “He will have many new things to discover and the start of the season will be marked by a learning phase for him, but ART has full confidence in his qualities and in the team’s experience to help Nobuharu integrate very quickly.” HIGH-PRESSURE COMPARISONS What this means is that team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne, who finished second last year, is the team’s title shot and that Matsushita will be given time to adapt. Realistically, it’s going to be very difficult for him to make a big impression in 2015, even driving for a formidable team such as ART. Matsushita is doing his best to settle in. “To win in F1 is the biggest goal,” he says. “So far I have been running [through the sport], but now I have a further steep thorny path. Living alone in France I may struggle to get accustomed, but I’m always happy to have the challenge of new things.” If Matsushita can emerge as a consistent points threat in the season’s second half, that would represent a good foundation for 2016. Inevitably, expectations will be high, as they always are for an ART driver, but with a sensible progression in year one, then a big step in the second season, Matsushita could be in with a chance of becoming the first Japanese driver to race in F1 with Honda propulsion since Takuma Sato at Super Aguri in 2008. Edd Straw Hamilton bids for greatness Plus: Rally Mexico action; WTCC season kick-off WorldMags.net