Team Étoile will embark on a full FIM Endurance World Championship campaign in 2024 – 10 years after the idea of taking on the ultimate test of rider and motorcycle was first considered by Team Principal Takashi Ichikawa.
Japanese owned but based near Le Mans in France, Team Étoile has recruited Hikari Okubo and Yudai Kamei to race its Dunlop-equipped BMW M1000RR in the Superstock-based FIM Endurance World Cup, which includes the Suzuka 8 Hours in Japan as part of its four-event schedule for the first time.
Discussions regarding the remainder of the Team Étoile’s #25 rider line-up are ongoing with further announcements planned in due course.
Team Étoile Team Principal Takashi Ichikawa said: It is a great honour for me to announce that Team Étoile will be joining the FIM Endurance World Championship from 2024. We would like to thank everyone who has supported Team Étoile. The French word in our name, étoile, means star. I had a couple of years training as a French chef in Lyon and worked in a Michelin-starred restaurant. Since then, I’ve been looking for a chance to put ‘star’ on my project, and now the time has come. The team’s logo design is a mix of the Japanese and French national flags giving images of collaborating between two countries.
With its EWC participation part of a long-term growth strategy, the future is very much the focus for Team Étoile, as Ichikawa explained: Team Étoile is targeting to grow a young, global fanbase and to increase the number of friends who join the EWC from Japan. Also, we would like to deliver excitement of 24-hour endurance races through our project to trigger people’s interest in motorsports.
A rider line-up of experience and potential
Hirari Okubo brings a wealth of important experience to Team Étoile having completed nine seasons racing in Europe, including in MotoE for the last three years. He’s also contested the 24 Heures Motos and the Bol d’Or in the past. Yudai Kamei, meanwhile, is a frontrunner in Japan’s JSB1000 category and has been a regular in the Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race.
Team Étoile’s ‘star’ qualities on a plate
Launched in January 2023 as an all-new entity and separate from any other outfits, Team Étoile operates from twin bases in Edogawa City, Tokyo and Teloché, near Le Mans. In addition to Team Principal Takashi Ichikawa, Kentaro Sone and Taiki Sato are core members. They work alongside experienced mechanics, but also with younger mechanics with the aim of equipping them with all the skills they need as they progress as part of the team.
For the 2024 EWC season, Team Étoile has partnered with alpha Racing, a BMW Motorrad Motorsport Official Partner, and will receive full engineering support. While Team Étoile will work with Japanese riders and personnel initially, it is aiming to achieve international representation in the future.
According to Team Étoile, its objective is to work with full enthusiasm to achieve success in endurance races. Although we may encounter unforeseen challenges, Team Étoile remains confident that our hard work will ultimately pay off.
The riders said what? Okubo and Kamei look ahead to 2024
Hirari Okubo: A whole new Japanese team in the EWC is amazing news for me and I am happy to be invited as a rider by Team Principal Takashi Ichikawa. My goal is to use my experience in endurance races, for instance the Suzuka 8 Hours, Le Mans and Bol d’Or. Also, nine years of racing experience in Europe will make be a good influence on the team. But we firstly make the team organisation and bike preparation stable, being ready for the season- opening 24-hour race at Le Mans.
Yudai Kamei: First of all I would like to thank Takashi Ichikawa for inviting me as a rider to the team. I’m really happy to have been involved in 10 years of racing activities and I’m also getting excited about my new challenge of endurance races. A new motorcycle and new tyres will be challenging for me as well, but I’m sure I can contribute to the team with the experience I’ve gained. Once again, I’d like to say thank you to Ichikawa-san and all of my sponsors. I will continue to push myself to the limit.
