Last Update: 01-05-2011
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Last Update: 01-05-2011
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Cyber Formula GPX~~!
TEAM's PROFILE
Aoi
Aoi
Concern / Aoi Motors / Aoi Formula / Aoi Zip Formula
Corporate
Profile:
Team
Profile: Things improved in 2015 when the team hired F3 champ Naoki Shinjyo. Later that year, Aoi also bought out an American team, ZIP Racing, that was having financial difficulties. ZIP was cannibalized by Aoi Formula to form Aoi ZIP Racing and Bleed Kaga was brought in to drive. The championship continued to prove elusive, despite a succession of drivers--in 2015, Aoi ZIP Formula employed J. M. Lenz and then Knight Shoemach, who was brought in to try and work wonders but was motivated more by his own personal agenda. In the end, it was dedicated Aoi veteran Shinjyo who finally brought home the championship in 2017.
Unfortunately, Aoi leadership has often been remarkable for its short memory and lack of patience. The first major signs of strain appeared just a year later, when Shinjyo was put under ultimatum to win a race--or else. He dodged that bullet, but more mediocre results in 2019 brought the situation to a head before the start of the 15th GPX in 2020. Aoi Formula was merged into Aoi ZIP Formula, which was removed from Kyoko's control. Due to a lack of results, she was demoted to vice-president under Kyoshiro Nagumo, who sacked Shinjyo, halted the current development program, and brought in his own crew. The result was the Al-zard incident, which concluded with Nagumo under arrest and Aoi banned from racing for one year. They would have been better off just sticking with Kaga and Shinjyo...
Kyoko returned to her former position in 2022, but Aoi ZIP Formula's chances were effectively crippled by a two-year old car and the company board's refusal to give the racing program the resources it needed to make up its deficits. However, the team was still expected to bring home a championship to prove that it had the right to a continued existence. What a swell bunch of guys. In any case, Nagumo provided the team with yet another mystery car, allowing Kaga to at last win the championship. At the end of the season, Kyoko goes into what promises to be only a temporary retirement, Kaga's off to America, and Nagumo is finally gone from racing. Come the next season, Miki and Shinjyo are back (Miki gets a promotion!), and Seiichirou Shiba joins the team.
Despite being an industry leader and a player in Cyber Formula since its inception, Aoi appears to have no idea of what it takes to win championships. The problem is less with the racing team than with the company board, which seems bound and determined to do everything it can, short of shooting its drivers in the feet, to cripple Aoi's chances at victory. It'd be nice to blame all this on some insider conspiracy (taking down the Aoi family in a bid for control, perhaps?), but sheer apathy is more likely to be the real cause. Which is a little odd, as Cyber Formula is a perfect opportunity for manufacturers to both boost name recognition and develop new technologies that might later be applied to regular cars. GIO knew how to play the game properly--they hooked up with a winning Japanese marque at the same time as their bid to become Aoi's competitor in the domestic Japanese market, while Aoi was still dealing with the aftermath of the Al-Zard debacle. That ugly episode was a shining example of Aoi's consistently gross mismanagement--whose bright idea was it to gut the team and hand it to the most dubious individual that could possibly be found? Still, though there seems to be no indication that Aoi management has undergone any major changes (apart from Kyoko's departure) between 2022 and 2023, the fact that the team is still there and Shinjyo is back suggests that the board may have learned its lesson. One can hope, at least.
Year-By-Year
History:
as the driver. He finishes 19th.
actual CF manufacturer.
team becomes Aoi Formula. Nanase ends up 16th.
hiatus to work on developing its car.
drive for the team and places 6th. Superion GT, and finishes the year in 2nd place. Zip Racing is incorporated into the second team Aoi ZIP Formula, with Kaga
as the driver, and he places 7th. driver, and then from the 5th round on Knight Shoemach gets to drive the Exsperion Z/A-8. Shoemach ends up 3rd, Shinjyo is
2nd. lasts. Meanwhile, supersub Lenz comes in 8th for Aoi ZIP
Formula. a hand, at the cost of valuable championship points. In a close battle, Kaga winds up the year in 2nd place, and Shinjyo is 5th
overall. the final standings. Maybe if the team would actually develop a
new car... Aoi Formula is merged with Aoi ZIP Formula, Nagumo takes control of the show, and the Al-Zard program takes priority. Phil replaces Shinjyo, and would have placed 3rd except that the team was CHEATING. Kaga is 4th. At the end of the season,
Aoi has a 1-year ban from racing. again, with pathetic results. Nagumo hands Kaga the Ouga AN-21 and the Aoi team tastes championship victory once
again, after which Kyoko retires and Kaga leaves the team. a new driver, Shiba. Miki gets to wear the big coat.
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