is a Japanese tuning company and racing team from Toyota, Aichi, mainly competing in the Super GT series and specializing in Toyota tuning parts.
History The company was formed in 1972 as Sigma Automotive Co., Ltd by Shin Kato to develop and produce motorsport related parts and accessories as well as operating their own racing team.SARD
In 1985, the racing division of Sigma Automotive became an independent company, Kato established a company called Sigma Advanced Racing Development (SARD) specializing in motorsport as well as producing aftermarket parts for Toyota automobiles.JCN Network: Toyota to Enter Hybrid Sedan in 24-hour Race
Products
Sigma Advanced Racing Development (SARD) develops and manufactures tuning parts mainly for Toyota cars, namely turbochargers, redesigned fuel systems and cooling systems, suspension parts and aerodynamic kits.Sard Racing The company is not restricted to Toyotas as they are well known within the aftermarket tuning market for their fueling components used by numerous tuning companies.
Current Product Lines
Complete Car Aero Wing Dry Carbon Interior Exhaust Intake & Suction Fuel Oil Chemical Cooling Footwork Body Build Powertrain Engine Parts Turbo Electronics Sub Parts Goods & Apparel
Also, under the SARD Marine Project, a separate project to its car works, it builds and sell its Toyota powered motorboats.SARD Marine Project
Motorsport
Sigma Automotive began its racing career in the Fuji Grand Champion Series and in 1973 participated for the first time in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with their Sigma MC73, powered by a Mazda Wankel engine, becoming the first Japanese car to qualify for Le Mans, before retiring early in the race with electrical problems.Le Mans and the Racing Rotary The team returned for the following year with a Mazda backed MC74, finishing but not making enough laps to be classified. In 1975 the team switched to a Toyota powerplant in the MC75, only to suffer from another early retirement. After transitioning out of international motorsports, Sigma Automotive would continue to compete in numerous domestic series.
SARD returned to international motorsports in 1989, debuting as a Toyota backed team named Toyota Team SARD in the first round of World Sports Prototype Championship held in Suzuka, using a Toyota 89C-V, also competing in the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. With the demise of Group C in 1993, SARD switched to the newly formed JGTC series and also return to Le Mans with a V8 powered MR2 known as the MC8-R, having the same spell of misfortune as they had during the 1970s, competing in 1995 and 1996, only to fail to pre-qualify in the face of the newer generations of GT1 cars in the following year. SARD also entered a Toyota Supra in first two years of the MC8-R program where it faced against fellow Japanese GT machines in form of Nissan Skyline GT-R and Honda NSX, the latter which also raced in and won the GT2 class in 1995. The JGTC-specification Supra was entered in the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans where it finished 14th, the team returned again in 1996 but did not finish.
SARD continued to compete in the JGTC and Super GT series with works-backed Toyotas and Lexuses; the team currently fields a Toyota GR Supra under the Toyota Team SARD name. In the 2016 Super GT Championship, SARD won its first-ever Super GT championship with a Lexus RC F driven by Heikki Kovalainen and Kohei Hirate.
In 2006, SARD competed in the 24 Hours of Tokachi, a Super Taikyu race, with a hybrid powered Lexus GS450h finishing 4th in class and 17th overall.Autoblog: Denso SARD Supra HV-R takes the pole at Tokachi 24 For the following year, SARD took their Super GT specification Supra out of retirement, installed a hybrid version of its Super GT 3UZ-FE engine, giving out and of torque.Autoblog: Toyota SARD entering Supra HV-R hybrid racer in Tokachi 24 hours The Supra, rechristened as the Denso SARD Supra HV-R and driven by series regulars André Couto, Akira Iida, Katsuyuki Hiranaka and Tatsuya Kataoka TOYOTA MOTOR SPORTS − 十勝24時間レース スペシャルサイト started on pole and effortlessly dominated the entire race, completing 616 laps, 19 laps ahead of the runner-up. It became the first hybrid-powered car to win a race.
SARD planned to take part in the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship season with a LMP2-class prototype in association with Morand Racing, with plans for a future LMP1 entry. However, SARD was forced to reduce its participation after a loss of backers before the season started; it was unable to come up with half of the season's budget, as agreed with Morand. Nevertheless, Morand continued to compete under the Team SARD Morand name during the 2015 season. Complete race Results Complete JGTC Results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year CarTyresClassNo.Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 89 Pos Pts 1994Toyota SupraGT139 Jeff KrosnoffFUJSENFUJSUGMINNC1 1995Toyota SupraGT139 Jeff KrosnoffSUZFUJSENFUJSUGMIN6th32 1996Toyota SupraGT50039 Wayne Gardner Alain Ferté Naoki Nagasaka Giampiero Simoni Olivier Grouillard David DussauSUZFUJSENFUJSUGMINNC16th31 1997Toyota SupraGT50039 Masami Kageyama Tatsuya Tanigawa Olivier GrouillardSUZFUJSENFUJMINSUGNC1NC22nd67 1998Toyota SupraGT50039 Keiichi Tsuchiya Tatsuya TanigawaSUZFUJSENFUJMOTMINSUGNC17th36 1999Toyota SupraGT50039 Keiichi Tsuchiya Masahiko KageyamaSUZFUJSUGMINFUJOKAMOTNC1 12th 5 2000Toyota SupraGT50039 Masahiko Kageyama Ralph FirmanMOTFUJSUGNC1FUJOKAMINSUZ 7th 25 2001Toyota SupraGT50039 Jérémie Dufour Masahiko Kageyama Romain DumasOKAFUJSUGNC1FUJMOTSUZMIN11th22 2002Toyota SupraGT50039 Jérémie Dufour Manabu OridoOKAFUJSUGSEPFUJMOTMINSUZ9th33 2003Toyota SupraGT50039 Manabu Orido Dominik SchwagerOKAFUJSUGFUJFUJMOTAUTSUZ6th57 2004Toyota SupraGT50039 Jérémie Dufour André CoutoOKASUGSEPTOKMOTAUTSUZNC1NC22nd61
Complete Super GT Results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year CarTyres Class No. Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 910 Pos Points 2005 Toyota Supra GT500 39 André Couto Ronnie Quintarelli OKA FUJ SEP SUG MOT FUJ AUT SUZ 12th 21 2006 Toyota Supra GT500 66 André Couto Katsuyuki Hiranaka Soheil Ayari SUZ OKA FUJ SEP SUG SUZ MOT AUT FUJ15th9 2007 Lexus SC430 GT500 39 André Couto Katsuyuki Hiranaka SUZ OKA FUJ SEP SUG SUZ MOT AUT FUJ 15th 37 2008 Lexus SC430 GT500 39 André Couto Toranosuke Takagi Koki SagaSUZOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZMOTAUTFUJ16th29 2009 Lexus SC430 GT500 39 André Couto Kohei HirateOKASUZFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOT13th48 2010 Lexus SC430 GT500 39 André Couto Kohei Hirate Carlo van DamSUZOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJMOTNC1NC212th26 2011 Lexus SC430 GT500 39 Hiroaki Ishiura Takuto IguchiOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOTNC1NC27th61 2012 Lexus SC430 GT500 39 Hiroaki Ishiura Juichi WakisakaOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOTNC1NC2 3rd 78 2013 Lexus SC430 GT500 39 Hiroaki Ishiura Juichi WakisakaOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOTNC1NC27th70 2014 Lexus RC F GT500 39 Hiroaki Ishiura Oliver JarvisOKAFUJAUTSUGFUJSUZBURMOT 10th 43 2015 Lexus RC F GT500 39 Heikki Kovalainen Kohei Hirate Christian Klien OKA FUJ CHA FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT13th402016Audi R8 LMSGT30026 Shogo Mitsuyama Yuya Motojima Tsubasa Kondo OKA FUJ SUG FUJ SUZCHA MOT MOT16th27 Lexus RC F GT500 39 Heikki Kovalainen Kohei Hirate OKA FUJ SUG FUJ SUZ CHA MOT MOT 1st 1032017 Lexus LC500 GT500 GT500 1 Heikki Kovalainen Kohei Hirate OKA FUJ AUT SUG FUJ SUZ CHA MOT 6th 64Audi R8 LMSGT30026 Shinnosuke Yamada Jake Parsons Christian Klien OKA FUJ AUT SUG FUJ SUZ CHA MOT24th11 2018 Lexus LC500 GT500 GT500 39 Heikki Kovalainen Kamui Kobayashi Sho Tsuboi OKA FUJ SUZ CHA FUJ SUG AUT MOT9th62 2019 Lexus LC500 GT500 GT500 39 Heikki Kovalainen Yuichi Nakayama OKA FUJ SUZ BUR FUJ AUT SUG MOTNC1NC2 5th 64 2020 Toyota GR Supra GT500 GT500 39 Yuichi Nakayama Heikki Kovalainen Kenta Yamashita Sena Sakaguchi FUJ FUJ SUZ MOT FUJ SUZ MOT FUJ8th64 2021 Toyota GR Supra GT500 GT500 39 Heikki Kovalainen Yuichi Nakayama OKA FUJ MOT SUZ SUG AUT MOT FUJ9th58 2022 Toyota GR Supra GT500 GT500 39 Yuichi Nakayama Yuhi Sekiguchi OKA FUJ SUZ FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT8th51.52023Toyota GR Supra GT500GT50039 Yuichi Nakayama Yuhi Sekiguchi OKA FUJ SUZ FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT 8th 582024Toyota GR Supra GT500GT50039 Yuichi Nakayama Yuhi SekiguchiOKAFUJSUZFUJSUGAUTMOTSUZ7th642025Toyota GR Supra GT500GT50039 Yuhi Sekiguchi Sacha FenestrazOKAFUJSEPFS1FS2SUZSUGAUTMOT3rd76 ‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed. * Season still in progress.
24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Entrant Tyres Car Drivers Class Laps 1973 Sigma Automotive Co.26Sigma MC73 Tetsu Ikuzawa Hiroshi Fushida Patrick Dal BoS 2.579DNFDNF1974 Mazda Automotive25Sigma MC74 Harukuni Takahashi Yasuhiro Okamoto Yojiro TeradaS 3.0156NCNC1975 Sigma Automotive Co.18Sigma MC75 Harukuni Takahashi Hiroshi FushidaS 3.037DNFDNF1990 Toyota Team SARD38Toyota 90C-V Roland Ratzenberger Pierre-Henri Raphanel Naoki NagasakaC1241DNFDNF1992 KITZ Racing Team with SARD34Toyota 92C-V Roland Ratzenberger Eddie Irvine Eje ElghC23219th2nd1993 SARD Co. Ltd.22Toyota 93C-V Roland Ratzenberger Mauro Martini Naoki NagasakaC23631st5th1994 SARD Company Ltd.1Toyota 94C-V Mauro Martini Jeff Krosnoff Eddie IrvineLMP1/C903431st2nd1995 SARD Co. Ltd.26SARD MC8-R Alain Ferté Kenny Acheson Tomiko YoshikawaGT114DNFDNF27Toyota Supra GT-LM Jeff Krosnoff Marco Apicella Mauro MartiniGT126414th7th1996 Team Menicon SARD46SARD MC8-R Alain Ferté Pascal Fabre Mauro MartiniLM-GT125624th15th Toyota Team SARD57Toyota Supra LM Masanori Sekiya Masami Kageyama Hidetoshi MitsusadaLM-GT1205DNFDNF1997 Team Menicon SARD34SARD MC8-R Olivier Grouillard Christophe TinseauGT10DNQDNQ35 Oriol Servia Cathy Muller Alexandre DebanneGT10DNQDNQ2015 Team SARD Morand43Morgan LMP2 Evo Pierre Ragues Oliver Webb Zoël AmbergLMP2162DNFDNF
References
External links Super GT profile