Ohta gets Era Motorsport drive after Daytona IMSA debut

Coming off his IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship debut at the Daytona 24 Hours, Honda factory driver Kakunoshin “Kaku” Ohta will also run two LMP2 races for Era Motorsport beginning next month at the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring.

Ohta will drive the No.18 ORECA 07 LMP2 at Sebring and at the IMSA SportsCar Weekend at Road America in August. This will supplement his existing three-race schedule at Acura Meyer Shank Racing which continues at Watkins Glen and Indianapolis.

“With experience in IMSA’s GTP class, Super Formula, SUPER GT GT500, and Super Taikyu, Ohta’s wealth of experience makes him the ideal candidate for this program, offering a mutually beneficial deal for himself, Honda, and Era,” the team wrote in a statement released today.

Today’s announcement also establishes a partnership between Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) and Era Motorsport that will offer promising young drivers such as Ohta the opportunity to gain real-world experience in North American sports car racing. The team already has worked with HRC to prepare and restore historic Honda/Acura sports prototypes such as the ARX-05 DPi and ARX-03b LMP2 for historic racing.

“I’m happy to announce that I’m going to race with Era Motorsport at Sebring and Road America,” said Ohta, who first tested with Era Motorsport in preparation for his North American debut over the offseason. “Era is a reliable team that has achieved great results every year in the LMP2 class. We have been working together since 2024, so our partnership is already strong, and I am confident that we can achieve good results.”

“The entire team at Era Motorsport are thrilled to welcome Kaku onboard for Sebring and Road America,” said Era Motorsport founder Kyle Tilley. “Both he and HRC have been wonderful to work with, and we are honored to have the opportunity to collaborate on this project.”

Ohta will drive alongside Tobias Lütke and David Heinemeier Hansson in this week’s IMSA Sanctioned Test at Sebring and at the 12 Hours of Sebring, replacing veteran Ryan Dalziel in the lineup.

The Japanese driver led laps during the Daytona 24 Hours in his first race aboard the No.93 MSR Acura ARX-06, but a suspension issue during the race caused the No.93 car to drop out of contention for the overall win, finishing 14th overall.