Hong Kong’s KC Motor Group (KCMG) have been one of the driving forces behind the rise of top-level motorsport in the Asia-Pacific region. KCMG was the first racing team from Hong Kong to achieve a class victory in the FIA World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. They represent Nissan and NISMO with a two-car works effort in the SRO Intercontinental GT Challenge.

KCMG competes all across the racing landscape: The Japanese Super Formula Championship, the FIA World Touring Car Cup, the Pirelli Super Taikyu Series, and they even have involvement in NASCAR’s second-tier national championship, the Xfinity Series.

How did KCMG founder Dr. Paul Ip build not only one of the most outstanding motorsport outfits in Asia, but arguably, one of the most outstanding motorsport outfits in the entire world?

“Well, I think maybe I should start from the very beginning,” says Dr. Ip.

It’s the weekend of the 48th running of the Suzuka 10 Hours, the fourth round of the 2019 Intercontinental GT Challenge season. And on a humid, mid-summer afternoon, Dr. Ip was gracious enough to reflect on, among many other things, the origins of KCMG – from an upstart team in the short-lived Asian Formula Three Championship, to an established name across numerous forms of motor racing, whose greatest victory (so far!) came when Nicolas Lapierre, Matthew Howson, and Richard Bradley drove KCMG’s Oreca 05-Nissan to the LMP2 class win in the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“KCMG actually started as a hobby, because I used to race, myself,” said Dr. Ip, who was born in Hong Kong, and grew up around the world as he raced and studied across Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. “I did a lot of racing in Europe, in the United States.”

“The idea for starting KCMG was because level [of competition] back then in Asia was not that good, and so I said, ‘why not start my own racing team?’ And that’s really how KCMG got started. Then, after I decided to hang my helmet up, I said, ‘well, this is such a good outfit…why don’t I continue?’”

Dr. Ip stopped racing full-time, to continue his idea of a top-tier team from Hong Kong that could challenge the world’s best. The Japanese national circuits represented the highest level of competition across the Asia-Pacific, and in 2008, KCMG, then known as PTRS Racing – entered the All-Japan Formula Three Championship for the first time. The following year, the team changed their name to KCMG, and the year after that, KCMG became the first team from Hong Kong to enter the top level of Japanese formula car racing, then known as Formula Nippon, in alliance with Toyota.

“We came to Japan to run Formula 3. Then, after the first year, we were quite lucky that Toyota gave us a chance to do Super Formula. And that’s really how everything started to expand, getting bigger, and bigger. From a hobby to a more professional team.”

By 2011, KCMG not only had programmes in Formula 3 and what is now Super Formula, but they’d also expanded into the Autobacs Super GT Series as technical partners for newcomers Team SG Changi, sponsored by a prospective permanent motorsport complex in Singapore that never came to be. But before the SG Changi project – and the racing team that bore its name – folded after just a few short years, KCMG original drivers Alexandre Imperatori and Ryo Orime drove their mid-engined Lexus IS350 GT300 car to a victory at Sportsland Sugo in just their fourth-ever race.

KCMG’s arrival in Japan coincided with a time in Japanese motor racing where the economic downturn brought on by the “Lehman Shock” of 2008-09 saw a number of high-profile sponsors pull out and scale back, saw many teams shut their doors, and the grid sizes in Super GT and Formula Nippon dwindle. As Dr. Ip explains, though, KCMG planting roots in Japan wasn’t just a matter of convenience at a time where the country’s auto racing scene needed new blood in its ranks:

“I think it was a matter of motorsport in Asia, in general, wasn’t as popular or as established as obviously it is now. That did make it easier for us to come to Japan and work with Toyota at that time,” reflects Dr. Ip. “I don’t know how much of it had to do with the economy in Japan at that time or the health of the racing scene. But I think at that time, Asian motorsport just wasn’t at its best, not like now.”

But as Dr. Ip and his team are preparing to race a truly multi-national grid in the Suzuka 10 Hours the following day, he points out how the standard has risen for teams across the Asia-Pacific region from the start of the journey to its current point, thanks in no small part to the rapid growth of the Asian Le Mans Series in recent years as a viable regional endurance championship, and the SRO planting roots in the Asia-Pacific with the GT World Challenge Asia Series (formerly Blancpain GT Asia). Both of which, KCMG competed in very recently.

“The entire thought process behind starting KCMG was because the level of competition wasn’t good enough for myself at that time. However, now you can walk into any team, and the level is as high as it is in Europe, if not higher – as high as in Japan, if not higher.”

“So I think we have stepped up in the past, say, ten years. It’s gone from something that is very ‘DIY’, to now, where we have full Asian works teams racing in the Asia-Pacific, representing Porsche, Mercedes, we have Craft-Bamboo Racing, who are very strong, we have Earl Bamber Motorsport (EBM), HubAuto Corsa…many, many strong teams – and I would say that they are all top-level.”

The team is top-level and they have the roster of drivers to match. Oliver Jarvis is a multiple premier-class winners in the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship. Tsugio Matsuda is the Super GT Series’ winningest GT500 driver of all time. Katsumasa Chiyo, a Blancpain GT Endurance Cup champion and Bathurst 12 Hour overall winner. All three of them have taken overall or sub-class victories in the Suzuka summer endurance classic.

With them, Alexandre Imperatori has been a KCMG driver almost since their inception, Eduardo Liberati was a regular podium-getter in the GT World Challenge Asia, as was first-time Suzuka starter Josh Burdon, who was an instant sensation for KCMG in their last venture into the Asian Le Mans Series’ LMP3 category.

How does one become a KCMG driver? “There’s nothing special to it!” explains Dr. Ip. “We did do a lot of junior single-seater racing early on in KCMG’s lifespan. A lot of drivers that are good just want to continue to move up and challenge for championships at the next level. And it just happened at that time that KCMG gave drivers a stepping stone from single-seater junior formula racing, to F3, to Super Formula, prototypes, GT and touring cars.”

Just look at some of the drivers in the KCMG family that aren’t here. Howson, who helped drive KCMG to their LMP2 class win at Le Mans in 2015, made history as the first TCR Japan Series race winner in May. Touring car legend Tiago Montiero took KCMG’s first win in the FIA World Touring Car Cup in Montiero’s home round in Portugal. NASCAR prospect Tyler Reddick took the chequered flag in a KCMG-sponsored car this summer and will move up to the premier ranks of the Cup Series in 2020.

And Kamui Kobayashi, KCMG’s star driver in the Super Formula Championship, is racing with a different team at Suzuka – but since transferring to KCMG for the 2017 Super Formula season, he’s given this single-car squad the best results they’ve ever had, multiple podiums, consistent points-scoring finishes, and they’re close to a maiden victory and a championship.

“For a driver, when they see the performance and the way we as a team approach motorsport – it’s really more of a passion than a business – and how we’re able to bring them to win championships, and for them to continue to stay with us – it’s obvious that the best drivers want to race for us.” It’s a proud declaration and an accurate one at that.

2019 marks the second time that KCMG has taken part in the Suzuka 10 Hours, and their first full season in the IGTC with Nissan. To Dr. Ip, racing in the IGTC is as rewarding and challenging as any endeavour his team has ever tackled, as much as racing in Le Mans, or in Super GT.

That much was evident through the first three races of the IGTC season. A gearbox issue prevented them from reaching the podium in the Bathurst 12 Hour Race in February, while pit stop issues cost them another shot at the podium at Laguna Seca in the California 8 Hours. While they were able to salvage top-ten finishes in both races, the team simply struggled on all fronts through a difficult, rain-soaked 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in July, prior to arriving in Suzuka.

“I think this is definitely the toughest GT championship around the world,” says Dr. Ip, “and the highest level of competition in the world. If you look at the entry lists for every single round – you have the best names, all of the manufacturers and their teams are here. It’s tougher than any form of motorsport that we’ve challenged, I think.”

KCMG and Nissan’s partnership in the 2019 IGTC is the continuation of a programme that began last year in the Blancpain GT Asia Series, the first year of service for the 2018-spec GT-R GT3. “Doing a lot of development for a manufacturer is good, what we’re doing for Nissan. 2018 was a development year for KCMG and Nissan, and it was very enjoyable. With a few wins and a few podiums, but in developing the car, we learned a lot for the future.”

KCMG has also experienced heartbreak in a few other stand-alone 24-hour race appearances this season. A single-car effort in the Dubai 24 Hours came to an end with a suspension issue, while the Nürburgring 24 Hour Race came to an abrupt end when Burdon was struck from behind at speed on the Döttinger-Höhe straightaway.

KCMG is a professional motorsport outfit, but it is also a hobby, and I have a lot of items on my wish list that I want to check off first!

Dr. Ip has shrugged off the idea that the horror crash at the Nürburgring has damaged the rest of their 2019 campaign, and looks forward to challenging the race again. “The whole idea was to run two cars in the IGTC, and two cars at the Nurburgring. So now that we’ve challenged the Nurburgring 24 Hours, we’re focusing back on the IGTC, and then we’re going to regroup before the Nurburgring next year. So we do have more time to repair that car and continue a two-car effort in the IGTC. Next year, for the Nurburgring, the plan is to have a two-car outfit.”

And Dr. Ip makes it clear, he’s looking forward rather than behind. KCMG departed the Asian Le Mans Series after the 2017-18 season, and haven’t raced at Le Mans or in the WEC since 2016. Don’t expect that to change any time soon: “I think definitely we will return to an ACO championship, but not in the near future,” says Dr. Ip. Before trying to add another Le Mans victory, he believes KCMG must conquer the other big 24 hour races.

“I said to many of my friends and staff: ‘KCMG is a professional motorsport outfit, but it is also a hobby, and I have a lot of items on my wish list that I want to check off first!’ Le Mans, obviously, is a great one. The next race that I’m targeting is the Nurburgring 24 Hours. So I think I will try and compete at the Nurburgring for as long as I can until I win it! And then, move on to [the 24 Hours of] Daytona, and win the three big 24 hour races first before I return to compete in an ACO series.”

The Suzuka 10 Hours was another race of mixed fortunes for KCMG. Matsuda stole the show in the final hour of the race after two brilliant battles with Bentley’s Jordan Pepper and Audi’s Christopher Haase. Burdon, Chiyo, and Matsuda finished a season-best 6th, while Imperatori, Jarvis, and Liberati suffered through a race compromised by suspension problems and the indignity of a stuck door.

Once again, it’s time for Dr. Ip’s team to move forward.

The last round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge is in November, the revival of the Kyalami 9 Hours in South Africa. They have one more race left in the Super Formula season, where Kobayashi has KCMG – now under the leadership of first-year team director Matsuda – mathematically eligible for the series championship if they win the JAF Grand Prix at Suzuka. Campaigns in Super Taikyu and WTCR are about to wrap up.

But on the weekend of November 1st through 3rd, KCMG is about to embark on an entirely different journey altogether, when a field of Formula 4 cars constructed and designed by KCMG takes part in the inaugural FIA Motorsport Games in Vallelunga, Italy.

This is the first car that KCMG has ever constructed, and what an impressive vehicle it is. When it debuts in November, the KCMG-built Formula 4 car will be the first hybrid-powered single-seater to race outside of Formula 1. It will also be the first F4 car to feature the Halo cockpit safety device, well before the FIA certified Formula 4 national and regional series mandate it in 2021.

All of it built from scratch, quite literally, with a carbon monocoque and other parts manufactured by KCMG Composites in Taiwan.

Dr. Ip explains how this all came to be: “After winning Le Mans [in 2015], I said, ‘well, Formula 1 is a bit too far out of reach for me, but maybe the next challenge for me will be as a [car] constructor.” I’ve been thinking about becoming a constructor for a long time. [Masaaki] Bandoh-san of the GT Association was speaking to me about a new FIA Formula 4 Championship. At that time, we started a discussion with the FIA. And that’s how this programme started.”

“It’s very interesting, really, to be able to make this first FIA-approved car for the Motorsport Games event, with the latest technology – so, yes, at the same time, I am very proud of the team, who’ve designed and manufactured the parts. It’s a wonderful concept.”

The KCMG-built Formula 4 cars, maintained by single-seater stalwarts Hitech GP from the UK, will only run one weekend. After that, Dr. Ip remains reserved on future plans to build cars for other championships: “It’s too early to say right now. Let’s see what happens a couple of years down the road, let’s see what the feedback is on the Formula 4 car first. But definitely, it’s possible to be a constructor for other series.”

But it’s very difficult to ignore the future ahead if KCMG’s Formula 4 car proves to be a success. A future that could see their chassis used full-time in other FIA Formula 4 Championships. A future that could see them try and break into LMP3 as a constructor, maybe even LMP2, or regional Formula 3. To try and gain a foothold in markets where other car constructors are so rigidly entrenched – Oreca, Dallara, Ligier, Norma, Tatuus, Dome among others, won’t be easy, but this could very well be the first step.

Oh, by the way – Dr. Ip will also be driving in the GT category of the FIA Motorsport Games, representing Hong Kong. He still races every now and then, though his focus is on operating KCMG.

There is one other summit that KCMG has yet to conquer. After years in Super Formula, rising from perennial backmarkers to regular podium finishers and title contenders in 2019, the other apex of Japanese motorsport is in the GT500 class of Super GT.

Autosport Magazine splashed the first pages of their August 2nd issue with a render of a 2020 Toyota Supra GT500 in full KCMG livery, suggesting that they could enter the series as early as next year as a Toyota Gazoo Racing factory GT500 team.

But Dr. Ip flatly shot down that suggestion: “That’s just a rumour, it’s not true.”

Will it happen next year? Not according to the man running KCMG. Will it happen in the future? It’s still on their radar.

“GT500 is always the plan, but GT500 is the top level of motorsports in Japan, and it’s not that easy to get a place on the grid. We’re always in constant discussion with Toyota and Nissan to try and get a car and enter, but we’re still working on it.”

Running as an independent team is downright impossible in the current atmosphere, so they’d need to link up with a manufacturer – and they already have ties with all three of GT500’s manufacturers: Nissan, Toyota, and also Honda via their TCR programmes. They have the cache of drivers and personnel to pull it off, but only if the opportunity is right.

LMP2 victory at Le Mans was only the beginning of the journey for Dr. Paul Ip, who may one day be heralded as the Roger Penske of the Far East, if his expanding empire in auto racing continues to excel at the rate that it’s going, in single-seaters, touring cars, GT racing, and now, as a full-fledged racing car constructor.

Through it all, Dr. Ip maintains his joy for racing. DSC Editor-in-Chief Graham Goodwin spoke with Dr. Ip at Le Mans in 2016, months removed from an acrimonious end to the 2015 WEC season that saw KCMG denied the LMP2 Championship title. The events that happened could have sapped the love for racing right out of most team owners, but as Dr. Ip responded: “I always have a smile on my face when I’m at a race track.”

And as his teams continue to bring joy to fans wherever they compete, Dr. Ip’s journey from racing driver to upstart team owner, to the architect of one of the finest racing organisations in the world has been unexpected and is certainly far from finished.

Images courtesy of KC Motorgroup Ltd.