Alio Kyugare

Alio Kyūgare (JP: キュガレあいえよ) is a Japanese ESPLAR Elite Series driver currently competing for Saihara Motorsports. He is coming off what is considered to be the most dominant season in ESPLAR Lites history, winning all but 3 races in the 2022 season.

Sengoku Origins
Alio is the eldest of 3 children raised in the city of Koshu in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. Born on October 14, 2004, he will turn 19 this upcoming 2023 season. Alio is the son of Masayuki Kyugare (b. 1977) and Nora Nobutami (b. 1980). In the ESPLAR Universe, Alio is descended directly from the famous Takeda Clan who is from the same region Alio was born in.

In 1582, Takeda Katsuyori and his entire family died in the Battle of Tenmokuzan and his line died with him. However, in the ESPLAR Universe, another son existed; he went by the name Mato Katomaru, but his real name was Takeda Uijimaru who was born in the weeks leading up to Tenmokuzan. He was secretly taken by loyal Takeda ninjas hoping to ensure the continued existence of the clan. However, in the years following Tenmokuzan, he knew nothing about the events at the mountain. Mato later became a samurai retainer for the Uesugi clan of Echigo, and his line lived on until 1763. At some point, a cadet branch formed based from the Katomaru Naohisa (1670-1727) which became the Kyugare Clan of Yamanashi Prefecture. This clan was the most pro-reformist and pro-samurai in the region, while advocating for a return to imperial rule while adopting samurai traditions. Clan Kyugare refused to fight in WW2 because they believed fighting an offensive war was dishonorable and were exiled to Alaska. Postwar, they befriended the democratic Kasirov family of Vladivostok which shared the same democratic ideals and they were allowed to return to Yamanashi.

In the 1980s as the Cold War began coming to a close, civil war became more and more apparent in Russia as different political spectrums vied for control. When civil war erupted in 1986, Japan immediately announced its support for the Democratic League of Russia, or DLR, and sent volunteer divisions led by Kyugare Sorei to hold Vladivostok against dictatorial forces in the region. Sorei's forces made an impact defending Vladivostok, but Sorei died in the Battle of Chita in the war's final days in 1988 after his small force was surrounded, yet his forces held on defiantly, holding out hope, until DLR forces arrived and rescued them. Sorei's death left a young Masayuki and Sorin as the last male heirs of the Kyugare Clan of Yamanashi.

(WIP)

Personality
WIP

Racing Style
Alio's racing style is defined by his very defensive but honor-bound nature as a direct descendant of the Takeda Clan. He does whatever it takes within the racing rules to defend his position, and such racing style was key to over half of his 2022 ESPLAR Lites victories.