Naoki Yamamoto (racing driver)

Naoki Yamamoto (山本尚貴, Yamamoto Naoki, born July 11, 1988) is a Japanese racing driver. He is currently driving in the Super GT and Super Formula championships. He won the Super Formula championship in 2013, 2018, and 2020, along with the Super GT championship in 2018 and 2020. In 2018, he became the first driver to win both the Super Formula and Super GT titles in the same year for 14 years; he accomplished this feat for a second time in 2020. His successes in both series has allowed him to reach the 40-point threshold required for an F1 superlicence.[1] He drove for Toro Rosso-Honda in the first practice session of the 2019 Japanese Grand Prix, completing the most laps in the session and setting a fastest lap time just 0.1s off his more experienced teammate's fastest time.[2][3] The participation made him the first Japanese Formula One driver to drive a Formula One car since Kamui Kobayashi.[4]

Naoki Yamamoto
Yamamoto driving during practice for the 2019 Japanese Grand Prix
Nationality	Japanese
Born	July 11, 1988 Utsunomiya, Japan
Super GT GT500 career
Debut season	2010
Current team	Team Kunimitsu
Former teams	Dome Racing
Championships	2 (2018, 2020)
Wins	5
Podiums	24
Poles	2
Fastest laps	6
Super Formula career
Debut season	2010
Current team	Dandelion Racing
Former teams	Nakajima Racing, Team Mugen
Championships	3 (2013, 2018, 2020)
Wins	8
Podiums	18
Poles	12
Fastest laps	3
Previous series
2008–2009	All-Japan Formula Three
Championship titles
2013, 2018, 2020 2018, 2020	Super Formula Super GT

Career

Early career

Yamamoto started karting in 1994.[5] In 2006, he graduated from the Suzuka Circuit Racing School in the advanced formula class, becoming a member of the Honda Formula Dream Project.[5] In 2007 he raced in Formula Challenge Japan and finished second in the championship. He moved to the Japanese Formula 3 Championship in 2008, finishing fifth in the championship class with one win. In 2009 he took eight wins in the national class and won the championship.

Super GT

Yamamoto debuted in the Super GT Series in 2010, driving a Honda HSV-010 GT for Team Kunimitsu. He scored a podium on his debut at Suzuka, and took another third place at the Suzuka endurance round. During the following two seasons he scored three more podiums and was fifth in the drivers' standings in 2012, the best result for a Honda driver that season.

In 2013 Yamamoto switched to the Dome Racing team, and took his first Super GT victory at the Suzuka 1000km endurance race. In 2014 he won at Fuji to take the first win for the new Honda NSX Concept-GT car, and finished fourth in the championship for the second time in a row.

Yamamoto returned to Team Kunimitsu in 2015. He won at Sugo that season to finish third in the championship, and scored three podiums across the next two seasons. In 2018 he finished second at Okayama and Suzuka, won at Sugo and finished third at Motegi to win the championship. It was the first title for Team Kunimitsu, and having won Super Formula earlier that year made Yamamoto the first driver to win both titles in the same year for 14 years.[6]

After finishing eighth in 2019 with two podiums, Yamamoto scored seven top-six finishes in eight races in 2020 – including three podiums and a win at Fuji – to win the championship for the second time.

Super Formula

Yamamoto entered the Super Formula Championship (then known as Formula Nippon) in 2010 to drive a Honda-powered car for Nakajima Racing. He scored seven top-seven finishes in the eight races of 2010, finishing seventh in the standings in his first year. He moved to Team Mugen in 2011 and took pole position at Suzuka in his first race with the team, but did not finish after being involved in a first lap incident.[7] The 2013 season saw him score five podiums and a victory, which clinched him the championship.

After the introduction of new regulations in 2014, Yamamoto took five pole positions, four podiums and two wins across 2014–2017, and was the leading Honda driver in the standings in 2014 and 2015. He won his second championship in 2018 after winning three times. He switched teams to Dandelion Racing for 2019 and took three podiums and a win in the first three races of the season to finish runner-up in the championship. He won the championship for the third time in 2020, becoming the first driver ever to win both of Japan's top racing categories in the same year multiple times.[8]

Racing record

Complete Super GT results

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	DC	Points
2010	Team Kunimitsu	Honda HSV-010 GT	GT500	SUZ 3	OKA 8	FUJ 10	SEP 5	SUG 8	SUZ 3	FUJ C	MOT 6	8th	40
2011	Team Kunimitsu	Honda HSV-010 GT	GT500	OKA 2	FUJ 12	SEP 7	SUG 7	SUZ Ret	FUJ 5	AUT 14	MOT 4	9th	37
2012	Team Kunimitsu	Honda HSV-010 GT	GT500	OKA 2	FUJ 2	SEP 6	SUG 8	SUZ 11	FUJ 12	AUT 8	MOT 9	5th	43
2013	Dome Racing	Honda HSV-010 GT	GT500	OKA 5	FUJ 10	SEP 4	SUG Ret	SUZ 1	FUJ 5	AUT 5	MOT 7	4th	56
2014	Dome Racing	Honda NSX Concept-GT	GT500	OKA 5	FUJ 10	AUT 7	SUG 8	FUJ 1	SUZ 3	BUR 5	MOT 3	4th	64
2015	Team Kunimitsu	Honda NSX Concept-GT	GT500	OKA 2	FUJ Ret	CHA Ret	FUJ 5	SUZ 5	SUG 1	AUT 11	MOT 3	3rd	60
2016	Team Kunimitsu	Honda NSX Concept-GT	GT500	OKA 10	FUJ Ret	SUG 10	FUJ 3	SUZ 7	CHA 10	MOT 10	MOT 12	14th	20
2017	Team Kunimitsu	Honda NSX-GT	GT500	OKA Ret	FUJ 6	AUT 3	SUG 9	FUJ 8	SUZ 3	CHA 7	MOT 5	7th	45
2018	Team Kunimitsu	Honda NSX-GT	GT500	OKA 2	FUJ 9	SUZ 2	CHA 11	FUJ 5	SUG 1	AUT 5	MOT 3	1st	78
2019	Team Kunimitsu	Honda NSX-GT	GT500	OKA 15	FUJ 3	SUZ 13	CHA 12	FUJ 2	AUT Ret	SUG 8	MOT 6	8th	37
2020	Team Kunimitsu	Honda NSX-GT	GT500	FUJ 6	FUJ 5	SUZ 2	MOT 5	FUJ 5	SUZ Ret	MOT 3	FUJ 1	1st	69

Complete Formula Nippon/Super Formula Results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	DC	Points
2010	Nakajima Racing	SUZ 7	MOT 5	FUJ 7	MOT 4	SUG Ret	AUT 5	SUZ 6	SUZ 5		7th	20.5
2011	Team Mugen	SUZ Ret	AUT 5	FUJ 9	MOT 14	SUZ C	SUG 11	MOT 12	MOT Ret		11th	5
2012	Team Mugen	SUZ 7	MOT 7	AUT 9	FUJ 12	MOT Ret	SUG 14	SUZ 15	SUZ Ret		11th	4
2013	Team Mugen	SUZ 4	AUT 3	FUJ 3	MOT 8	SUG 3	SUZ 1	SUZ 3			1st	37
2014	Team Mugen	SUZ 11	FUJ Ret	FUJ 5	FUJ 5	MOT 15	AUT 7	SUG 7	SUZ 7	SUZ 6	9th	14.5
2015	Team Mugen	SUZ 15	OKA 4	FUJ 12	MOT 8	AUT 7	SUG 2	SUZ 14	SUZ 1		5th	26
2016	Team Mugen	SUZ 1	OKA 5	FUJ Ret	MOT 8	OKA 10	OKA 6	SUG 14	SUZ 19	SUZ Ret	8th	15.5
2017	Team Mugen	SUZ 2	OKA 5	OKA 8	FUJ Ret	MOT 13	AUT 16	SUG 18	SUZ C	SUZ C	9th	10.5
2018	Team Mugen	SUZ 1	AUT C	SUG 1	FUJ 8	MOT 7	OKA 10	SUZ 1			1st	38
2019	Docomo Team Dandelion Racing	SUZ 2	AUT 2	SUG 1	FUJ 11	MOT 9	OKA 7	SUZ 5			2nd	33
2020	Docomo Team Dandelion Racing	MOT 13	OKA 6	SUG 3	AUT 2	SUZ 1	SUZ Ret	FUJ 5			1st	62

Complete Formula One participations

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	WDC	Points
2019	Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda	Scuderia Toro Rosso STR14	Honda RA619H 1.6 V6 t	AUS	BHR	CHN	AZE	ESP	MON	CAN	FRA	AUT	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	SIN	RUS	JPN TD	MEX	USA	BRA	ABU	–	–

References

1. Yoshita, Tomohiro; Thukral, Rachit (2 December 2018). "Jenson Button: Super GT team-mate Yamamoto should be in F1". Autosport.com. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
2. "2019 Japanese Grand Prix: Toro Rosso to field Naoki Yamamoto in FP1". www.formula1.com. 7 October 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
3. "Japanese GP: Bottas leads Mercedes 1-2 in FP1". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
4. "Super GT Champion Yamamoto Given F1 Practice Run At Japanese Grand Prix". www.dailysportscar.com. 8 October 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
5. "2020 Driver Profile (English)" (PDF). dandelion-racing.com.
6. O'Connell, R. J. (2019-01-13). "2018 Super GT World Awards: GT500 Driver of the Year". Super GT World. Retrieved 2021-01-06.
7. "Formula NIPPON official website". superformula.net. Retrieved 2021-01-06.
8. "SEASON REVIEW: 2020 Super Formula - Yamamoto Denies Hirakawa To Take Third Title". The Checkered Flag. 2021-01-02. Retrieved 2021-01-06.

External links

• Official website
• driverdb