Kazuto Kotaka | |
---|---|
Nationality | ![]() |
Born | Yamato, Kanagawa, Japan | 17 April 1999
Super Formula Championship career | |
Debut season | 2020 |
Current team | Kondo Racing |
Racing licence | ![]() |
Car number | 4 |
Former teams | carrozzeria Team KCMG |
Starts | 16 |
Wins | 0 |
Podiums | 0 |
Poles | 0 |
Fastest laps | 0 |
Best finish | 15th in 2023 |
Super GT - GT300 career | |
Debut season | 2019 |
Current team | apr |
Car number | 31 |
Former teams | muta Racing INGING |
Starts | 11 |
Wins | 0 |
Podiums | 2 |
Poles | 2 |
Fastest laps | 0 |
Best finish | 9th in 2020 |
Previous series | |
2020-2022 2019 2018-2019 2015-2018 | Super Formula Lights Toyota Racing Series Japanese Formula 3 Championship F4 Japanese Championship |
Championship titles | |
2022 | Super Formula Lights |
Kazuto Kotaka (小高一斗, Kotaka Kazuto, born 17 April 1999) is a Japanese racing driver for Toyota Gazoo Racing who currently competes in Super Formula for Kondo Racing and Super GT for apr . He won the Super Formula Lights championship in 2022.
Career
[edit]Early Career
[edit]Kotaka made his debut in formula racing in 2015, racing for TOM'S from the second race weekend in the F4 Japanese Championship. He regularly finished in the top 10, with a fourth place finish at the Suzuka International Racing Course as his best result. He finished sixth in the championship with 50 points.
In 2016, Kotaka remained active in Japanese Formula 4 with TOM'S. He won two races at Fuji Speedway and another at Sportsland SUGO. He later took another podium finish at Fuji, but achieved erratic results for the remainder of the season. He finished fifth overall with 113 points.
In 2017, Kotaka did not race, but in 2018 he returned to Japanese Formula 4 at TOM's. He missed the first race weekend, but nevertheless he won two races at Fuji and was on the podium in seven other races. With 188 points, he finished third in the standings behind Yuki Tsunoda and Teppei Natori. At the end of the season, he made his Japanese Formula 3 Championship debut with Hanashima Racing over the weekend at SUGO. He scored a point with sixth in the final race and was classified thirteenth in the final standings.
In 2019, Kotaka started the year in the New Zealand racing in the Toyota Racing Series with the team MTEC Motorsport.[1] He took a podium finish in the season finale at the Manfeild: Circuit Chris Amon, finishing the season in tenth place with 176 points. He then made his debut as a full-time driver in Japanese Formula 3 with the Corolla Chukyo Kuo TOM'S team. He took five podiums: one at Suzuka, three at SUGO and one at the Twin Ring Motegi, but he also had to miss two race weekends. He finished fifth in the final standings with 48 points.
In 2020, Kotaka remained active in Japanese Formula 3, which had changed its name to Super Formula Lights,[2] with the TOM'S team. He won one race in the final race weekend at Fuji and was on the podium in ten other races. With 73 points, he finished third in the final standings behind Ritomo Miyata and Sena Sakaguchi.
Kotaka still raced in Super Formula Lights in 2021, albeit only for one round, where he managed to get 2 podiums. For 2022, Kotaka stays with TOM'S. He then won the title with eight wins and eleven podiums, as he beats Kakunoshin Ohta and Iori Kimura.[3]
Super GT
[edit]Kotaka made debut in GT300 class for apr in Super GT for two races at Fuji Sweedway, sharing a Toyota GR Sport Prius PHV apr GT with Hiroaki Nagai and Manabu Orido, but scored no points. He also appeared in Non Championship round in Fuji Speedway, where he raced with McLaren 720S GT3 with Hanashima Racing alongside Katsuaki Kubota.[4] Kotaka also competed full-time in the GT300 class of the Super GT with the team Advics muta Racing INGING, sharing a Toyota 86 MC GT300 with Ryohei Sakaguchi. The two took two pole positions at Fuji and two podiums at Suzuka and Fuji. They finished ninth in the championship with 34 points. For 2021 and 2022, he only appeared for 3 rounds with INGING and K-Tunes Racing for 2 races each respectively, and 2022 for apr with Koki Saga and Yuhki Nakayama.
Kotaka made his full season debut with apr number 31 new Lexus LC 500h GT alongside Saga and Yuki Nemoto where both claimed one podium.[5] Kotaka continues with the same team, and paired with debutant Jin Nakamura.[6]
Super Formula
[edit]In 2021 Kotaka would continue to drive in the 2021 Super Formula Lights at TOM'S. However, he missed the first two race weekends as he made his Super Formula debut that year with the carrozzeria Team KCMG as a replacement for Kamui Kobayashi, who was unable to fly to Japan due to travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[7] He ended up competing in all but one round of the series, but didn't manage to score a single point.
After He won the Super Formula Lights title, he returns to the series in 2023 with Kondo Racing.[8]
Racing record
[edit]Career summary
[edit]‡ Team standings.
Complete Toyota Racing Series results
[edit](key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | DC | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | MTEC Motorsport | HIG 1 8 |
HIG 2 Ret |
HIG 3 6 |
TER 1 10 |
TER 2 C |
TER 3 C |
HMP 1 11 |
HMP 2 9 |
HMP 3 6 |
HMP 4 6 |
TAU 1 9 |
TAU 2 15 |
TAU 3 10 |
TAU 4 6 |
MAN 1 Ret |
MAN 2 10 |
MAN 3 3 |
10th | 176 |
Complete FIA Motorsport Games results
[edit]Year | Entrant | Cup | Qualifying | Quali Race | Main race |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | ![]() |
Formula 4 | 7th | DNF | 16th |
Complete Super Formula Lights results
[edit](key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Pos | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2020 | TOM'S | MOT 1 4 |
MOT 2 2 |
MOT 3 3 |
OKA 1 7 |
OKA 2 3 |
SUG 1 3 |
SUG 2 5 |
SUG 3 3 |
AUT 1 Ret |
AUT 2 4 |
AUT 3 4 |
SUZ 1 3 |
SUZ 2 2 |
SUZ 3 3 |
FUJ 1 3 |
FUJ 2 1 |
FUJ 3 3 |
3rd | 73 | |
2021 | TOM'S | FUJ 1 |
FUJ 2 |
FUJ 3 |
SUZ 1 |
SUZ 2 |
SUZ 3 |
AUT 1 |
AUT 2 |
AUT 3 |
SUG 1 |
SUG 2 |
SUG 3 |
MOT1 1 |
MOT1 2 |
MOT1 3 |
MOT2 1 5 |
MOT2 2 2 |
MOT2 3 3 |
8th | 14 |
2022 | TOM'S | FUJ 1 4 |
FUJ 2 1 |
FUJ 3 7 |
SUZ 1 1 |
SUZ 2 2 |
SUZ 3 1 |
AUT 1 6 |
AUT 2 6 |
AUT 3 6 |
SUG 1 1 |
SUG 2 1 |
SUG 3 1 |
MOT 1 1 |
MOT 2 4 |
MOT 3 2 |
OKA 1 3 |
OKA 2 1 |
OKA 3 4 |
1st | 114 |
Complete Super GT results
[edit](key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Entrant | Vehicle | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | DC | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | apr | Toyota GR Sport Prius PHV apr GT | GT300 | OKA | FUJ 21 |
SUZ | CHA | FUJ 25 |
AUT | SUG | MOT | NC | 0 |
2020 | Advics muta Racing INGING | Toyota 86 MC GT300 | FUJ 14 |
FUJ 9 |
SUZ 13 |
MOT 16 |
FUJ 7 |
SUZ 2 |
MOT | FUJ 3 |
9th | 34 | |
2021 | muta Racing INGING | OKA | FUJ 10 |
MOT | 26th | 3 | |||||||
K-Tunes Racing | Lexus RC F GT3 | SUZ 17 |
SUG 8 |
AUT | MOT | FUJ | |||||||
2022 | apr | Toyota GR Sport Prius PHV apr GT | OKA | FUJ | SUZ | FUJ 11 |
SUZ 26 |
SUG | AUT | MOT | NC | 0 | |
2023 | Lexus LC 500h GT | OKA 16 |
FUJ 8 |
SUZ 13 |
FUJ 5 |
SUZ 6 |
SUG 11 |
AUT 3 |
MOT 4 |
11th | 33 | ||
2024 | OKA |
FUJ |
SUZ |
FUJ |
SUZ |
SUG |
AUT |
MOT |
* Season still in progress.
Complete Super Formula results
[edit](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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | carrozzeria KCMG | FUJ 15 |
SUZ 16 |
AUT 16† |
SUG 17 |
MOT 14 |
MOT | SUZ 18 |
25th | 0 | ||
2023 | Kondō Racing | FUJ 10 |
FUJ 14 |
SUZ 7 |
AUT 19 |
SUG 14 |
FUJ 14 |
MOT 6 |
SUZ 15 |
SUZ 12 |
15th | 10 |
2024 | SUZ1 Ret |
AUT |
SUG |
FUJ |
MOT |
FUJ |
FUJ |
SUZ |
SUZ |
- | - |
* Season still in progress.
References
[edit]- ^ "Brendon Leitch returns to TRS for title challenge". www.formulascout.com. 21 December 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
- ^ "Kazuto Kotaka returns to Super Formula Lights with TOM'S". www.formulascout.com. 7 February 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
- ^ "TOYOTA GAZOO Racing、2022年のドライバー育成計画を発表".
- ^ "12-Car Field For Sprint Cup GT Races At Fuji". dailysportscar.com. 13 November 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
- ^ "New Lexus LC500h revealed for 2023 SUPER GT debut". motorsport.com. 13 January 2023. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
- ^ "Saitama Toyopet Gets New Lineup Amid Toyota Reshuffle". sportscar365.com. 10 January 2024. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
- ^ "Toyota junior Kazuto Kotaka gets Super Formula debut as Kobayashi sub". www.formulascout.com. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
- ^ "TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Presents its 2024 motorsport team setups in Japan". Toyota Gazoo Racing. 12 December 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
External links
[edit]- Kazuto Kotaka career summary at DriverDB.com