Kaoru Hoshino (21 September 1947 – 21 November 2022) was a Japanese racing driver. He was active in the Toyota works team TOM'S from its inception, driving the Toyota Corolla and Toyota Starlet. He was mainly active in touring car racing, and also competed in the |All Japan Touring Car Championship with the Toyota Supra and Toyota Corolla Levin. He continued to compete in the Super Taikyus and the All Japan GT Championship, and in 1995, in the GT2 class of the All Japan GT Championship, he teamed up with Yoshimi Ishibashi to win the series championship with a Nissan Skyline.
Hoshino was best known for being involved in Tetsuya Ota's accident when he was rear-ended by Tomohiko Sunako's Porsche, his tire came off and he was stuck in the pit lane when Ota hit Sunako Kaoru had just touched the wall a little bit. The tire came off and also damaged his car's rear end due to the touch with Sunako.
Hoshino died on 25 November 2022, at the age of 75.
Racing record Complete JGTC results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DC Pts 1995 Yoshimi Ishibashi Nissan Skyline GT2SUZFSWSENFSWSUGMIN1st79 1996 Porsche 911RS GT300SUZFSWSENFSWSUGMIN 8th 32 1997 Sigma Tech Racing Team Porsche 911 GT2 GT300SUZFSWSENFSWMINSUG 5th 51 1998GT300SUZFSWSENFSWTRMMIN SUG 21st 12 1999 TEAM GAIKOKUYAGT300SUZFSWSUGMINFSWTAITRM 22nd 7
24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 1985 Tom's Team Satoru Nakajima Masanori Sekiya Tom's 85C-L-Toyota C1 330 12th 12th 1987 Toyota Team Tom's Tiff Needell Masanori Sekiya Toyota 87C-L C1 39 DNF DNF 1988 Toyota Team Tom's Geoff Lees Masanori Sekiya Toyota 88C C1 351 12th 12th 1989 Toyota Team Tom's Keiichi Suzuki Didier Artzet Toyota 88C C1 20 DNF DNF
References