is a Japanese racing driver for Toyota Gazoo Racing who is currently competing in Super GT and Super Formula for TOM'S. He was previously a factory driver for Honda, and has achieved successes in a wide variety of motorsport disciplines.
Career
Karting Sasahara began karting aged seven in 2003. He won numerous domestic titles, including becoming JAF All Japan Championship Junior Champion in 2009. In the same year, he beat Matt Parry to win the Rotax Max Challenge Junior Grand Final, a title he went on to win for a second time in 2011. He went on to enjoy further success in the category, winning the Rotax Max Euro Challenge Junior title in 2011, and the Central Eastern European Rotax Max Challenge Senior title in 2012, his final year in karting.
European racing career Sasahara graduated to single-seaters in 2013, racing in the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps championship for Vincenzo Sospiri's Euronova Racing team. He finished in the points on seven occasions, taking a best race result of sixth at Misano to finish 13th in the championship. During the season, he also took part in the Spa-Francorchamps and Barcelona rounds of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season with Euronova Racing as a guest driver.
For 2014, Sasahara continued with Euronova Racing, switching to the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC championship. He took a single podium position, finishing second to Louis Delétraz in the opening race of the season at Monza, and finished in the points in all the remaining races except one to finish sixth in the championship.
In June 2014, Sasahara took part in the opening round of the Italian F4 Championship at Adria International Raceway for Euronova Racing, replacing Italian driver Andrea Fontana who missed the event due to illness. After finishing fifth in the opening race, he won the reversed-grid second race ahead of the Prema Powerteam entry of eventual series champion Lance Stroll.
In 2015, Sasahara joined the ART Junior Team to contest both the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula Renault 2.0 NEC championships. After failing to score points in the opening round of the Eurocup at Motorland Aragón, Sasahara took his first race victory in the following round at Spa-Francorchamps, becoming only the second Japanese driver to win a Eurocup race after Kamui Kobayashi in the 2005 season.
In the NEC championship, Sasahara won the opening race of the season at Monza ahead of Manor MP Motorsport's Ignazio D'Agosto.
In 2016, initially Sasahara did not have a full time seat. He competed for two rounds at Spa-Francorchamps & Imola with Threebond T-Sport.
Japanese F4 and Japanese F3 Sasahara returned to Japan, where he competed in F4 Japanese Championship in 2017 with Honda backing. He competed with Honda Formula Dream Project, alongside Yuki Tsunoda & Toshiki Oyu as his teammates. He managed to get runners up place beating his teammates, but lost out to the eventual champion Ritomo Miyata. Sasahara made his step up to the Japanese Formula 3 Championship with ThreeBond Racing. He only managed to claim third in the championship standings, with couple of podiums to his name. He lost out to the TOM'S pairing of Sho Tsuboi who was the champion, and the runners up Ritomo Miyata.
F3 Asia and Porsche Carera Cup Japan Unfortunately for Sasahara, he was dropped by Honda for the 2019 season with no drive in Japanese F3 or even Super GT. With that, Sasahara competed in Porsche Carrera Cup Japan. He also competed in the F3 Asian Championship with Hitech Grand Prix that season. Sasahara eventually won both of the series. He made a return in the 2019–20 F3 Asian Championship as a guest with the same team.
Super GT Sasahara made his debut in Super GT GT500 for Honda's Team Mugen, partnered alongside Hideki Mutoh. Sasahara took his maiden podium at Motegi. Sasahara continues to compete at Super GT, Team Mugen retained him, with new teammate Toshiki Oyu. Both pairs claimed their maiden pole in GT500 at Sportsland SUGO.
For 2023, Sasahara left Honda, and moved to Toyota. Sasahara competed with Deloitte Team TOM'S, alongside Giuliano Alesi.
Super Formula
Sasahara made his Super Formula debut with Team Mugen, replacing Jüri Vips where initially to compete in this series, but due to COVID-19 border restriction in Japan prevented Vips to entering Japan, and compete for the entire season. Sasahara was originally not scheduled to compete in Super Formula for 2021, but he competed for the first two rounds as he replaced Tadasuke Makino at Dandelion Racing after Makino suffered meningitis. Sasahara claimed his maiden podium in the series on the second round. Sasahara returned to Team Mugen for 2022 season of Super Formula with Team Mugen. Sasahara made his maiden win in Super Formula, as he won at Fuji, and finished sixth in the standings.
Sasahara competed in Super Formula as well, after replaces his Super GT Teammate Alesi in the Vantelin Team TOM'S for the last four rounds.
Karting record Karting career summary SeasonSeriesTeamPosition 2009 Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals - Junior Max Team Global1st 2010 Rotax Max Euro Trophy - Junior Max 6th Rotax Max Wintercup - Junior Max Intrepid Force Rotax1st 2011 Kartmasters British GP - Rotax Junior 18th Rotax Max Euro Trophy - Junior Max Paul Carr Racing1st Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals - Junior Max1st 2012 Rotax Euro Challenge - Rotax Senior 9th Rotax International Open - Senior 10th Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals - Senior Max 9th Rotax Max Challenge Central-Eastern Europe - Senior1st
Racing record Racing career summary Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position 2013 Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Euronova Racing 14 0 0 0 0 32 13th Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 4 0 0 0 0 0 NC† 2014 Formula Renault 2.0 NEC Euronova Racing 15 0 0 1 1 191 6th Italian F4 Championship Euronova Racing by Fortec 3 1 0 0 1 25 17th 2015 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 ART Junior Team 17 1 1 0 4 116 7th Formula Renault 2.0 NEC 16 2 1 1 8 296 3rd 2016 FIA Formula 3 European Championship Threebond with T-Sport 6 0 0 0 0 0 26th 2017 F4 Japanese Championship Honda Formula Dream Project 14 3 1 3 10 224 2nd 2018 Japanese Formula 3 Championship ThreeBond Racing 19 0 0 1 9 65 3rd Macau Grand Prix 1 0 0 0 0 N/A DNF 2019 F3 Asian Championship Hitech Grand Prix 15 8 7 7 13 301 1st Japanese Formula 3 Championship B-Max Racing with Motopark 3 0 0 0 0 3 12th FIA Motorsport Games GT Cup Team Japan 1 1 0 0 1 N/A 1st Porsche Carrera Cup Japan Porsche Japan106649176 1st 2019–20 F3 Asian Championship Hitech Grand Prix 15 3 4 1 6 N/A NC† 2020 Super GT - GT500 Team Mugen 8 0 0 0 1 25 15th Super Formula 7 0 0 0 0 5 18th 2021 Super GT - GT500 Team Red Bull Mugen 8 0 1 0 0 20 16th Super Formula Docomo Team Dandelion Racing 2 0 0 0 1 18 12th 2022 Super Formula Team Mugen 10 2 1 0 2 57 6th Super GT - GT500 Team Red Bull Mugen 8 0 0 0 1 16.5 14th 2023 Super GT - GT500 TGR Team Deloitte TOM'S 8 0 0 0 0 15 15th Super Formula Vantelin Team TOM’S 3 0 0 0 0 0 22nd 2024 Super GT - GT500 TGR Team Deloitte TOM'S 8 2 1 0 2 51 5th Super Formula Vantelin Team TOM’S 9 0 0 0 0 0 20th SRO Japan Cup - GT3 Bingo Racing222?2509th 2025 Super GT - GT500 TGR Team Deloitte TOM'S 8 1 0 0 2 49.5 6thSRO Japan Cup - GT3Bingo Racing with LM corsa82304974thSuper Taikyu - ST-USA-1Bingo Racing2026 Super GT - GT500 TGR Team Deloitte TOM'S 5 0 0 0 1 18 12th*Super FormulaRealize Kondo Racing 8 0 0 0 0 0 25th*SRO Japan Cup - GT3Bingo Racing with LM corsa † As Sasahara was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points. * Season still in progress.
Complete Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Series results (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 Pos Points 2013 Euronova Racing VLL1 VLL2 IMO11 IMO12 SPA1 SPA2 MNZ1 MNZ2 MIS1 MIS2 MUG1 MUG2 IMO21 IMO22 13th 32
Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 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 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 DC Points 2013 Euronova Racing ALC1 ALC2SPA1SPA2MSC1MSC2RBR1RBR2HUN1HUN2LEC1LEC2 CAT1 CAT2 NC† 0 2015 ART Junior Team ALC1 ALC2 ALC3 SPA1 SPA2 HUN1 HUN2 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 NÜR1 NÜR2 LMS1 LMS2 JER1 JER2 JER3 7th 116
† As Sasahara was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points
Complete Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup 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 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 DC Points 2014 Euronova Racing MNZ1 MNZ2 SIL1 SIL2 HOC1 HOC2 HOC3 SPA1 SPA2 ASS1 ASS2 MST1 MST2 MST3 NÜR1 NÜR2 NÜR3 6th 191 2015 ART Junior Team MNZ1 MNZ2 SIL1 SIL2 RBR1 RBR2 RBR3 SPA1 SPA2 ASS1 ASS2 NÜR1 NÜR2 HOC1 HOC2 HOC3 3rd 296
Complete Italian F4 Championship results (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 18 19 20 21 DC Points 2014 Euronova Racing by Fortec ADR1 ADR2 ADR3 IMO11 IMO12 IMO13 MUG1 MUG2 MUG3 MAG1 MAG2 MAG3 VLL1 VLL2 VLL3 MNZ1 MNZ2 MNZ3 IMO21 IMO22 IMO23 17th 25
Complete FIA Formula 3 European Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 DC Points 2016 Threebond with T-Sport Threebond LEC1 LEC2 LEC3 HUN1 HUN2 HUN3 PAU1 PAU2 PAU3 RBR1 RBR2 RBR3 NOR1 NOR2 NOR3 ZAN1 ZAN2 ZAN3 SPA1 SPA2 SPA3 NÜR1 NÜR2 NÜR3 IMO1 IMO2 IMO3 HOC1 HOC2 HOC3 26th 0
Complete F4 Japanese Championship results (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 DC Points 2017 Honda Formula Dream Project OKA1 OKA2 FUJ11 FUJ12 AUT1 AUT2 SUG1 SUG2 FUJ21 FUJ22 SUZ1 SUZ2 MOT1 MOT2 2nd 224
Complete Japanese Formula 3 Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 DC Pts 2018 ThreeBond Racing Tomei SUZ1 SUZ2 SUG1 SUG2 FUJ1 FUJ2 OKA1 OKA2 OKA3 MOT1 MOT2 MOT3 OKA1 OKA2 OKA3 SUG1 SUG2 SUG3 SUG4 FUJ1 FUJ2 3rd 65 2019 B-Max Racing with Motopark Volkswagen SUZ1 SUZ2 AUT1 AUT2 AUT3 OKA1 OKA2 OKA3 SUG1 SUG2 FUJ1 FUJ2 SUG1 SUG2 SUG3 MOT1 MOT2 MOT3 OKA1 OKA2 12th 3
Complete Macau Grand Prix results Year Team Car Qualifying Quali Race Main race 2018 ThreeBond Racing Dallara F317 24th 22nd DNF
Complete F3 Asian Championship results (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 DC Points 2019 Hitech Grand Prix SEP1 SEP2 SEP3 CHA1 CHA2 CHA3 SUZ1 SUZ2 SUZ3 SIC11 SIC12 SIC13 SIC21 SIC22 SIC23 1st 301 2019–20 Abu Dhabi Racing UAE SEP1 SEP2 SEP3 DUB1 DUB2 DUB3 ABU1 ABU2 ABU3 SEP1 SEP2 SEP3 CHA1 CHA2 CHA3 NC† 0
† As Sasahara was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points
Complete Super GT 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 8 9 DC Points 2020 Team Mugen Honda NSX-GT GT500 FUJ FUJ SUZ MOT FUJ SUZ MOT FUJ 15th 25 2021 Team Red Bull Mugen Honda NSX-GT GT500 OKA FUJ MOT SUZ SUG AUT MOT FUJ 16th 20 2022 Team Red Bull Mugen Honda NSX-GT GT500 OKA FUJ SUZ FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT 14th 16.5 2023 TGR Team Deloitte TOM'S Toyota GR Supra GT500 GT500 OKA FUJ SUZ FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT 15th 15 2024 TGR Team Deloitte TOM'S Toyota GR Supra GT500 GT500 OKA FUJ SUZ FUJ SUG AUT MOT SUZ 5th 51 2025 TGR Team Deloitte TOM'S Toyota GR Supra GT500 GT500 OKA FUJ SEP FS1 FS2 SUZ SUG AUT MOT 6th 49.5 2026 TGR Team Deloitte TOM'S Toyota GR Supra GT500 GT500 OKA FUJ FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT 12th* 18* ‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed. (Number) Driver did not take part in this sprint race, points are still awarded for the teammate's result. * Season still in progress.
Complete Super Formula results