is a Japanese racing driver who most recently competed in Super GT for Hyper Water Racing Inging and in Super Formula for TGMGP. He is the champion of the 2020 F4 Japanese Championship, as well as a two-time class winner in the Super Taikyū Series. He is part of the TGR Driver Challenge Program.
Early career Karting Taira began his karting career in 2009, and became champion in the Okinawa series the following year. He would remain at prefectural level competition until its cancellation in 2014 and travelled annually to compete in the national Rotax Max Challenge, claiming a best finish of eighth. In 2015, Taira made his international karting debut at the Rotax Max Grand Finals at the Algarve International Circuit, where he impressed against the likes of Caio Collet but crashed out in the grand final. Taira's karting career concluded in 2018 after two years racing in the All-Japan Karting Championship.
Formula 4 After making his formula racing debut by invitation in the final two rounds of the Formula 4 South East Asia championship in 2018, Taira began his first full season for Formula 4 in 2019, racing in the F4 Japanese Championship with TOM'S Spirit. He would go on to finish seventh in the standings, taking one podium. The following year, Taira remained in the series after gaining official junior status, graduating from the TGR-DC Racing School and joining its namesake team. He would go on to win the championship in a crushingly dominant fashion, consecutively winning ten out of the twelve races contested that season and taking pole position in all but two qualifying sessions.
Super Formula Lights For 2021, Taira was promoted to Super Formula Lights with TOM'S, partnering longtime teammate Seita Nonaka and former Formula 2 driver Giuliano Alesi. He managed to claim fifth in the standings, finishing in the top six in every race, but never higher than third. Taira remained with TOM'S for 2022; despite claiming two race victories, he would finish fifth in the championship once again, one point behind teammate Nonaka. In his third season in the category in 2023, Taira started off strongly and led the championship by the halfway mark after taking three victories, but would ultimately lose out on the championship, finishing runner-up to Honda junior Iori Kimura.
Super Formula Taira debuted his first Super Formula season in 2024 the following round in Sugo to replace Ben Barnicoat at Team Impul, and returned for his second race at Fuji in July. Taira would return to finish out the season in the JAF Suzuka Grand Prix double-header.
Taira would make his full season debut in 2025 with TGMGP along with Kazuto Kotaka.
Super GT GT300 Taira made his sports car racing debut in Super GT for the 2021 season, racing for K-Tunes Racing in the GT300 class alongside series veteran Morio Nitta as a stand-in for Sena Sakaguchi. He continued his role as a replacement driver in 2022, competing for apr in three rounds in place of Hiroaki Nagai. Taira began his first full season in Super GT in 2023, driving a Toyota GR86 GT300 for muta Racing INGING alongside Yuui Tsutsumi after Hiroki Katoh stepped back from a full-time driving role, becoming the director of the team. Despite going winless, Taira and Tsutsumi finished in second on three occasions and claimed both pole position and the fastest race lap in the final two rounds of the season, earning enough points to finish second overall in the standings. Taira continued race with the same team and driver pairing for 2024.
Personal life Taira currently attends Aichi Toho University in Nagoya, studying international business administration.
Racing record
Career summary Season Series Team Races Wins Poles FLaps Podiums Points Position 2017–18 Formula 4 South East Asia Championship Meritus.GP1200231276th2019 F4 Japanese Championship TOM'S Spirit 14 0 0 0 1 101 7th2020 F4 Japanese Championship TGR-DC Racing School 12 10 6 4 12 270.5 1st 2021 Super Formula Lights TOM'S 13 0 0 0 4 41.5 5th Super GT - GT300 K-tunes Racing 3 0 0 0 0 5 24th Super Taikyū - ST-2 Kobe Toyopet Motor Sports64014100‡3rd‡ 2022 Super Formula Lights TOM'S 18 2 0 1 6 62 5th Super GT - GT300 apr 3 0 0 0 1 11 22nd Super Taikyū - ST-2 KTMS Kobe Toyopet Motor Sports65016173‡1st‡ 2023 Super GT - GT300 muta Racing INGING80223532nd Super Formula Lights TOM'S1834411102 2nd Super Taikyū - ST-X Zhongsheng ROOKIE Racing73215136‡1st‡ TGR GR86/BRZ Cup Nine with ARN Racing60102367th2024 Super GT - GT300 muta Racing INGING81004803rd Super Formula Itochu Enex Team Impul40000217th Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie - SP10 Toyota Gazoo Racing20000(3)*NC* Super Taikyu - ST-Z 2W Zoomies x GR Garage Yamaguchi-Shunan1000041.5‡11th‡ Super Taikyu - ST-2 KTMS10000118‡ 1st‡ TGR GR86/BRZ Cup50000120th 2025 Super GT - GT300 Hyper Water Racing INGING8000163.510th Super Formula KDDI TGMGP TGR-DC50000022nd Super Taikyū - ST-2 KTMS63005118‡2nd‡2026 Super GT - GT300 aprSuper Taikyu - ST-ZSaitama Green Brave * Season still in progress. ‡ Team standings
Complete Formula 4 South East Asia Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers) Year 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 2017–18SEP11SEP12SEP13SEP14SEP15SEP16CLA1CLA2CLA3CLA4CLA5CLA6CHA1CHA2CHA3CHA4CHA5CHA6 SEP21 SEP22 SEP23 SEP24 SEP25 SEP26 SEP31 SEP32 SEP33 SEP34 SEP35 SEP36 6th 127
Complete F4 Japanese Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 DC Points 2019 TOM'S Spirit OKA1 OKA2 FUJ11 FUJ12 SUZ1 SUZ2 FUJ21 FUJ22 AUT1 AUT2 SUG1 SUG2 MOT1 MOT2 7th 101 2020 TGR-DC Racing School FUJ11 FUJ12 FUJ13 SUZ1 SUZ2 SUZ3 MOT1 MOT2 MOT3 FUJ21 FUJ22 FUJ23 1st 270.5
Complete Super Formula Lights 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 18 Pos Points 2021 TOM'S FUJ1 FUJ2 FUJ3 SUZ1 SUZ2 SUZ3 AUT1 AUT2 AUT3 SUG1 SUG2 SUG3 MOT1 MOT2 MOT3 MOT1 MOT2 MOT3 5th 41.5 2022 TOM'S FUJ1 FUJ2 FUJ3 SUZ1 SUZ2 SUZ3 AUT1 AUT2 AUT3 SUG1 SUG2 SUG3 MOT1 MOT2 MOT3 OKA1 OKA2 OKA3 5th 62 2023 TOM'S AUT1 AUT2 AUT3 SUG1 SUG2 SUG3 SUZ1 SUZ2 SUZ3 FUJ1 FUJ2 FUJ3 OKA1 OKA2 OKA3 MOT1 MOT2 MOT3 2nd 102
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 2021 K-tunes Racing Lexus RC F GT3 GT300 OKA FUJ MOT SUZ SUG AUT MOT FUJ 25th 4 2022 apr Toyota GR86 GT300 GT300 OKA FUJ SUZ FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT 22nd 11 2023 muta Racing INGING Toyota GR86 GT300 GT300 OKA FUJ SUZ FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT 2nd 53 2024 muta Racing INGING Toyota GR86 GT300 GT300 OKA FUJ SUZ FUJ SUG AUT MOT SUZ 3rd 80 2025 Hyper Water Racing INGING Toyota GR86 GT300 GT300 OKA FUJ SEP FS1 FS2 SUZ SUG AUT MOT 10th 63.5 2026 apr Toyota GR86 GT300 GT300 OKA FUJ SEP FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT ‡ 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 YearTeamEngine123456789101112DCPoints2024 Itochu Enex Team Impul ToyotaSUZAUTSUGFUJMOTFUJFUJSUZSUZ 17th 2 2025 KDDI TGMGP TGR-DC Toyota SUZ SUZ MOT MOT AUT FUJ FUJ SUG FUJ SUZ SUZ SUZ 22nd 0 * Season still in progress.
References
External links Official website