is a Japanese racing driver currently competing in the Super GT Series for K-tunes Racing. He is a three-time champion of the GT300 class, winning the championship in 1996, 1999, and 2002.
Nitta is the current record holder for most races in any class of the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship/Super GT Series, as well as the record holder for the most career wins, podiums, and points in the GT300 class.
In 2027, Nitta was downgraded from Silver to a Bronze rating under the FIA Driver Categorisation system.
Early racing career Nitta began his professional racing career in 1986, participating in the Fuji Freshman Race.
Nitta would later compete in the Japanese Formula 3 Championship and the Japanese Touring Car Championship, where he and Keiichi Suzuki won the JTC-3 class Championship in 1990 driving a Toyota Corolla Levin for Tsuchiya Engineering.
JGTC/Super GT career Nitta first competed in Super GT in 1994, the inaugural season of what was then known as the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) driving a Porsche 964 at Sportsland Sugo.
Nitta got his first full-time drive in the GT300 class with Team Taisan Jr. in 1996. Joined by his former JTCC teammate Keiichi Suzuki, Nitta won three races and won the GT300 championship in his first full season. Nitta and Suzuki would go on to finish second in points the following year with two wins.
Nitta joined A'PEX in 1998, achieving a best finish of second at the Japan Special GT Cup at Fuji Speedway alongside co-driver Peter Dumbreck in the #44 Toyota MR2.
For the 1999 season, A'PEX formed a joint entry with Tsuchiya Engineering, and beginning at the All-Japan Fuji GT Race, Nitta would drive the #25 MR2 alongside Shinichi Takagi. Nitta and Takagi won in their first race together, and with four podiums in the final six races, Nitta would win his second GT300 Championship by a single point over Takeshi Tsuchiya (the son of Tsuchiya Engineering owner Haruo Tsuchiya) and Yuji Ide.
Driving the new third-generation Toyota MR-S sponsored by Super Autobacs, Nitta won the season finale at Suzuka Circuit. A'PEX began a new collaboration with Autobacs Racing Team Aguri (ARTA) in 2001, where Nitta and Takagi won the opening race at TI Circuit Aida. In 2002, the duo opened the season with another win at TI Circuit, then reeled off five top-five finishes in the final five races to win the championship. Nitta became the first three-time GT300 champion in JGTC/Super GT history.
The racing division of A'PEX, which spun off from its parent company and rebranded as apr, ran the new Nissan-powered ASL Garaiya for ARTA beginning in 2003. With the exception of 2006, when ARTA suspended its GT300 programme for a season, Nitta drove the Garaiya from 2003 to 2010. Alongside Takagi, Nitta won seven races in the Garaiya, and finished runner-up in the GT300 championship standings in 2004 and 2008. During the 2006 season, Nitta drove a Toyota MR-S entered under the apr banner, and won the final round at Fuji after the R&D Sport Vemac 408R of Haruki Kurosawa and Shinsuke Shibahara ran out of fuel on the last lap.
Nitta and Takagi went their separate ways after twelve seasons after the 2010 season. In 2011, Nitta would continue with apr, driving the mid-engine layout Toyota Corolla Axio alongside Toyota Young Driver Program (TDP) prospect Yuji Kunimoto.
The Corolla Axio was replaced in 2012 by apr's new Toyota Prius, the first hybrid GT300 vehicle to compete in Super GT. Nitta joined Koki Saga for the Prius' debut campaign where they were rewarded with a second-place finish at the summer race at Fuji. At the 2013 Fuji 500 km, Nitta and Saga gave the Prius its milestone first Super GT win for a hybrid vehicle. Nitta scored two more podiums in 2014 at the wheel of the Prius.
His long association with apr ended after the 2014 season, and Nitta joined the LM corsa team in 2015 in their No. 51 BMW Z4 GT3 which was prepared by INGING Motorsport. LM corsa and INGING switched to a new Ferrari 488 GT3 for the 2016 season, and in 2017, INGING would enter the car in collaboration with Arnage Racing. Nitta's best result during this stretch was a second-place finish at Sugo in 2017.
Nitta joined the new K-tunes Racing LM corsa team in 2018, which received technical support from INGING. At the wheel of their new No. 96 Lexus RC F GT3, Nitta scored his first win in five years alongside Yuichi Nakayama in the third round at Suzuka. Nitta and Nakayama also won the penultimate round in Autopolis, giving Nitta his 20th career win.
K-tunes Racing spun off from LM corsa in 2019, and new teammate Sena Sakaguchi joined Nitta in the No. 96 Lexus. The duo won a rain-shortened opening round at Okayama, the team's home race, then won the third round at Suzuka. With two wins and four podiums, Nitta and Sakaguchi finished second in the championship, and Nitta retook sole ownership of the career wins record, now at 22 career victories.
In 2022, Nitta and Takagi were reunited at K-tunes Racing for the first time since 2010. They combined for six top-ten finishes that season.
Outside Super GT Before achieving success in JGTC/Super GT, Nitta entered the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps seven times from 1989 to 1998. His best result was 12th overall in 1989, driving a Toyota Corolla GT alongside Kaori Okamoto and Hideshi Matsuda.
Nitta made his GT World Challenge Asia debut in the 2022 season finale at Okayama, driving a new K-tunes Racing Lexus RC F GT3. Nitta and Kazunori Suenaga would return to contest the full GT World Challenge Asia Japan Cup in 2023.
Racing record Complete Japanese Formula 3 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DC Points1988UCLAReynard 873 Toyota 3S-G 2.0 I4 SUZ TSU FUJ SUZRet SUGRet TSU18 SEN13 SUZDNS NIS18 SUZ10 NC 01989Innoma House GoldRalt RT32 SUZ FUJ SUZ TSU SUG TSU SUZ MIN SUZDNQ SUZ NC 01992Kanagawa Clinic Racing TeamRalt RT36Ralt RT35Reynard 923 SUZDNQ TSU FUJ19 SUZDNQ SEN20 TAI27 MINDNQ SUG SUZ NC 0
Complete Japanese Touring Car Championship 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 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18DCPoints1987 TOM'S Aramis 900 Toyota Corolla LevinDiv. 1MINSENTSUSUGFUJRetSUZ NC 01988 Unknown Toyota Corolla FXJTC-3SUZ11MIN8SENRet NC 0 Toyota Corolla LevinTSUDNSSUGRetFUJRet1989FET TOM'SJTC-3MINRetSEN7TSURetSUG7SUZ7FUJ7 NC 01990Team ADVANJTC-3MIN4SUG1SUZ4TSU1SEN3FUJ1 1st104 1991 JTC-3SUG1SUZRetTSU1SEN7AUT5FUJRet 3rd561992 JTC-3TIAAUT1SUGRetSUZRetMIN2TSU9SEN4FUJ511th551993JTC-3MIN3AUT4SUG4SUZ2TIA8TSU4TOKRetSEN2FUJ2 6th 90 1994 Tsuchiya Engineering Toyota Corolla Ceres JTCC AUT1 AUT2 SUG1 SUG2 TOK1 TOK2 SUZ1 SUZ2 MIN1 MIN2 TAI1 TAI2 TSU1 TSU2 SEN1 SEN2 FUJ1 FUJ2 NC 0 1996 Toyota Team FET Toyota Corolla AE110 FUJ1 FUJ2 SUG1 SUG2 SUZ1 SUZ2 MIN1 MIN2 SEN1 SEN2 TOK1 TOK2 FUJ1 FUJ2 NC 0
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 1994 Osuka Racing Porsche 964 RSR GT2FUJSENFUJSUG5MIN 18th 8 1996 Team Taisan Jr. GT300SUZ1FUJ2SENRetFUJ2SUG1MIN11st90 1997 Porsche 993 RSR GT300SUZ4FUJ1SEN3FUJ1MIN3SUG22nd89 1998 A'PEX Toyota MR2 GT300SUZ7FUJCSEN6FUJ2MOT4MIN4SUGRet3rd45 1999 Momo Corse Racing Team with Tsuchiya GT300SUZ8FUJ1SUG2MIN2FUJ5TAIRetMOT31st73 2000 Super Autobacs Racing with A'PEX Toyota MR-S GT300MOT6FUJ10SUG6FUJ6TAIRetMIN14SUZ1 7th 39 2001 ARTA with A'PEX GT300TAI1FUJ3SUGRetFUJ5MOTRetSUZRetMINRet 7th 40 2002 GT300TAI1FUJRetSUG17SEP2FUJ4MOT5MIN5SUZ41st75 2003 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri ASL ARTA Garaiya GT300TAI19FUJ3SUG4FUJ10FUJ6MOT2AUT5SUZNC 7th 55 2004 GT300TAI2SUG5SEP21TOK1MOT1AUT2SUZ22nd92 2005 GT300OKA10FUJ2SEP1SUG18MOT3FUJRetAUT2SUZ83rd74 2006 apr Toyota MR-S GT300SUZRetOKA9FUJ2SEPRetSUG5SUZ3MOT10AUTRetFUJ1 5th 60 2007 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri ASL ARTA Garaiya GT300SUZ18OKA17FUJ1SEPRetSUGRetSUZ2MOT3AUT5FUJ7 4th 66 2008 GT300SUZ5OKA1FUJ7SEP12SUG1SUZRetMOT9AUT2FUJ92nd77 2009 GT300OKA2SUZ5FUJ1SEP10SUG9SUZ2FUJ7AUT4MOT14 5th 71 2010 GT300SUZRetOKA6FUJ2SEP2SUG6SUZ2FUJCMOT122nd55 2011 apr Toyota Corolla Axio apr GT GT300OKA6FUJ7SEP6SUG2SUZ7FUJ14AUT8MOT9 7th 38 2012 Toyota Prius apr GT GT300OKARetFUJ6SEPRetSUG8SUZRetFUJ2AUT8MOTRet 10th 26 2013 GT300OKARetFUJ1SEPRetSUG22SUZ15FUJ2 FSWAUT15MOT20 8th 35 2014 GT300OKARetFUJ6AUTRetSUGRetFUJ6SUZ2CHA17MOT2 8th 43 2015 LM Corsa BMW Z4 GT3 GT300OKA9FUJ9CHAFUJ4SUZRetSUG9AUT17MOT15 17th 14 2016 Ferrari 488 GT3 GT300OKA5FUJ6SUG9FUJ11SUZ11CHA12MOT11MOTRet 16th 13 2017 INGING & Arnage Racing GT300OKARetFUJAUT27SUG2FUJ14SUZ16CHA17MOT21 17th 15 2018 K-tunes Racing LM Corsa Lexus RC F GT3 GT300OKA14FUJ14SUZ1CHA10FUJ10SUG14AUT1MOT10 6th 45 2019 K-tunes Racing GT300OKA1FUJ16SUZ1CHA14FUJ15AUT5SUG3MOT32nd58 2020 GT300FUJ11 FUJ23 SUZ28MOT4FUJ26SUZ5MOT17FUJ22 16th 15 2021 GT300OKA6FUJ14SUZ17MOT13SUG8AUT2MOT14FUJ19 12th 23 2022 GT300OKA27FUJ6SUZ7FUJ5SUZ25SUG9AUT8MOT6 16th 22.52023GT300OKA14FUJ9SUZ22 FUJ23 SUZ8 SUG8 AUTRet MOT5 18th 152024GT300OKA6FUJ17SUZ9FUJRetSUGRetAUT3MOT14SUZ9 13th 202025GT300OKA6FUJ13SEP16FUJRetFUJ15SUZSUGAUTMOT 19th* 15.5* Season still in progress.
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