is a Japanese racing driver who last competed for Hitotsuyama Racing in SRO Japan Cup. He is the 2013 JAF Formula 4 West, as well as the 2025 and 2026 SRO Japan Cup champion.
Kawabata is mentored by Juichi and Shigekazu Wakisaka and was also Keiji Matsumoto's last protégé.
Early career Junior formulae Following a karting career where he won the 2007 JAF Junior Kart Championship, Kawabata stepped up to single-seaters in 2011, earning a scholarship from the Formula Toyota Racing School to compete in Formula Challenge Japan. Kawabata spent two years in the championship, where he only scored two podiums, both of which coming at the last round of the 2012 season at Suzuka.
In parallel to his Carrera Cup Japan commitments, Kawabata also raced in the JAF Formula 4 West Championship for Succeed Sports, which he would win ahead of Tairoku Yamaguchi.
Having spent 2014 on the sidelines, Kawabata returned to single-seaters in 2015, returning to Succeed Sports to race in the inaugural season of the F4 Japanese Championship. Having been spun out of podium contention at Okayama, Kawabata scored his first top-five finish in the series at the following round in Fuji. After not scoring points in the following four rounds, Kawabata scored two top-five finishes in the last round of the season at Motegi and ended the season 13th in points.
Returning to the F4 Japanese Championship for the 2016 season and staying with Succeed Sports, Kawabata won both races of the opening round at Okayama to kick off the season. Despite the two wins, Kawabata's best result over the rest of the season was sixth, scored at both Sugo and Fuji, ending his sophomore season 9th in the standings.
Porsche Carrera Cup Japan In early 2013, Kawabata was selected by Porsche Japan for their PCCJ Young Driver Development Program, which saw the Osaka-born driver compete in that year's Carrera Cup Japan season. In his only season in the category, Kawabata scored two wins, both at the final round of the season at Suzuka and ended the season sixth in points.
Super GT In early 2017, Kawabata made his Super GT debut, racing for Team UpGarage with Bandoh alongside Yuhki Nakayama. Kawabata scored his first points at the second round of the season at Fuji by taking ninth and scored further points at Chang, finishing seventh and ending the season 20th on six points.
Ahead of the 2018 season, Kawabata joined Team Taisan for his sophomore season in GT300, partnering Shinnosuke Yamada. Kawabata finished ninth in the season opener at Okayama, which would be the team's only points finish of the season as they finished 21st in the standings.
In 2020, Kawabata returned to Super GT, joining Audi Team Hitotsuyama alongside Christopher Mies. With Mies unable to enter Japan due to the pandemic, Kawabata was joined by Tsubasa Kondo on the eve of the season opening round at Fuji. After scoring points at Fuji and Motegi, the pair scored their only win of the season at Suzuka and concluded the season 11th in points.
Kawabata returned to Audi Team Hitotsuyama for 2021, partnering Takuro Shinohara for his fourth season in Super GT. At the penultimate round of the season at Motegi, he scored his second win in GT300 and ended the season 15th in points.
Following Satoshi Motoyama's departure from Super GT after the opening round of the 2022 Super GT season, Kawabata joined Team LeMans as a third driver for the first Fuji round of the season. Kawabata finished 14th in the Golden Week endurance. For the second Fuji round, Kawabata joined Pacific Racing Team as a third driver alongside Kei Cozzolino and Takeshi Kimura. In his second one-off appearance of the season, Kawabata finished 12th. In early 2023, it was announced that Kawabata would return to Pacific Racing Team as a third driver alongside Liang Jiatong and Ryohei Sakaguchi. In his four starts, Kawabata finished 11th at the second Suzuka round, which would turn out to be the team's best finish of the season.
Other racing In 2025, Kawabata returned to Hitotsuyama Racing to compete in the SRO Japan Cup alongside Akihiro Tsuzuki. In his maiden season in the series, he won race two at Fuji and stood on the podium in all but two races to clinch overall and GT3 Pro-Am titles at the season-ending round at Suzuka.
The following year, Kawabata remained with Hitotsuyama to defend his SRO Japan Cup title, continuing in GT3 Pro-Am alongside Tsuzuki. In his second season in the series, Kawabata won four of the season's eight races to clinch the overall and GT3 Pro-Am titles on countback over the #24 Max Racing Mercedes-AMG pairing of Yuya Motojima and Yusaku Shibata.
Karting record Karting career summary SeasonSeriesTeamPosition 2007JAF Junior Kart Championship1st2008All-Japan Karting Championship – KF24thCIK-FIA Asia Pacific Championship – KF1Birel Pacific Motor Sport13thCIK-FIA Asia Pacific Championship – KF2Tigre17th2009All-Japan Karting Championship – KF19thSL National Championship – Super KT1stKarting World Cup – SKF & KF1Takagi Planning14th2010All-Japan Karting Championship – KF16thSL National Championship – Super KT4thKarting World Cup – SKF & KF1Takagi Planning5thSources:
Racing record Racing career summary SeasonSeriesTeamRacesWinsPolesF/LapsPodiumsPointsPosition 2011 Formula Challenge Japan FTRS Scholarship 13 0 0 0 0 2 12th 2012 Formula Challenge Japan FTRS Scholarship 12 0 0 0 2 15 6th2013 Porsche Carrera Cup Japan Garmin Porsche 10 2 1 4 6 103 6th JAF Formula 4 West Succeed Sports 6 4 0 0 6 951st JAF Formula 4 Japan Championship – FC 1 0 0 0 1 N/A2nd JAF Grand Prix 1 0 0 0 1 N/A2nd 2015 F4 Japanese Championship Succeed Sports 14 0 0 0 0 27 13th 2016 F4 Japanese Championship Succeed Sports 14 2 2 1 2 78 9th 2017 Super GT – GT300 with Bandoh 8 0 0 0 0 6 20th2018 Super GT – GT300 Team Taisan 7 0 0 0 0 2 21st Super Taikyu – ST-X J-Fly Racing by Phoenix Racing Asia 5 0 0 1 1 71‡ 5th‡ 2019 Super Taikyu – ST-Z Techno First 1 0 0 0 1 16‡ 5th‡2020 Super GT – GT300 Audi Team Hitotsuyama 8 1 0 0 1 29 11th Super Taikyu – ST-TCR Floral Racing with Uematsu 5 2 2 1 5 104‡ 1st‡2021 Super GT – GT300 Audi Team Hitotsuyama 8 1 0 0 1 20 15th Super Taikyu – ST-X Floral Racing with ABSSA 6 1 1 1 4 108.5‡ 2nd‡2022 Super GT – GT300 Team LeMans 1 0 0 0 00NC Pacific CarGuy Racing 1 0 0 0 0 Super Taikyu – ST-Q Endless Sports 9 6 ?? ?? ?? ??‡ ??‡2023 Super GT – GT300 Pacific Racing Team 4 0 0 0 0 0 NC GT World Challenge Asia Team 5ZIGEN6 0 0 0 2 33 19th GT World Challenge Asia – Silver-Am 0 0 0 2 33 19th Super Taikyu – ST-X 2 1 1 2 1 36‡ 7th‡ Super Taikyu – ST-Z Audi Team Hitotsuyama 1 0 0 0 0 73‡ 5th‡ 2024 Super Taikyu – ST-Z Hitotsuyama Racing 7 0 0 0 1 75‡ 6th‡ 2025SRO Japan Cup - GT3Hitotsuyama Racing with Cornes Racing 8 1 1 0 6 122 1st Super Taikyu – ST-X Hitotsuyama Racing 1 0 0 0 1 58.5‡ 5th‡2026SRO Japan Cup - GT3Hitotsuyama Racing with Cornes Racing 8 4 4 0 5 135 1st Super GT – GT300 Ponos Racing Sources:
‡ Team standings
Complete Formula Challenge Japan 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 Pts 2011 FTRS ScholarshipFUJ11FUJ12SUZ11SUZ12FUJ21FUJ22FUJ23SUZ2SUZ31SUZ32MOT1MOT2MOT3MOT4 12th 2 2012 FTRS ScholarshipFUJ11FUJ12MOT1MOT2FUJ21FUJ22FUJ23SUZ11SUZ12SUZ21SUZ22SUZ23 6th 15
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 Pts 2015 Succeed Sports OKA1 OKA2 FUJ11 FUJ12 FUJ21 FUJ22 SUZ1 SUZ2 SUG1 SUG2 AUT1 AUT2 MOT1 MOT2 13th 27 2016 Succeed Sports OKA1 OKA2 FUJ11 FUJ12 SUG1 SUG2 FUJ21 FUJ22 FUJ23 SUZ1 SUZ2 MOT1 MOT2 MOT3 9th 78
Complete Super GT results Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DC Pts 2017 Team Up Garage with Bandoh Toyota 86 GT300OKAFUJAUTSUGFUJSUZCHAMOT20th6 2018 Team Taisan Audi R8 LMS GT300 OKA FUJ SUZ CHA FUJ SUG AUT MOT 21st 2 2020 Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS Evo GT300FUJFUJSUZMOTFUJSUZMOTFUJ 11th 29 2021 Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS Evo GT300 OKA FUJ MOT SUZ SUG AUT MOT FUJ 15th 202022 Team LeMans Audi R8 LMS Evo IIGT300 OKA FUJ SUZNC0 Pacific Car Guy Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 EVO 2020 FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT 2023 Pacific Racing Team Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO 2020 GT300 OKA FUJ SUZ FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT NC 0
Complete GT World Challenge Asia 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 DC Points 2023 Team 5ZIGEN Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 Pro-Am BUR1 BUR2 FUJ1 FUJ2 SUZ1 SUZ2 MOT1 MOT2 OKA1 OKA2 SEP1 SEP2 19th 33
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