Katsumasa Chiyo

Katsumasa Chiyo (born 9 December 1986 in Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese racing driver, currently driving for RJN Motorsport in the Blancpain Endurance Series and for Gainer in the Super GT series. He is a part of Nissan's GT Academy program.

Katsumasa Chiyo
Nationality Japanese
Born9 December 1986 (1986-12-09) (age 34)
Tokyo, Japan

Career

Open-wheel racing

Chiyo began racing cars in 2007, competing in the Formula Challenge Japan series. He finished third in the 2008 series before moving into the National Class of the All-Japan Formula Three Championship in 2009. Chiyo won the National Class in 2011 and moved on to GT racing. However, he returned to the championship in 2013, finishing third in the outright class and winning two races.[1] Chiyo took part in the 2013 Macau Grand Prix, finishing in 15th place.[2]

GT racing

The Nissan GT-R of Chiyo, Couto and Tomita which won the GT300 class at the 2015 1000 km Suzuka.
The race-winning Nissan GT-R of Chiyo, Reip and Strauss at the 2015 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour.

Following his National Class win in the 2011 All-Japan Formula Three Championship, Chiyo switched to the Super GT series, racing a Nissan GT-R in the GT300 class for NDDP Racing. He took victory at Sportsland SUGO with Yuhi Sekiguchi and went on to finish the season in fourth place.[3][4] Chiyo moved to Dijon Racing for the 2013 series and finished 28th in the standings after taking just one points-scoring finish.[1] He didn't race in the series in 2014, but returned in 2015, driving for Gainer in the GT300 class. He won at Fuji with teammate André Couto and at Suzuka with Couto and Ryuichiro Tomita.[5][6] Chiyo will step up to the GT500 class in 2016, driving the S Road MOLA Nissan GT-R alongside Satoshi Motoyama.

Chiyo began racing in the Blancpain Endurance Series in 2014, driving a Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 for RJN Motorsport. He scored a podium finish at Circuit Paul Ricard. Along with Alex Buncombe and Wolfgang Reip, Chiyo won the 2015 series. The trio won the 1000 km Paul Ricard and finished third in the final race of the series at the Nürburgring, taking the title by three points over the Bentley M-Sport entry of Steven Kane, Andy Meyrick and Guy Smith.[7] In doing so, Chiyo became the first Japanese driver to win a championship in a top-level sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation, and the first to win a major sports car racing championship of any kind outside of Asia.

Chiyo competed in the 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour as part of the Nismo Global Driver Exchange, driving a Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 with Buncombe, Reip and V8 Supercar driver Rick Kelly. Chiyo was involved in a crash in the early stages of the race, ending the team's chances after 58 laps.[8] Chiyo returned to the race in 2015, this time paired with Reip and Florian Strauss. The trio won the race after Chiyo took the lead with two laps remaining.[9] In the 2016 race, Chiyo finished a close second driving with Kelly and Strauss.[10]

Racing record

Career summary

Season Series Team Races Wins Poles FLaps Podiums Points Position
2007 Formula Challenge Japan 12 0 0 0 0 28 15th
2008 Formula Challenge Japan 16 3 1 1 6 136 3rd
2009 All-Japan Formula Three Championship (National) Team Nova 16 0 0 0 5 48 6th
2010 All-Japan Formula Three Championship (National) Denso Team Le Beausset 16 1 1 1 7 66 3rd
2011 All-Japan Formula Three Championship (National) NDDP Racing 14 5 5 3 10 89 1st
2012 Super GT (GT300) NDDP Racing 8 1 0 0 2 53 4th
2013 Super GT (GT300) Dijon Racing 8 0 0 0 0 2 28th
2013 All-Japan Formula Three Championship B-MAX Engineering 15 2 1 2 8 72 3rd
2013 Macau Grand Prix B-MAX Engineering 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 15th
2014 Blancpain Endurance Series (Pro-Am Cup) RJN Motorsport 5 0 0 0 1 25 12th
2014 GT Asia Series B-MAX Engineering 3 0 0 0 0 11 46th
2015 All-Japan Formula Three Championship B-MAX Engineering 2 0 0 0 0 4 10th
2015 Blancpain Endurance Series (Pro Cup) RJN Motorsport 5 1 0 1 2 62 1st
2015 Blancpain GT Series RJN Motorsport 5 1 0 1 2 52 15th
2015 Super GT (GT300) Gainer 6 2 1 0 3 74 2nd
2017 Super GT (GT500) MOLA 8 0 0 0 1 29 12th
Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup Team RJN Nissan 5 0 0 0 0 0 20th
2018 Super GT (GT500) B-MAX Racing Team 8 0 0 0 0 14 17th
Super Formula B-MAX Racing Team 6 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2019 Super GT (GT500) Calsonic Impul 1 0 0 0 0 0 16th

* Season still in progress.

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 Pts
2012 NDDP Racing Nissan GT-R GT300 OKA
19
FUJ
18
SEP
4
SUG
1
SUZ
2
FUJ
9
AUT
19
MOT
6
4th 53
2013 Dijon Racing Nissan GT-R GT300 OKA
9
FUJ
11
SEP
13
SUG
11
SUZ
16
FUJ
Ret
FUJ AUT
17
MOT
18
28th 2
2015 Gainer Nissan GT-R GT300 OKA
7
FUJ
1
CHA FUJ
6
SUZ
1
SUG AUT
2
MOT
6
2nd 74
2016 MOLA Nissan GT-R GT500 OKA
3
FUJ
7
AUT
13
SUG
Ret
FUJ SUZ
12
CHA
8
MOT
7
12th 23
2017 MOLA Nissan GT-R GT500 OKA
Ret
FUJ
11
AUT
4
SUG
2
FUJ
11
SUZ
14
CHA
10
MOT
6
12th 29
2018 NDDP by B-Max Racing Nissan GT-R GT500 OKA
7
FUJ
10
SUZ
7
CHA
13
FUJ
15
SUG
8
AUT
13
MOT
9
17th 14
2019 Team Impul Nissan GT-R GT500 OKA FUJ SUZ CHA FUJ AUT
12
SUG MOT 16th 0
2020 NDDP Racing with B-Max Nissan GT-R GT500 FUJ
7
FUJ
8
SUZ
6
MOT
7
FUJ
Ret
SUZ
4
MOT
15
FUJ
14th* 24*

* Season still in progress.

Complete Bathurst 12 Hour results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2014 NISMO Athlete Global Team Alex Buncombe
Rick Kelly
Wolfgang Reip
Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 A 58 DNF DNF
2015 NISMO Athlete Global Team Wolfgang Reip
Florian Strauss
Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 AA 269 1st 1st
2016 NISMO Athlete Global Team Rick Kelly
Florian Strauss
Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 AP 297 2nd 2nd
2017 Nissan Motorsport Alex Buncombe
Michael Caruso
Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 APP 174 32nd 8th
2019 KCMG Josh Burdon
Tsugio Matsuda
Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 APP 301 15th 10th

References

  1. "Katsumasa Chiyo". Driver Database. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  2. "Star River‧Windsor Arch Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix - Final Race Classification" (PDF). Macau Grand Prix. 17 November 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 January 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  3. "Tears and joy in the pole-to-win! ENEOS SUSTINA SC430 gets first victory in nine years". Super GT. 29 July 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  4. "2012 Results - Driver Ranking GT300". Super GT. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  5. "GT300 winner also a GT-R, as GAINER TANAX GT-R triumphs". Super GT. 3 May 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  6. "In GT300, GAINER TANAX GT-R score second win of the season". Super GT. 30 August 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  7. "McLaren wins iRacing.com GT500 at the Nürburgring - Chiyo, Reip, Buncombe take 2015 Blancpain Endurance drivers title". Blancpain GT Series. 20 September 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  8. "Nissan trio returns for Bathurst 12H 'revenge'". Speedcafe. 20 January 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  9. "NISMO Godzilla claims tense Bathurst 12 Hour". Speedcafe. 8 February 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  10. "SVG leads McLaren to Bathurst 12 Hour victory". Speedcafe. 7 February 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Peter Edwards
John Bowe
Craig Lowndes
Mika Salo
Winner of the Bathurst 12 Hour
2015
(with Wolfgang Reip & Florian Strauss)
Succeeded by
Álvaro Parente
Shane van Gisbergen
Jonathon Webb
Preceded by
Laurens Vanthoor
Blancpain Endurance Series
Champion

2015 with:
Alex Buncombe
Wolfgang Reip
Succeeded by
Incumbent
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