Kenta Yamashita

Kenta Yamashita
Kenta Yamashita
Nationality	Japanese
Born	3 August 1995 (age 28); Chiba, Japan
Super GT career
Debut season	2015
Current team	ROOKIE Racing
Car number	14
Former teams	Racing Project Bandoh, Team LeMans, SARD, TOM'S
Starts	40
Wins	4
Podiums	12
Poles	4
Fastest laps	2
Best finish	1st in 2019
Super Formula career
Debut season	2017
Current team	Kondo Racing
Car number	3
Starts	49
Wins	1
Podiums	5
Poles	1
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	5th in 2019
Previous series
2019-20; 2015-17; 2014–16; 2013; 2012	FIA WEC - LMP2; Super GT - GT300; Japanese Formula 3 Championship; Formula Challenge Japan; Motegi Championship Formula Super FJ
Championship titles
2019; 2016; 2013; 2012	Super GT; Japanese Formula 3 Championship; Formula Challenge Japan; Motegi Championship Formula Super FJ

Kenta Yamashita (山下健太, Yamashita Kenta, born 3 August 1995) is a Japanese racing driver, known for his successes in single-seater junior categories, including winning the 2013 Formula Challenge Japan and the 2012 Motegi Championship Formula Super FJ. He currently races in the Super Formula Championship, Super GT.

Career

Karting

Yamashita competed in karts before graduating to single-seater cars in 2012.

Formula Super FJ and Formula Challenge Japan

Yamashita began his racing car career in the 2012 Motegi Championship Formula Super FJ, which he won in his first season. In all four starts, he took the pole, fastest lap, and race win.^[1] In 2013, he progressed to the Formula Challenge Japan series, which was a racing category intended for drivers between entry level and Formula 3. He scored 7 podiums and in 12 races, including 4 wins, and took the championship title.^[2]

All-Japan Formula Three

In 2014, Yamashita graduated to the All-Japan Formula Three Championship with the Petronas Team TOM'S. He finished runner-up in the championship to the more experienced Nobuharu Matsushita.^[3]

In 2015, Yamashita continued to race in the All-Japan Formula Three Championship, and currently holds the lead of the championship. In addition, he has raced in the GT300 category of the 2015 Super GT season.

Super GT

Super Formula

FIA World Endurance Championship

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	FLaps	Podiums	Points	Position
2012	Motegi Championship Formula Super FJ		4	4	4	4	4	64	1st
2013	Formula Challenge Japan		12	4	2	3	7	65	1st
2014	Japanese Formula 3 Championship	Petronas Team TOM's	15	2	1	1	12	90	2nd
2014	Macau Grand Prix	Petronas Team TOM's	1	0	0	0	0	0	9th
2015	Japanese Formula 3 Championship	Petronas Team TOM's	17	5	5	5	13	113	2nd
	Macau Grand Prix	Petronas Team TOM's	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	15th
	Super GT - GT300	Porsche Team KTR	8	0	0	0	0	6	20th
2016	Japanese Formula 3 Championship	Team TOM's	17	7	7	4	10	113	1st
	Super GT - GT300	VivaC Team Tsuchiya	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	Macau Grand Prix	ThreeBond with T-Sport	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	4th
2017	Super GT - GT300	VivaC Team Tsuchiya	7	1	3	1	2	48	5th
	Super GT - GT500	Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh	1	0	0	0	0	1	20th
	Super Formula	Kondō Racing	7	0	1	0	0	6.5	11th
	Super Taikyu - ST-3	Le Beausset Motorsports	4	2	2	1	4	95‡	2nd‡
	Macau Grand Prix	B-Max Racing Team	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
2018	Super GT - GT500	Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh	8	0	0	0	2	32	11th
	Super Formula	Kondō Racing	6	0	0	0	1	11.5	9th
	Super Taikyu - ST-3	Le Beausset Motorsports	6	1	1	0	5	129‡	2nd‡
2019	Super GT - GT500	Lexus Team LeMans Wako's	8	2	1	0	4	85	1st
	Super Formula	Kondō Racing	7	1	0	0	2	21	5th
	Super Taikyu - ST-3	Le Beausset Motorsports	4	2	1	1	2	92‡	4th‡
2019-20	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2	High Class Racing	7	0	0	0	0	47	13th
2020	Super Formula	Kondō Racing	6	0	0	0	1	34	7th
	Super GT - GT500	TGR Team SARD	1	0	0	0	0	27	14th
	Super GT - GT500	TGR Team KeePer Tom's	2	0	1	1	1	27	14th
	24 Hours of Le Mans	High Class Racing	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
2021	Super GT - GT500	TGR ENEOS ROOKIE	8	1	1	1	3	52	5th
2021	Super Formula	Kondō Racing	7	0	0	0	0	8	14th
2022	Super GT - GT500	TGR ENEOS ROOKIE	8	1	1	0	2	49	5th
2022	Super Formula	Kondō Racing	10	0	0	0	0	19	15th
2023	Super GT - GT500	TGR ENEOS ROOKIE	4	0	0	0	0	21	7th*
	Super Formula	Kondō Racing	6	0	0	0	1	28	7th*
	Super Taikyu - ST-Q	ORC ROOKIE Racing

^* Season still in progress.

‡ Team standings.

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	DC	Points
2015	Porsche Team KTR	Porsche 911 GT3	GT300	OKA 14	FUJ 12	CHA 8	FUJ Ret	SUZ 18	SUG 17	AUT 8	MOT 14	20th	6
2016	VivaC Team Tsuchiya	Toyota 86 MC	GT300	OKA	FUJ	SUG	FUJ	SUZ 22	CHA	MOT	MOT	NC	0
2017	VivaC Team Tsuchiya	Toyota 86 MC	GT300	OKA 4		AUT 1	SUG 3	FUJ 29	SUZ 18	CHA 15	MOT 5	5th	48
2017	Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh	Lexus LC 500	GT500		FUJ 10							20th	1
2018	Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh	Lexus LC 500	GT500	OKA 9	FUJ 12	SUZ 13	CHA 3	FUJ 10	SUG Ret	AUT 3	MOT 5	11th	32
2019	Lexus Team LeMans Wako's	Lexus LC 500	GT500	OKA 13	FUJ 8	SUZ 3	CHA 1	FUJ 1	AUT 6	SUG 6	MOT 2	1st	85
2020	TGR Team SARD	Toyota GR Supra GT500	GT500	FUJ 5	FUJ	SUZ	MOT	FUJ	SUZ			14th	27
2020	TGR Team KeePer Tom's	Toyota GR Supra GT500	GT500							MOT 6	FUJ 2	14th	27
2021	TGR ENEOS ROOKIE Racing	Toyota GR Supra GT500	GT500	OKA 1	FUJ 2	MOT 13	SUZ 12	SUG 12†	AUT 11	MOT 6	FUJ 3	5th	52
2022	TGR ENEOS ROOKIE Racing	Toyota GR Supra GT500	GT500	OKA 1	FUJ 7‡	SUZ 8	FUJ 7	SUZ 14	SUG 11	AUT 4	MOT 3	5th	49
2023	TGR Team Eneos ROOKIE	Toyota GR Supra GT500	GT500	OKA 4	FUJ 4	SUZ 6	FUJ 11	SUZ	SUG	AUT	MOT	7th*	21*

^† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.
^* Season still in progress.

Complete Super Formula 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	DC	Points
2017	Kondō Racing	SUZ 14	OKA 7	OKA 6	FUJ Ret	MOT 6	AUT 13	SUG 11	SUZ C	SUZ C		11th	6.5
2018	Kondō Racing	SUZ 9	AUT C	SUG 8	FUJ 18	MOT 6	OKA 6‡	SUZ 3				9th	11.5
2019	Kondō Racing	SUZ 3	AUT 7	SUG 6	FUJ 17	MOT 13	OKA 1	SUZ 9				5th	21
2020	Kondō Racing	MOT 2	OKA	SUG 6	AUT 5	SUZ 9	SUZ 6	FUJ 10				7th	34
2021	Kondō Racing	FUJ 12	SUZ 12	AUT 11	SUG 14	MOT 15	MOT 8	SUZ 6				14th	8
2022	Kondō Racing	FUJ 11	FUJ 4	SUZ 16	AUT 12	SUG Ret	FUJ 7	MOT 6	MOT Ret	SUZ 14	SUZ 13	15th	19
2023	Kondō Racing	FUJ Ret	FUJ 3	SUZ 5	AUT 4	SUG 8	FUJ 17	MOT	SUZ	SUZ		7th*	28*

^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.
^* Season still in progress.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Year	Entrant	Class	Car	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Rank	Points
2019–20	High Class Racing	LMP2	Oreca 07	Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8	SIL 7	FUJ 4	SHA 6	BHR 7	COA 7	SPA 7	LMS Ret	BHR	13th	47

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2020	High Class Racing	Anders Fjordbach Mark Patterson	Oreca 07	LMP2	88	DNF	DNF

References

^ "Motegi Championship Formula Super FJ 2012 standings | Driver Database". Driver Database. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
^ "Formula Challenge Japan 2013 standings | Driver Database". Driver Database. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
^ "Japanese Formula 3 Championship 2014 standings | Driver Database". Driver Database. Retrieved 2 September 2015.

External links

Official website
Kenta Yamashita career summary at DriverDB.com

Sporting positions
Preceded by Nobuharu Matsushita	Formula Challenge Japan Champion 2013	Succeeded by None (Series ended)
Preceded by Nick Cassidy	Japanese Formula 3 Championship Champion 2016	Succeeded by Mitsunori Takaboshi
Preceded by Jenson Button Naoki Yamamoto	Super GT GT500 Champion 2019 With: Kazuya Oshima	Succeeded by Naoki Yamamoto Tadasuke Makino

[1] "Motegi Championship Formula Super FJ 2012 standings | Driver Database". Driver Database. Retrieved 2 September 2015.

[2] "Formula Challenge Japan 2013 standings | Driver Database". Driver Database. Retrieved 2 September 2015.

[3] "Japanese Formula 3 Championship 2014 standings | Driver Database". Driver Database. Retrieved 2 September 2015.

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