Juichi Wakisaka

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Juichi Wakisaka

Juichi Wakisaka ( Japanese 脇 阪 寿 一 , Wakisaka Juichi ; born July 29, 1972 in Nara Prefecture ) is a former Japanese car racing driver and the older brother of Shigekazu Wakisaka .

Racing career

Monopostosport

Juichi Wakisaka began his karting career and finished third in the Asian Pacific Championship in 1993; In 1995 he switched to monoposto sport . After a sixth place in 1995 (Master Pedro de la Rosa ) he was Japanese Formula 3 champion in 1996 ahead of Kōji Yamanishi and Tom Coronel .

At the start of the 1997 season he switched to Formula Nippon and finished his first year in this series in fourteenth overall. In the same year he tried to gain a foothold in Formula 1 . He received a test driver contract at the Jordan Grand Prix , where Ralf Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella were the regular drivers in the Jordan 197 . Since Ricardo Zonta took over the entire test work, Wakisaka did not have any significant driving times. Another involvement in Formula 1 did not materialize. He drove successfully in Formula Nippon until the 2000s. He finished the respective racing season three times in third overall. 1998 in the Lola T97 / 51 behind Satoshi Motoyama and Masami Kageyama . In 2002 in the Reynard 01L behind Ralph Firman and Motoyama and in 2003 in the Lola B3 / 51 behind Motoyama and Benoît Tréluyer .

GT and sports car racing

The Super GT career began during his first successful season in Formula Nippon in 1998 , which made him one of the defining drivers of this GT series in the years that followed . His first racing appearance was as a partner of Katsutomo Kaneishi in the Honda NSX at the 250 km race in Mine in 1998 . The duo finished the race in 21st place overall. Overall victory in the first race of the 1999 season, the 300 km race in Suzuka , was the first of a total of 14 race victories. In addition to the victories in the Super GT, there were successes in races without championship status, such as the Suzuka 1000 km race in 2002 (with brother Shigekazu and Akira Iida in the Toyota Supra JZA80 ).

Juichi Wakisaka won the overall ranking of the Super GT three times, in 2002 with Akira Iida in the Toyota Supra, in 2006 with partner André Lotterer in the Lexus SC430 and in 2009, again with André Lotterer as partner in the Lexus SC430. His last race appearance was in 2015 at the Motegi 250 km race , which he and Yūhi Sekiguchi in the Lexus RC F finished tenth overall. At the end of the 2015 season, he resigned as a driver and took over the leadership of the Lexus Team LeMans Wako's racing team .

Web links

Commons : Juichi Wakisaka  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Asian Pacific Championship 1993
  2. ↑ Japanese Formula 3 Championship 1995
  3. ↑ Japanese Formula 3 Championship
  4. Jump up ↑ 250km Mine 1998
  5. ↑ Suzuka 300 km race in 1999
  6. ↑ Suzuka 1000 km race in 2002
  7. ↑ 250 km race of Montegi 2015
personal data
SURNAME Wakisaka, Juichi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese racing car driver
DATE OF BIRTH July 29, 1972
PLACE OF BIRTH Nara prefecture