Ryō Fukuda

Ryō Fukuda ( Japanese 福田 良 , Fukada Ryō ; born June 26, 1979 in Fukuoka , Fukuoka Prefecture ) is a former Japanese racing driver .

Career

Fukuda began his motorsport career in karting in 1991 and was active in this sport until 1995. In 1996 he moved into the single-seater racing and was ninth in the French Formula Campus . From 1997 he competed in the French Formula Renault for two years . After seventh place in the first season, he finished sixth overall with three wins at the end of the second season. In 1999 Fukuda switched to the French Formula 3 championship and ended his first season in ninth place in the overall standings. In 2000 he managed to win two races. At the end of the season he finished third in the drivers' championship behind Jonathan Cochet and Tiago Monteiro . He came third at the prestigious Macau Grand Prix . 2001 Fukuda denied his third season in the French Formula 3 championship. Starting for Saulnier Racing , he won the championship title ahead of Monteiro with seven victories from eleven races.

2002 Fukuda was test driver for Formula 1 -Rennstall British American Racing . He also took part in a Porsche Supercup race and the Le Mans 24-hour race . In 2003, he only competed in the 24-hour race of Le Mans in Europe and finished tenth in the LMP 900 class. In addition, he took part in five Formula Nippon races in his home country and finished 14th overall. In 2004 Fukuda returned completely to Europe. He again took part in the Le Mans 24-hour race. In the World Series by Nissan he was given a cockpit by Paul Belmondo Racing . However, the racing team withdrew from the championship after the second race weekend and the racing driver remained without a cockpit for the rest of the season. In the overall standings, with a third place as the best result, he finished 15th overall.

In 2005 he stayed in the championship, now renamed the World Series by Renault . He returned to his former Saulnier Racing team and became a team-mate of Simon Pagenaud . After he was able to score points in a few races in the first half of the season, he remained without points in the second half of the season. With 11 to 30 points he was defeated by Pagenaud in the team-internal duel and took 20th place in the drivers' championship. After starting the new A1 Grand Prix for the Japanese team on the first race weekend in winter , he returned to the World Series by Renault in 2006. Fukuda started for Tech 1 Racing and had changing teammates. With two fourth places as the best results, he finished 16th in the championship at the end of the season.

Since the end of the 2006 season, Fukuda has not participated in any racing series.

statistics

Career stations

• 1991-1995: karting
• 1996: French Formula Campus (9th place)
• 1997: French Formula Renault (7th place)
• 1998: French Formula Renault (6th place)
• 1999: French Formula 3 Championship (9th place)
• 2000: French Formula 3 Championship (3rd place)
• 2001: French Formula 3 Championship (champions)
• 2002 : Formula 1 (test driver)
• 2003 : Formula Nippon (14th place)
• 2004: World Series by Nissan (15th place)
• 2005: World Series by Renault (20th place)
• 2006: World Series by Renault (16th place); A1 Grand Prix

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
2002	Auto Palace	Ferrari 360 Modena GT	Laurent Cazenave	Guillaume Gomez	Rank 40
2003	Kondō Racing	Dome S101	Ukyō Katayama	Masahiko Kondo	Rank 13
2004	Kondō Racing	Dome S101	Hiroki Kato	Ryō Michigami	failure	malfunction

Web links

• Career statistics from Ryō Fukuda (English)