Shin'ichi Ito

Itō 2008

Itō at the 1993 Japanese Grand Prix on a Honda

Shin'ichi Itō ( Japanese 伊藤 真 一 , Itō Shin'ichi ; born December 7, 1966 in Kakuda , Miyagi Prefecture , Japan ) is a Japanese motorcycle racer .

Itō is currently working as a test pilot for Bridgestone and Ducati . He is an experienced rider and is considered an excellent test and development rider , both on the prototypes of the motorcycle world championship and in the near-series Superbike class.

Career

Shin'ichi Itō began his career in the Japanese motorcycle championship . In the 1989 season he made his debut on a Honda in the 500 cm³ class of the motorcycle world championship. Between 1993 and 1996 Itō was a regular Honda driver in the 500 cc World Championship, but without being able to win a race. He achieved his best World Cup placement in 1995 with fifth place.

Then Shin'ichi Ito concentrated again on the Japanese championship, in which he competed for Honda in the Superbike class. In 1997 and 1998 he and his compatriot Tōru Ukawa won the prestigious 8-hour race in Suzuka , and in 1998 Itō also secured the Japanese Superbike title for the first time. He also competed in numerous motorcycle and superbike world championship races on Japanese soil as a wildcard driver .

In 2001 Itō worked as a test pilot for the Kanemoto team, which had been commissioned by the Japanese tire manufacturer Bridgestone with the development of racing tires for the 500 cc World Championship, and thereby earned his reputation as an excellent test and development driver. 2002 Ito reached at his home Grand Prix in Japan , the first race of the newly created MotoGP class, on a Honda RC211V - Viertakter fourth.

From 2003 Shin'ichi Itō again focused on the national Superbike Championship, in which he was able to secure the title in 2005 and 2006 on Honda CBR 1000 RR . He also celebrated his third triumph at the Suzuka 8-hour race in 2006 together with Takeshi Tsujimura .

Since 2005 Shin'ichi Itō has also been working for the joint tire test team from Ducati and Bridgestone, which focuses on the development of racing tires for the MotoGP class. During the race in Turkey , he replaced the injured Ducati regular driver Loris Capirossi in the works team in 2005 , but was disqualified for having a jump start and ignoring the penalty imposed for it.

In 2007 , Itō suffered a broken thigh while testing in Motegi and had to take a long break. After celebrating his return to the racetracks with third place at the 8-hour race in Suzuka, he replaced the sacked Alex Hofmann in the Pramac-D'Antin team at the MotoGP race in Japan and secured one with 15th place World Cup counter.

In 2011, the Japanese, now 44, won the Suzuka 8-hour race for the fourth time in his career together with his compatriots Kousuke Akiyoshi and Ryūichi Kiyonari on a Honda CBR 1000 RR from the FCC TSR Honda team. He also started the MotoGP race in Japan with a wildcard.

successes

• Japanese 500cc champion : 1990
• Japanese Superbike Champion : 1998, 2005, 2006
• Victory in the 8-hour race in Suzuka : 1997, 1998, 2006, 2011

Web links

Commons : Shin'ichi Itō  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Shin'ichi Itō on the official website of the Motorcycle World Championship (English).
• Shin'ichi Itō on the official website of the Superbike and Supersport World Championship