Takao Wada

Takao Wada ( Japanese 和田 孝 夫 ; born June 24, 1953 in Tokyo ) is a former Japanese car racing driver .

Career in motorsport

Takao Wada was a driver in motorsport for more than twenty years. He contested his first race in the late 1970s in the Japanese Formula Pacific Championship; his last active season was the Super GT Championship in 1999. For many years the Japanese competed in both monoposto and sports car races.

After finishing second in 1978, he secured the overall ranking of the Formula Pacific Championship in 1979. After a third place at the Macau Grand Prix 1982 behind Roberto Moreno and Alo Lawler , he entered the Japanese Formula 2 championship , where the eighth place in 1986 was his best final position. He was also active in the successor to Formula 2 , Formula 3000 . In 1988 he finished the Japanese championship in fifth.

But Wada is far better known as a touring and sports car pilot. In 1986 he became Japanese Touring Car Champion and competes in many races in the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship . He competed five times at the 24 Hours of Le Mans , with the best result in 1986 when he finished 18th in the factory Nissan R85V .

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1986	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan R85V	James Weaver	Masahiro Hasemi	Rank 18
1987	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan R87E	Aguri Suzuki	Masahiro Hasemi	failure	Electrics
1988	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan R88C	Aguri Suzuki	Kazuyoshi Hoshino	failure	Engine failure
1989	Team Le Mans	March 88S	Not so Olofsson	Akio Marimoto	failure	Cylinder overheated
1990	Team Le Mans	Nissan R89C	Not so Olofsson	Maurizio Sandro Sala	failure	ignition

Web links

• Takao Wada at Racing Sports Cars
• Takao Wada at the Driver Database
• Image: Takao Wada

Individual evidence

1. ^ Macau Grand Prix 1982
2. ↑ Japanese Formula 3000 Championship 1988