Takuya Izawa

Takuya Izawa ( Japanese 伊 沢 拓 也 , Izawa Takuya ; born June 1, 1984 in Tokyo Prefecture ) is a Japanese racing car driver . He started in the Super Formula (Formula Nippon) from 2008 to 2015 .

Career

Izawa began his motorsport career in karting in 1995 , in which he was active until 2001. In 2002 he moved into the single-seater racing and was fifth in the Japanese Formula 4. He also appeared in two races in the German Formula Renault at. In 2003 Izawa drove in parallel in Japan and Europe. In Japan, the Japanese formula Dream came fifth. In Europe he started in the German Formula Renault, which he finished in seventh place overall, and in the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup , in which he remained without points. Izawa also took part in some races of the Dutch Formula Renault.

Except for two starts in the German Formula Renault, Izawa only competed in the Japanese Formula Dream in the next two years. After finishing third overall in 2004, he finished fourth in 2005. In 2006, Izawa switched to the Japanese Formula 3 championship , in which he finished sixth overall for two years in a row. In 2006 he drove for Honda Toda Racing and in 2007 for Honda Team Real . While he scored two wins in his first season, he was without a win in his second year. In 2007, Izawa also made his debut for Real Racing in a Honda in the Super GT , the Japanese GT championship.

In 2008 , Izawa switched to Formula Nippon for the Autobacs Racing Team Aguri , which drove with Honda engines. He immediately succeeded in leaving his teammate Yūji Ide behind and, with fourth place as the best result, he finished tenth overall. He prevailed against Ide with 19 to 2 points. At the same time he started for the Autobacs Racing Team Aguri in a Honda in the Super GT. He shared the cockpit with Ralph Firman . The two stood on the podium three times and finished eighth overall. In 2009 , Izawa moved to Dandelion Racing within the Honda racing team in Formula Nippon . A second place at the season opener in Fuji was his best result. He finished the season in eighth place. With 14 to 11 points he prevailed internally against Richard Lyons . In the Super GT, Izawa and Firman won one race each in Fuji and Motegi for the Autobacs Racing Team Aguri . The two scored 81 points and were runner-up behind André Lotterer and Juichi Wakisaka , who had reached 88 points.

Izawa in the Super GT 2011

2010 was Loïc Duval , the champion of last year, his new Formula Nippon team-mate Dandelion. While Duval finished the season with two wins and 39.5 points in third place, Izawa was eleventh with a fifth place as the best result and seven points. In the Super GT, Izawa switched to Team Kunimitsu this season . He shared the vehicle with Naoki Yamamoto . The two finished the season with two third places as the best results in eighth place. In 2011 , Izawa contested his fourth Formula Nippon season for Dandelion Racing. With a fourth place as the best result, he was ninth in the championship. He lost the team-internal duel against Kōdai Tsukakoshi with 11 to 26.5 points. In the Super GT, Izawa was also ninth together with Yamamoto. The best placement of the two was a second place.

In 2012 , Izawa and Tsukakoshi stayed with Dandelion in Formula Nippon. After finishing second in Autopolis , Izawa won his first Formula Nippon race in Sportsland SUGO . In the further course of the season further victories followed in Suzuka as well as in the non-championship Fuji Sprint Cup . In the overall standings, Izawa improved to third overall, which is his best overall placement. Internally he was defeated by Tsukakoshi with 41.5 to 43 points. Izawa was 4.5 points behind the master Kazuki Nakajima . In the Super GT, Izawa finished fifth with Yamamoto. The two had achieved two second places as the best placements. In 2013 , Izawa completed its sixth season in the racing series, which had since been renamed Super Formula , and competed again for Dandelion. With a win at the season opener in Suzuka, he finished the season seventh in the drivers' standings. With 15 to 0 points, he clearly prevailed against his new teammate Hideki Muto . In the Super GT, Izawa reached tenth place overall with Takashi Kogure . The two won the race in Mimasaka . In 2013 , Izawa also took part in two World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) races for Honda Racing Team JAS .

In 2014 Izawa moved to Europe and received a cockpit in the GP2 series at the ART Grand Prix . At the main race in Mogyoród , he achieved his first podium finish in third place. While his teammate Stoffel Vandoorne finished second in the drivers' standings with 229 points, Izawa finished the season in 18th place with 26 points. At the end of the year he returned to Japan and took part in three races of the 2014 Super Formula season and one Super GT race for Drago Corse . In 2015 , Izawa received a cockpit in the Super Formula at Real Racing. He finished the season in 13th place. He also competed in the Super GT for Team Kunimitsu . Together with Yamamoto he won a race and the two finished third in the championship.

statistics

Career stations

1995-2001: karting 2002: Japanese Formula 4 (5th place) 2002: German Formula Renault (37th place) 2003: Japanese Formula Dream (5th place) 2003: German Formula Renault (7th place) 2003: Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup 2003: Dutch Formula Renault (29th place) 2004: Japanese Formula Dream (3rd place) 2004: German Formula Renault (36th place) 2005: Japanese Formula Dream (4th place) 2006: Japanese Formula 3 (6th place)

2007: Japanese Formula 3 (6th place) 2007: Super GT (22nd place) 2008 : Formula Nippon (10th place) 2008: Super GT (8th place) 2009 : Formula Nippon (8th place) 2009: Super GT (2nd place) 2010 : Formula Nippon (11th place) 2010: Super GT (8th place) 2011 : Formula Nippon (9th place) 2011: Super GT (9th place) 2012 : Formula Nippon (3rd place)

2012: Super GT (5th place) 2013 : Super Formula (7th place) 2013: Super GT (10th place) 2013 : WTCC 2014 : GP2 series (18th place) 2014 : Super Formula 2014: Super GT (18th place) 2015 : Super Formula (13th place) 2015: Super GT (3rd place) 2016 : Super Formula

Individual results in the Nippon / Super Formula formula

year	team	engine	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	Points	rank
2008	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	Honda	FU1	SU1	MO1	OKA	SU2		MO2		FU2		SUG	19th	10.
			DNF	9	4th	5	12	DNF	DNF	12	18th	17th	8th
2009	Dandelion Racing	Honda	FU1	SU1	MO1	FU2	SU2	MO2	AUT	SUG				14th	8th.
			2	7th	DNF	DNF	8th	9	6th	11
2010	Docomo Team Dandelion Racing	Honda	SU1	MO1	FU1	MO2	SUG	AUT	SU2		FU2			7th	11.
			5	11	9	11	6th	DNS	11	11	7th	4th
2011	Docomo Team Dandelion Racing	Honda	SU1	AUT	FU1	MO1	SU2	SUG	MO2		FU2			11	9.
			4th	6th	10	6th	C.	DNF	DNF	10	6th
2012	Docomo Team Dandelion Racing	Honda	SU1	MO1	AUT	FU1	MO2	SUG	SU2		FU2			41.5	3.
			6th	4th	2	13	5	1	1	6th	1
2013	Docomo Team Dandelion Racing	Honda	SU1	AUT	FU1	MOT	INJ	SUG	SU2		FU2			15th	7th
			1	DNF	5	DNF	C.	DNF	10	9	15th
2014	Drago Corse	Honda	SU1	FUJ			MOT	AUT	SUG	SU2				0	-
									DNF	14th	14th
2015	Real racing	Honda	SU1	OKA	FUJ	MOT	AUT	SUG	SU2					4.5	13.
			7th	7th	11	10	12	DNF	8th	15th

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} No points were awarded for the Fuji Sprint Cup.

Individual results in the GP2 series

year	team	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd	Points	rank
2014	ART Grand Prix	BRN		ESP		MON		AUT		GBR		GER		HUN		BEL		ITA		RUS		UAE		26th	18th
		6th	12	20th	13	DNF	DNF	9	8th	16	23 *	13	19th	3	21 *	16	22nd	DNF	14th	20th	22nd	13	10

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Valentin Khorounzhiy: “Takuya Izawa completes ART's GP2 lineup”. paddockscout.com, January 23, 2014, accessed January 23, 2014 . 

Web links

• Official website of Takuya Izawa
• Career statistics of Takuya Izawa (English)