Keiko Ihara (井原慶子, ''Ihara Keiko'') (born July 4, 1973) is a Japanese race car driver. She was a former

race queen A promotional model is a model hired to drive consumer demand for a product, service, brand, or concept by directly interacting with potential customers. Most promotional models are conventionally attractive in physical appearance. They serve to m ...

, a model who appears in a swimsuit or other fashionable apparel at race circuits, before deciding to become a racing driver. She is one of the few Japanese women nationals to race internationally at a high level. Her best finishes in the British Formula Three Championship are two 8th places finishes in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, which helped her to a final championship standing position of 16th with 12 points. In the 2006 series, she finished in 17th and last position in the Championship Class, with 4 points. Ihara joined the Gulf Racing Middle East to compete at the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship, abbreviated as WEC, is a world championship for automobile endurance racing organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The se ...

in the LMP2 class with

Jean-Denis Délétraz Jean-Denis is a masculine given name, and may refer to: * Jean Denis Attiret (1702–1768), French painter and missionary * Jean-Denis Bredin (1929–2021), French attorney * Jean-Denis Cochin (1726–1783), French priest * Jean-Denis Constant ...

and

Fabien Giroix Fabien Giroix (born 17 September 1960) is a French racing driver from Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, Paris. Racing career Formula cars Giroix began his career in French Formula Renault in 1984, finishing 4th. In 1985 he drove in the French Formula Th ...

as codrivers. In 2013, she raced two rounds for Gulf Racing Middle East and four with

OAK Racing OAK Racing is an Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing team specialising in sports prototypes based in Le Mans, France. In 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans, 2013 it won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in Le Mans Prototype, LMP2 class and the 2013 FIA ...

, both in the LMP2 class. The driver won the Fuji round of the 2014

Asian Le Mans Series The Asian Le Mans Series (ALMS) is an Asian sports car racing endurance series created by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and based in Asia. It is the successor to the defunct Japan Le Mans Challenge which folded in 2007 after its second s ...

for Oak Racing, together with

Ho-Pin Tung Ho-Pin Tung (; born December 4, 1982) is a Dutch-born racing driver who races with a Chinese license. Career Tung was born in Velp, Gelderland, Netherlands, to Chinese parents with ancestry tracing to Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province. Tung starte ...

and David Cheng.

Racing record

Career summary

Season still in progress. † – Charity race guest.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series results

* Season still in progress

External links

* * 1973 births Living people Racing drivers from Tokyo Japanese racing drivers Japanese female racing drivers French Formula Three Championship drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers Formula BMW Asia drivers European Le Mans Series drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Asian Le Mans Series drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers Carlin racing drivers {{Japan-autoracing-bio-stub Signature Team drivers OAK Racing drivers Eurasia Motorsport drivers Team Aguri drivers Larbre Compétition drivers Long stubs with short prose