Kondo Racing is an automobile racing team founded, owned and headed by Masahiko Kondo. The operating body is MK Company Co., Ltd. MK is an abbreviation for Masahiko Kondo. The team competes in

Super Formula The Japanese Super Formula Championship is a formula racing series held primarily in Japan. It is considered to be the pinnacle of single-seater racing in Japan or Asia as a whole, making it one of the top motorsport series in the region. The s ...

as well as in

Super GT Super GT (stylized as SUPER GT) is a sports car racing series that began in 1993. Launched as the , generally referred to as the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC), the series was renamed to Super GT in 2005. It is the top level of ...

in both the GT500 and GT300 classes.

History

Kondo Racing was founded in 2000 by Japanese pop star Masahiko Kondo, also known as "Matchy". Kondo himself had raced for many years since the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. In 1998 Kondo launched "Masahiko Kondo Racing Project" together with Teams TMS, a team with which he raced at the time, to compete in the

Japanese Formula 3 Championship was a national motor racing championship that takes place in Japan. It is a junior-level feeder formula that uses small single seater Formula Three chassis. As a result of Formula 3 naming regulations by the FIA, on 13 August 2019, series pr ...

in 1998 and 1999. While working to develop young drivers, Kondo himself learned how of run a racing team as a team manager. Based on that experience, in 2000 he established the "Kondo Racing Team" and began participating in Formula Nippon.

Super Formula

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, Kondo Racing began competing in

Formula Nippon The Japanese Super Formula Championship is a formula racing series held primarily in Japan. It is considered to be the pinnacle of single-seater racing in Japan or Asia as a whole, making it one of the top motorsport series in the region. The s ...

, the premier Japanese

open-wheel An open-wheel car is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have their wheels below the body or inside fend ...

series, and the team has continued racing in the series ever since, with the series having rebranded as Super Formula in 2013. Since

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, Kondo Racing has raced with

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

engines. The team has not won a drivers' championship title, but came second overall with

Nick Cassidy Nicholas Robert Cassidy (born 19 August 1994) is a New Zealand racing driver, currently competing in Formula E for Jaguar TCS Racing. He previously raced for Envision Racing in the series for three seasons, becoming the runner-up during the ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

and with

Sacha Fenestraz Sacha Fenestraz Jules (born 28 July 1999) is a French Argentines, French-Argentine racing driver competing in the 2025 Super Formula Championship, driving for TOM'S, TOM'S Racing. He is the 2017 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 champion. Early caree ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. Kenta Yamashita has been one of the long standing driver for Kondo's Super Formula, as he has competed since 2017 with one win to his name, along with couple of podiums. For 2024 Yamashita, paired once again with last season's driver

Kazuto Kotaka is a Japanese racing driver for Toyota Gazoo Racing who currently competes in Super Formula for Kondo Racing and Super GT for apr. He won the Super Formula Lights championship in 2022. He is part of the TGR Driver Challenge Program. Career ...

Super GT – GT500

Kondo Racing entered

in the top GT500 class with

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

. From the first year, Yokohama Tire joined Kondo till now. Also with the introduction of a strong lineup of former F1 driver Eric Comas and Nissan's own driver

Masataka Yanagida Masataka Yanagida (born 4 June 1979, in Tokyo) is a Japanese racing driver. Career The son of successful racing driver Haruhito Yanagida, a runner-up in the Japanese Touring Car Championship, Masataka began his career in karting in 1993. In 1997 ...

. Since there was no data available, the first priority was to develop tires. Comas temporarily withdrew due to back pain and was replaced by Seiji Ara. Although Comas returned for the sixth race, he was unable to regain his form and was forced to stay out for the rest of the season, leaving Ara to team up with Yanagida until the final race. In the final race, he fought for 2nd place with some help from his machine, and then finished in 3rd place, earning his long-awaited first podium. Throughout the years the team has won several races, but has never been a serious championship contender.

Super GT – GT300

Since 2012, it has been participating in the Super Taikyu together with five Nissan Automobile College schools (Tochigi, Yokohama, Aichi, Kyoto, and Ehime). Kondo Racing also participated in the Nürburgring 24 endurance race with a Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, marking the team’s first overseas competition. Kondo’s Nurburgring 24 driver lineup was Tsugio Matsuda, Mitsunori Takaboshi, Tomonobu Fujii and

Tom Coronel Tom Romeo Coronel (born 5 April 1972) is a Dutch professional racing driver. Tom's twin brother Tim Coronel, Tim is also a racer, just like their father Tom Coronel Sr. His most important results are winning the Masters of Formula 3, Marlboro Mast ...

. In

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, Kondo Racing entered the GT300 class of Super GT with Kazuki Hiramine and

as their drivers in the class in the second-generation Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3. The pair came close to winning the fourth round in

Buriram Buriram (, , ; Northern Khmer: ) is a city municipality ('' thesaban nakhon'') in Thailand, capital of Buriram Province, about northeast of Bangkok. incorporating Nai Mueang and Isan Subdistricts and parts Samet Subdistricts of Mueang Burira ...

, battling for the win until the final lap, but ultimately finished second. In

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, Kondo Racing won its first titles in the category with the driver pairing of Kiyoto Fujinami & João Paulo de Oliveira. After being in title contention again in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, the team returned to the top of the standings in

, clinching the titles after their main rivals lost a decisive position on the final lap of the last race. For

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, de Oliveira stayed with the team, while Fujinami was replaced by Teppei Natori after he was reportedly involved in a physical altercation with another driver in the smaller Vita Pro series.

Nürburgring 24 Hours

Race results

Complete Super GT Results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed. * Season still in progress. Note: Non-championship races (NC1,NC2) are major races that do not count towards the championship.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://kondo-racing.jp/ Japanese auto racing teams Super Formula teams Super GT teams 24 Hours of Le Mans teams Auto racing teams established in 2000 Japanese Formula 3 Championship teams Nissan in motorsport Toyota in motorsport Super Taikyu teams