is a Japanese racing driver who is currently competing in the

2025 Super Formula Lights The 2025 Super Formula Lights Championship is the sixth Super Formula Lights, Super Formula Lights Championship season, after the Japanese Formula 3 Championship was rebranded following the end of the 2019 season. Teams and drivers As the cham ...

for Delightworks Racing. He previously competed in the

French F4 Championship French F4 Championship, formerly known as Formula Renault Campus France, Formula Campus, Formul'Academy Euro Series, F4 Eurocup 1.6 is a form of open wheel racing founded in 1993 by Louis Drouet. It is based in France and aims at karting gradua ...

GB3 Championship The GB3 Championship is a single seater motorsport series based in the United Kingdom. The championship is the UK's premier single-seater category, and is aimed at young racing drivers moving up from FIA Formula 4 championships, the GB4 Cha ...

. He is a scholar of the Honda Racing School which formerly as Suzuka Racing School, and part of the

Honda Formula Dream Project Honda has been competing in a variety of racing series through the years, including Formula One, IndyCar Series, IndyCar, touring car racing, sports car racing and Grand Prix motorcycle racing, MotoGP. Currently they are involved in Formula One, ...

Career

Karting

Arao started karting in 2012. In 2021 he became OK vice-champion in the All Japan Kart Championship.

Formula 4

Arao made his single-seater debut in 2022, competing in the

. He started his season in strong fashion, getting a podium in the season opener at

Nogaro Nogaro (; Gascon: ''Nogaròu'') is a commune in the Gers department, Southwestern France. It is the site of a distillery of Armagnac brandy. Geography The commune is bordered by six other communes: Caupenne-d'Armagnac to the northwest, ...

and finishing fifth in Race 3. More success came at the following round in Pau, where, having taken pole position and finished second in the first race, Arao achieved his first victory in car racing on Sunday, beating out championship leader Hugh Barter. The next four rounds yielded a podium each, with a highest result of second at

Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), informally referred to as Spa, is a motor-racing circuit located in Francorchamps, Stavelot, Wallonia, Belgium, about southeast of Spa. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, ho ...

, before he won Race 1 at the season finale in Le Castellet. He ended up third in the standings, four places ahead of fellow Red Bull Junior Yuto Nomura.

GB3 Championship

For the 2023 season, it was announced that Arao would move up to the

, driving for

Hitech Grand Prix Hitech Grand Prix (formerly Hitech Racing, currently racing as Hitech TGR for sponsorship reasons) is a British motor racing team. It was founded by Dennis Rushen and David Hayle in 2002 and relaunched by Oliver Oakes in 2015. Currently, Hite ...

alongside

Alex Dunne Alexander Dunne (; born 11 November 2005) is an Irish racing driver, who competes in the FIA Formula 2 Championship for Rodin Motorsport as part of the McLaren Driver Development Programme, and serves as a reserve driver in Formula E for McLare ...

and

Michael Shin Shin Woo-hyun (; born 23 August 2004), also known as Michael Shin, is a South Korean racing driver who is currently competing in the 2025 Euroformula Open Championship with Team Motopark. He recently competed in the GB3 Championship with Hit ...

. Throughout the season Arao showed pace but struggled to achieve good results. His best race results were two fifth places in the final two round at

Circuit Zandvoort Circuit Zandvoort (), known for sponsorship reasons as CM.com Circuit Zandvoort, previously known as Circuit Park Zandvoort until 2017, is a motorsport race track located in the dunes north of Zandvoort, the Netherlands, near the North Sea coas ...

and

Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport Race track, circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, sti ...

, which moved him up to 17th in the standings.

Super Formula Lights

Arao returns to Japan for 2024, as he will race in

Super Formula Lights is a national formula racing championship that takes place in Japan. It is a junior-level feeder formula that uses the same single seater chassis as the pan-European Euroformula Open Championship. The series will be the first with the new ...

with

Toda Racing TODA RACING Co., Ltd. is a Japanese automotive parts supplier and racing engine constructor. It also operates its own racing team. History Founded in 1971 by Yukio Toda. Since it was founded, the company has been tuning Honda engines, so it has ...

. Arao then move to Delightworks Racing for his second year in the series.

Red Bull Junior Team

Arao was a member of the

Red Bull Junior Team The Red Bull Junior Team is a driver development programme operated by Austrian conglomerate company Red Bull GmbH to identify and develop talent in open-wheel racing. Members of the Junior Team are financed and sponsored by Red Bull in kart ...

He was part of the academy from 2022 until the end of 2023.

Racing record

Racing career summary

^* Season still in progress.
‡ Team standings

Complete French F4 Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete GB3 Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Super Formula Lights results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^* Season still in progress.

References

External links

*
Red Bull Driver Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arao, Souta Living people 2005 births Japanese racing drivers Racing drivers from Tokyo French F4 Championship drivers Hitech Grand Prix drivers BRDC British Formula 3 Championship drivers Super Formula Lights drivers 21st-century Japanese sportsmen