Team Kunimitsu
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Team Kunimitsu is a racing team founded in 1992 by
Kunimitsu Takahashi was a Japanese professional motorcycle road racer, racing driver, and team manager. Nicknamed "Kuni-san", he is known as the "father of drifting". His racing career lasted from 1958 to 1999. He competed on motorcycles between 1958 and 1963, ...
. The team has competed in the
Super GT Series 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 ...
(formerly known as the
All-Japan GT Championship 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 ...
) since 1994. In its early years, the team participated in the
Japanese Touring Car Championship The Japanese Touring Car Championship (abbr: 1985–1993: JTC, 1994–1998: JTCC, officially known as All Japan Touring Car Championship, ) was a former touring car racing series held in Japan. The series was held under various regulations during ...
, and in
1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...
it won the
24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...
in the GT2 class. In 1996, Team Kunimitsu became the first team to enter a
Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...
vehicle in JGTC/Super GT, and the team has been part of the marque's factory programme in the series since its inception in 1997, having achieved many of their early successes. The team had won several races and finished as high as second in the 2006 drivers' standings and third in 2007 and 2015, before winning their first titles in 2018 and winning them again in 2020.


History

Team Kunimitsu was founded in 1992, and that year it participated in the
Japanese Touring Car Championship The Japanese Touring Car Championship (abbr: 1985–1993: JTC, 1994–1998: JTCC, officially known as All Japan Touring Car Championship, ) was a former touring car racing series held in Japan. The series was held under various regulations during ...
(JTC) in partnership with
Team Taisan Team Taisan (チーム・タイサン, stylized as Team TAISAN) is a Japanese auto racing team founded in 1983 by Yasutsune "Ricky" Chiba (3 April 1945 - 7 June 2024) and owned by the Taisan Industrial Company. Most active in the Super GT Seri ...
, fielding a Group A Nissan Skyline GT-R R32. It was driven by team founder
Kunimitsu Takahashi was a Japanese professional motorcycle road racer, racing driver, and team manager. Nicknamed "Kuni-san", he is known as the "father of drifting". His racing career lasted from 1958 to 1999. He competed on motorcycles between 1958 and 1963, ...
alongside
Keiichi Tsuchiya is a Japanese professional race car driver. He is known as the for his nontraditional use of drifting in non-drifting racing events and his role in popularizing drifting as a motorsport. In professional racing, he is a two-time 24 Hours of Le ...
, and the pair took four podiums in the JTC-1 class during the 1992 season, before taking an overall victory at
Autopolis is a international racing circuit located near Kamitsue, Ōita, Kamitsue village in Ōita Prefecture, Japan on the northeast of Kumamoto. Nippon Autopolis">F1 News - Grandprix.com > GP Encyclopedia > Circuits > Nippon Autopolis/ref> Tsurumaki ...
the following year. In 1994, the team began participating in the
All-Japan GT Championship 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 ...
(JGTC) with a Porsche 911 RSR Turbo in the GT1 class, and now independently participated in the new
Super Touring Super Touring, Class 2 or Class II was a auto racing, motor racing touring car category defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) for national touring car racing in 1993. It was based on the "2 litre Touring Car Form ...
era of the Japanese Touring Car Championship (JTCC) with a Honda Civic Ferio. In JGTC, Takahashi and Tsuchiya scored a win at
Sportsland Sugo } is a motorsports facility in the town of Murata, Miyagi, Murata, Shibata District, Miyagi, Shibata District, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Course The track was opened in 1975 and is one of the largest motorsports facilities in Japan, with a total ...
that season and took another podium at the following race, while in JTCC Tsuchiya scored four points finishes, which included two fourth places. The team continued with the Porsche in JGTC for
1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...
, scoring a podium at
Fuji Speedway is a motorsport race track standing in the foothills of Mount Fuji, in Oyama, Shizuoka, Oyama, Suntō District, Shizuoka, Suntō District, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It was built in the early 1960s. In the 1980s, Fuji Speedway was used for the ...
, but the 1995 season was the team's last in the JTCC, a season which yielded two points finishes and a best result of sixth place. Between 1994 and 1996, the team competed in several endurance races – including the
24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...
– with a Honda NSX GT2 driven by Takahashi, Tsuchiya and
Akira Iida is a Japanese racing driver currently competing in the Super GT series in GT300 class with LM corsa, one of the teams under Toyota Motorsport's GAZOO racing arm. Iida won the 2002 All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship GT500 class with Ess ...
. In 1994, they completed the
24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...
in association with
Kremer Racing Kremer Racing is a motorsports team based in Cologne, Germany, founded by racing driver Erwin Kremer and his brother Manfred. They have competed internationally with Porsches for nearly all of their existence, and were even one of the factory-back ...
, and won the GT2 class at the
Suzuka 1000km The Suzuka 1000km, also known as the Suzuka Summer Endurance Race, is an annual Sports car racing, sports car Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race that has been held at the Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture, Japan since 1966. After a five ...
and Tokachi 24 Hours races. Team Kunimitsu entered the NSX GT2 for the
1995 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 63rd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 17 and 18 June 1995 in one of the wettest races in the event's history with about 17 hours of steady rain. The race was won by the #59 McLaren F1 GTR driven by ...
, and after Takahashi, Tsuchiya and Iida completed 275 laps in mostly wet conditions, the team took victory in the GT2 class and finished eight overall, scoring Honda's first win at the event. In 1995, they also took another class win at the Suzuka 1000km and won the Tokachi 24 Hours overall. The team returned to Le Mans in
1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...
, taking third place in the GT2 class. For the 1996 JGTC season, the team entered the Honda NSX GT2 in the renamed GT500 class, becoming the first team in the series to field a Honda vehicle, although without full factory support. As a GT2-specification car, it had a power deficit against the dedicated GT500 and GT1 cars, but the team scored three points finishes and a best result of seventh. In
1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...
, Honda entered the JGTC with a full factory programme and an NSX directly built to the GT500 regulations, and Team Kunimitsu was one of two teams to run the car that season. The team also received a new title sponsor in the form of automotive lighting brand Raybrig, who had already sponsored them in various capacities since 1995. The Raybrig NSX, driven by Takahashi and Iida, scored the first two podiums for Honda in the JGTC in the last two races of the season, also taking pole position in the final round. In
1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
, the team took their first victory in Raybrig colours after winning from pole at the
Mine Circuit Mine Circuit (みねサーキット) was a motor racing circuit in Nagao, Nishiatsu-cho, Mine, Yamaguchi, Mine, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. It used to be known as ''Nishinihon''. The track closed in February 2006 as it was sold to Mazda for deve ...
, while scoring a total of three pole positions during the year.
1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
was the last year that team founder Kunimitsu Takahashi competed as a driver; he and Iida won the Golden Week race at Fuji Speedway by over 40 seconds, bringing the final victory for Takahashi's four-decade-long racing career and making him the oldest winner in series history at the age of 59. It also marked the sixth (seventh including non-championship races) consecutive win for Honda, setting the winning streak record for manufacturers. After Takahashi's retirement from driving, the team were able to score a pole position in both the
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 ...
and
2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
seasons, but no podiums. In
2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...
, with
Hidetoshi Mitsusada is a former racing driver and current motorsport announcer from Japan. He currently serves as a commentator for Super GT on J Sports, partnering lead announcer on its live broadcasts. Career Mitsusada began competing in Japanese Formula Three ...
driving the full season, the team scored five top-five finishes, including a pair of second places, which yielded a fourth place finish for Mitsusada in the drivers' championship. After limited success across
2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...
and
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
, the team returned to the top step of the podium 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 ...
as French duo Jérémie Dufour and
Sébastien Philippe Sébastien Philippe (born 8 February 1975) is a French racing driver. He has competed in such series as Super GT and the French Formula Three Championship. Philippe won the All-Japan Formula Three Championship in 2000 and previously had won the 1 ...
won at Motegi in the first year of the series being renamed as
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 ...
. With Dufour replaced by Shinya Hosokawa for
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 ...
, the team was victorious at Motegi for the second consecutive year, and with two other podiums, finished runner-up in the drivers' championship.
Dominik Schwager Dominik Schwager (born 18 August 1976 in Munich) is a German auto racing driver. Career Schwager's racing career began with karting in Germany, participating in the national championship from 1989 to 1992 before moving to the Junior Karting World ...
took over from Philippe for
2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...
, and in a season dominated by Honda, the team took three second places to claim third place in the drivers' championship, forming part of Honda's 1–2–3–4 finish in the championship. The following two seasons brought six top-five results, including a podium at Suzuka in 2008. For the 2010 season, Honda introduced the new front-engined HSV-010 GT, and Team Kunimitsu had an all-new driver line-up consisting of rookie Naoki Yamamoto and
Takuya Izawa is a Japanese racing driver. He is a race winner in the Super Formula Championship, Super Formula and Super GT championships, as well as a podium finisher in the GP2 Series. Racing record Complete Japanese Formula 3 Championship results (:T ...
. The pair finished on the podium on their debut race with the team; four more podiums followed until the end of 2012, and in the 2012 season they were the highest ranked Honda drivers in fifth. In
2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
, the Dome Racing-bound Yamamoto was replaced by former champion
Takashi Kogure is a Japanese racing driver who currently competes in Super GT, driving the No. 88 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 for JLOC in the GT300 class. He is the reigning champion of Super GT's GT300 class alongside teammate Yuya Motojima. He previously ...
, and in the opening race of season at
Okayama is the prefectural capital, capital Cities of Japan, city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The Okayama metropolitan area, centered around the city, has the largest urban employment zone in the Chugoku region of western J ...
, the team achieved their first win with the HSV-010. In
2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
, the team struggled in the debut season of the new mid-engined Honda NSX Concept-GT car, but a reunification of the Yamamoto-Izawa driver pairing for
2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
saw them finish third in the championship that year with a victory from Sugo. They fell outside the top ten in the
2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
standings, but scored one of Honda's three podium finishes that season, while in
2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...
– now using the non-concept NSX-GT car – they finished seventh with two podiums, one of which came at the final running of the Suzuka 1000km. The 2018 season saw 2009
Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
World Champion
Jenson Button Jenson Alexander Lyons Button (born 19 January 1980) is a British racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Jota. Button competed in Formula One from to , and won the World Drivers' Championship in with Brawn; ...
make his full-season series debut at Team Kunimitsu alongside Yamamoto. The pair began the year with second-place finishes in the first and third rounds at Okayama and Suzuka, respectively, and later won the sixth round at Sugo from pole position to head into the season finale at Motegi tied on points for the championship lead with
TOM'S is an automotive aftermarket parts manufacturer and tuner of Toyota and Lexus vehicles, as well as a factory-backed racing team. The TOM'S head office is located in Tokyo, Japan. TOM'S most prominently produces aftermarket parts for current ...
duo
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 ...
and Ryo Hirakawa. In the final race, Button held off a late-race charge from Hirakawa for third place to clinch the first-ever championship titles for Team Kunimitsu. 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 ...
, Yamamoto and Button finished eighth in an incident-filled season that yielded two podium finishes from the two Fuji races. The year also saw Team Kunimitsu participate in the
final round A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...
of the DTM season at
Hockenheim Hockenheim () is a town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain, Upper Rhine valley on the tourist theme routes "Baden Asparagus Route" ( ...
in Germany as Honda's guest entry; Button finished ninth in Race 1, which was the best result of the Super GT entries during the weekend. In the non-championship Super GT x DTM Dream Race, Yamamoto finished on the podium in the first race. Button left Super GT after the season to reduce frequent flying between countries. For the 2020 season,
Formula 2 Formula Two (F2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009 to 2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name returned aga ...
race winner
Tadasuke Makino is a Japanese racing driver for Honda Motor Company who currently competes in Super GT for Team Kunimitsu and in the Super Formula Championship for Dandelion Racing. A feature race winner in the FIA Formula 2 Championship during his time abroa ...
joined the team as Yamamoto's co-driver. Driving the new front-engined NSX-GT car, the duo finished in the top-six in six of the first seven races, scoring podiums at Suzuka and Motegi, to enter the final round at Fuji two points off the lead of the championship. They qualified seventh for the final round, but made ground during the race, with Yamamoto having closed to within a few seconds of long-time race leader and title rival Ryo Hirakawa of TOM'S in the closing stages. On the final corner of the final lap, Hirakawa ran out of fuel, allowing Yamamoto to pass him for the race win and the championship. This was the final race for title sponsor Raybrig, as the brand would be defunct in the beginning of the following year.
Stanley Electric Stanley Electric Co., Ltd. is a Japanese manufacturer of electric lights. Stanley has 36 consolidated subsidiaries, three associated companies, 67 factories and offices in 18 countries, and over 16,000 employees. The main customers for its ...
, the parent company of Raybrig, became the team's new title sponsor for
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 season saw Yamamoto and Makino win the third round at Motegi, after which Yamamoto established a championship lead as high as 16 points before the penultimate round (Makino missed the first round due to
meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasion ...
). They were in position to win the titles again at the final race, but Yamamoto was taken out in an incident caused by GT300 class driver Ren Sato with 15 laps remaining, and they ended up third in the standings.


Racing results


Complete JGTC results

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


Complete Super GT results

Sources: ( 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.


References


External links


Official website

Raybrig motorsport official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kunimitsu Team Super GT teams Japanese auto racing teams Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters teams Honda in motorsport Auto racing teams established in 1992 24 Hours of Le Mans teams