is a former
racing driver from
Saitama Prefecture
is a Landlocked country, landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (January 1, 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 Square kilometre, km2 ( ...
,
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
.
Racing career
As a youth, Suzuki won the All-Japan Kart Championships in 1975 and 1976. In 1979, he took the title of the first
All-Japan Formula Three Championship.
In 1992, he won the
24 Hours of Daytona with
Kazuyoshi Hoshino and
Masahiro Hasemi. In the same year, he was runner-up in the
Japanese F3000 championship.
Formula One
In , he participated in two Formula One Grands Prix, standing in for
Philippe Alliot at the Larrousse team. Though he scored no championship points, Suzuki finished both races.
After Formula One
Suzuki competed mainly in national championships, including the
Japanese Formula 3000 Championship (later Formula Nippon),
Japanese Touring Car Championship (JTCC) and
All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC). He also participated into 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 1996, he made a single start in the
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...
Busch Series, driving for
Joe Bessey at
Nazareth Speedway; an accident during the race left him with a concussion.
In 2006, he became director of the R&D SPORT in
Super GT to continue the team that
Direxiv abandoned.
GT-R
Most recently, he worked for
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 ...
as a test driver to help in the development of the R35
Nissan GT-R.
Motorsports career results
24 Hours of Le Mans results
Japanese Formula Two/Formula 3000/Formula Nippon results
(
key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
Complete Japanese Touring Car Championship results
(
key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
Complete JGTC results
(
key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
*The race at Fuji Speedway was cancelled due to a
large crash on the first lap and heavy fog afterwards.
Complete Formula One results
(
key)
NASCAR
(
key) (
Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
Busch Series
References
External links
*
Profile at grandprix.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suzuki, Toshio
Living people
1955 births
Racing drivers from Saitama Prefecture
Japanese racing drivers
24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
24 Hours of Daytona drivers
Japanese Formula One drivers
Japanese Formula 3000 Championship drivers
Formula Nippon drivers
Japanese Formula 3 Championship drivers
British Formula Three Championship drivers
NASCAR drivers
Super GT drivers
Japanese Touring Car Championship drivers
World Sportscar Championship drivers
Larrousse Formula One drivers
Long Distance Series drivers
TOM'S drivers
Team LeMans drivers
Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers
Nismo drivers
Team Goh Motorsports drivers