Toshio Suzuki (racing driver)

Toshio Suzuki (鈴木 利男, Suzuki Toshio, born March 10, 1955) is a former racing driver from Saitama Prefecture, Japan.

Toshio Suzuki
Born (1955-03-10) 10 March 1955
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality Japanese
Active years1993
TeamsLarrousse
Entries2
Championships0
Wins0
Podiums0
Career points0
Pole positions0
Fastest laps0
First entry1993 Japanese Grand Prix
Last entry1993 Australian Grand Prix
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years1985-1986, 1988-1990, 1993, 1995-1996, 1998-2000, 2008
TeamsDome, Team LeMans, Tom's, NISMO, TV Asahi Team Dragon, Tōkai University YGK
Best finish2nd (1999)
Class wins1 (1999)
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
1 race run over 1 year
Best finish96th (1996)
First race1996 Meridian Advantage 200 (Nazareth Speedway)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0

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 1993, 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. In 1996, he made a single start in the NASCAR Busch Series, driving for Joe Bessey at Nazareth Speedway; an accident during the race left him with a concussion.[1]

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 as a test driver to help in the development of the R35 Nissan GT-R.

Motorsports career results

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
1985 Dome Team Eje Elgh
Geoff Lees
Dome 85C-L-Toyota C1 141 DNF DNF
1986 Dome Co. Ltd. Eje Elgh
Beppe Gabbiani
Dome 86C-L-Toyota C1 296 DNF DNF
1988 Italiya Sport
Team Le Mans
Michel Trollé
Danny Ongais
March 88S-Nissan C1 74 DNF DNF
1989 Nissan Motorsports Masahiro Hasemi
Kazuyoshi Hoshino
Nissan R89C C1 167 DNF DNF
1990 Nissan Motorsports International Masahiro Hasemi
Kazuyoshi Hoshino
Nissan R90CP C1 348 5th 5th
1993 Toyota Team Tom's Eddie Irvine
Masanori Sekiya
Toyota TS010 C1 364 4th 4th
1995 NISMO Kazuyoshi Hoshino
Masahiko Kageyama
Nissan Skyline GT-R LM GT1 157 DNF DNF
1996 NISMO Kazuyoshi Hoshino
Masahiro Hasemi
Nissan Skyline GT-R LM GT1 307 15th 10th
1998 Toyota Motorsport
Toyota Team Europe
Ukyo Katayama
Keiichi Tsuchiya
Toyota GT-One GT1 326 9th 8th
1999 Toyota Motorsport
Toyota Team Europe
Ukyo Katayama
Keiichi Tsuchiya
Toyota GT-One LMGTP 364 2nd 1st
2000 TV Asahi Team Dragon Masami Kageyama
Masahiko Kageyama
Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S-Élan LMP900 340 6th 6th
2008 Tōkai University
YGK Power
Haruki Kurosawa
Masami Kageyama
Courage-Oreca LC70-YGK LMP1 185 DNF DNF

Japanese Formula Two/Formula 3000/Formula Nippon results

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

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 DC Points
1989 Cabin Racing Heroes SUZ
7
FUJ
Ret
MIN
12
SUZ
13
SUG
8
FUJ
20
SUZ
17
SUZ
6
19th 1
1990 Super Evolution Racing SUZ
20
FUJ MIN
14
SUZ
11
SUG
8
FUJ
11
FUJ
Ret
SUZ
22
FUJ
11
SUZ
12
NC 0
1991 Universal Racing SUZ
11
AUT
DNS
FUJ
8
MIN
5
SUZ
5
SUG
9
FUJ
DNQ
SUZ
11
FUJ
C
SUZ
12
FUJ
11
15th 4
1992 Universal Racing SUZ
Ret
FUJ
Ret
MIN
Ret
SUZ
7
AUT
Ret
SUG
2
FUJ
2
FUJ
1
SUZ
17
FUJ
1
SUZ
Ret
2nd 30
1993 Universal Racing SUZ
6
FUJ
4
MIN
Ret
SUZ
Ret
AUT
C
SUG
4
FUJ
C
FUJ
1
SUZ
3
FUJ
5
SUZ
Ret
5th 22
1994 Mirai Corporation SUZ
7
FUJ
6
MIN SUZ SUG FUJ SUZ FUJ FUJ SUZ 16th 1
1995 Hoshino Racing SUZ
5
FUJ
C
MIN
2
SUZ
1
SUG
Ret
FUJ
3
TOK
6
FUJ
3
SUZ
1
1st 34
1996 Team Impul SUZ
18
MIN
Ret
FUJ
12
TOK
11
SUZ
9
SUG
10
FUJ
7
MIN
4
SUZ
3
FUJ
Ret
12th 7
1997 Mirai SUZ
8
MIN
5
FUJ
7
SUZ
Ret
SUG
4
FUJ
16
MIN
9
MOT
8
FUJ
Ret
SUZ
9
13th 5

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Points
1993 Larrousse F1 Larrousse LH93 Lamborghini V12 RSA BRA EUR SMR ESP MON CAN FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR JPN
12
AUS
14
NC 0

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

  1. Erzar, John (March 20, 1996). "Veteran Trickle earns fourth-place finish". Times Leader. Wikes-Barre, PA. Archived from the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved 2013-09-28.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Inaugural
All-Japan Formula Three Champion
1979
Succeeded by
Shuroku Sasaki
Preceded by
Marco Apicella
Japanese Formula 3000 Champion
1995
Succeeded by
Ralf Schumacher
(Formula Nippon)
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