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Masanori Sekiya

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Masanori Sekiya
NationalityJapan Japanese
Born (1949-11-27) 27 November 1949 (age 74)
Ikawa, Shizuoka, Japan
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years19851990, 19921993, 19951997
TeamsTom's, Porsche Kremer Racing, Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing, SARD, Gulf Team Davidoff
Best finish1st (1995)
Class wins1 (1995)

Masanori Sekiya (関谷 正徳, Sekiya Masanori, born 27 November 1949) is a Japanese former racing driver, most famous for being the first Japanese driver to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in 1995.

Sekiya drove in single-seaters in his early career, contesting the Japanese Formula 3000 Championship and Formula Nippon from 1987 to 1993, mostly for the Leyton House team. He never achieved any victories, but finished 4th in the standings in 1988 and 1989, scoring three and four podiums, respectively.[citation needed]

A long-time works Toyota driver, Sekiya drove in the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship, All Japan Grand Touring Championship and Japanese Touring Car Championship, a series which he won in 1994, driving a Toyota Chaser for the Tom's team. He was also runner-up the following year.[citation needed]

As Sekiya is rather fond of Le Mans, in 1987, he got married in the town prior to the race. His best result in international sports car racing was winning the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans, at the wheel of a McLaren F1 GTR for Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing. He became the first Japanese-born driver to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He was also fourth in the 1993 edition. He competed in the JGTC until the 2000 season and now works as team manager for the Super GT division of the Toyota Team TOM'S and also runs a racing school at Fuji Speedway. In 1998, Sekiya also appeared in a TV commercial in Japan driving a JZA80 Supra promoting its handling package. Sekiya retired from professional motorsports in October 2000 and is now involved in team management.[citation needed]

Racing Record

[edit]

24 Hours of Le Mans results

[edit]
Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
1985 Japan Tom's Team Japan Satoru Nakajima
Japan Kaoru Hoshino
Tom's 85C-L-Toyota C1 330 12th 12th
1986 Japan Tom's Co. Ltd. Japan Satoru Nakajima
United Kingdom Geoff Lees
Tom's (Dome) 86C-L-Toyota C1 105 DNF DNF
1987 Japan Toyota Team Tom's United Kingdom Tiff Needell
Japan Kaoru Hoshino
Toyota 87C-L C1 39 DNF DNF
1988 Japan Toyota Team Tom's United Kingdom Geoff Lees
Japan Kaoru Hoshino
Toyota 88C C1 351 12th 12th
1989 Germany Porsche Kremer Racing Japan Hideki Okada
South Africa George Fouché
Porsche 962CK6 C1 42 DNF DNF
1990 Japan Toyota Team Tom's United Kingdom Geoff Lees
Japan Hitoshi Ogawa
Toyota 90C-V C1 347 6th 6th
1992 Japan Toyota Team Tom's France Pierre-Henri Raphanel
United Kingdom Kenny Acheson
Toyota TS010 C1 346 2nd 2nd
1993 Japan Toyota Team Tom's United Kingdom Eddie Irvine
Japan Toshio Suzuki
Toyota TS010 C1 364 4th 4th
1995 United Kingdom Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing France Yannick Dalmas
Finland JJ Lehto
McLaren F1 GTR GT1 298 1st 1st
1996 Japan Team SARD Toyota Japan Hidetoshi Mitsusada
Japan Masami Kageyama
Toyota Supra LM GT1 205 DNF DNF
1997 United Kingdom Gulf Team Davidoff
United Kingdom GTC Racing
United Kingdom Ray Bellm
United Kingdom Andrew Gilbert-Scott
McLaren F1 GTR GT1 326 DNF DNF

Japanese Formula 3000 Championship results

[edit]

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

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 DC Pts
1987 Leyton House Racing Team SUZ
Ret
FUJ
6
MIN
Ret
SUZ SUZ
5
SUG
Ret
FUJ
Ret
SUZ
5
SUZ
4
10th 32
1988 Leyton House Racing Team SUZ
Ret
FUJ
3
MIN
6
SUZ
3
SUG
Ret
FUJ
Ret
SUZ
4
SUZ
2
4th 18
1989 Leyton House Racing Team SUZ
3
FUJ
3
MIN
3
SUZ
Ret
SUG
Ret
FUJ
4
SUZ
8
SUZ
2
5th 21
1990 Leyton House Racing Team SUZ
9
FUJ
Ret
MIN
Ret
SUZ
Ret
SUG
19
FUJ
Ret
FUJ
Ret
SUZ
14
FUJ
Ret
SUZ
Ret
NC 0
1991 Leyton House Racing Team SUZ
4
AUT
15
FUJ
17
MIN
10
SUZ
Ret
SUG
11
FUJ
9
SUZ FUJ 17th 3
Team LeMans SUZ
9
FUJ
Ret
1992 Hagiwara Racing SUZ
18
FUJ
8
MIN
8
SUZ
10
AUT
Ret
SUG
11
FUJ
Ret
FUJ
12
SUZ
Ret
FUJ
13
FUJ
Ret
NC 0
1993 TOM'S SUZ
10
FUJ
7
MIN SUZ
Ret
AUT
C
SUG
23
FUJ
C
FUJ
4
SUZ
18
FUJ SUZ
Ret
16th 3

Complete JTCC results

[edit]

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

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 DC Pts
1994 Toyota Team Tom's Toyota Corona AUT
1

2
AUT
2

3
SUG
1

17
SUG
2

Ret
TOK
1

2
TOK
2

1
SUZ
1

4
SUZ
2

3
MIN
1

Ret
MIN
2

2
TAI
1

Ret
TAI
2

5
TSU
1

1
TSU
2

1
SEN
1

6
SEN
2

3
FUJ
1

6
FUJ
2

3
1st 135
1995 Toyota Team Tom's Toyota Corona EXiV FUJ
1

3
FUJ
2

2
SUG
1

1
SUG
2

1
TOK
1

2
TOK
2

4
SUZ
1

5
SUZ
2

4
MIN
1

22
MIN
2

3
TAI
1

1
TAI
2

3
SEN
1

4
SEN
2

11
FUJ
1

Ret
FUJ
2

5
2nd 117
1996 Toyota Team Tom's Toyota Corona EXiV FUJ
1

5
FUJ
2

3
SUG
1

3
SUG
2

2
SUZ
1

Ret
SUZ
2

15
MIN
1

20
MIN
2

3
SEN
1

7
SEN
2

Ret
TOK
1

7
TOK
2

14
FUJ
1

NC
FUJ
2

9
7th 55
1997 Toyota Team Tom's Toyota Chaser FUJ
1

C
FUJ
2

C
TAI
1

13
TAI
2

7
SUG
1

11
SUG
2

Ret
SUZ
1

12
SUZ
2

9
MIN
1

Ret
MIN
2

DNS
SEN
1

Ret
SEN
2

3
TOK
1

9
TOK
2

6
FUJ
1

18
FUJ
2

8
13th 25
1998 Toyota Team Tom's Toyota Chaser FUJ
1

8
FUJ
2

2
MOT
1
SUG
1

1
SUG
2

3
SUZ
1

4
SUZ
2

1
MIN
1

1
MIN
2

1
TAI
1
FUJ
7
1st 128

Complete JGTC results

[edit]

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

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DC Pts
1995 Toyota Castrol Team Tom's Toyota Supra GT1 SUZ
6
FUJ
6
SEN
1
FUJ
Ret
SUG
7
MIN
4
6th 42
1996 Toyota Castrol Team Toyota Supra GT500 SUZ
5
FUJ
2
SEN
3
MIN
Ret
SUG
9
MIN
Ret
8th 38
1997 Toyota Castrol Team Toyota Supra GT500 SUZ
3
FUJ
6
SEN
3
FUJ
3
MIN
3
SUG
4
3rd 64
1998 Toyota Castrol Team Tom's Toyota Supra GT500 SUZ
6
FUJ
C
SEN
3
FUJ
8
MOT
3
MIN
16
SUG
Ret
7th 33
1999 Toyota Castrol Team Tom's Toyota Supra GT500 SUZ
4
FUJ
9
SUG
1
MIN
10
FUJ
4
TAI
4
MOT
1
2nd 73
2000 Toyota Castrol Team Tom's Toyota Supra GT500 MOT
Ret
FUJ
12
SUG
9
FUJ
5
TAI
14
MIN
Ret
SUZ
9
17th 12

Sources

[edit]
Sporting positions
Preceded by Japanese Touring Car Championship
Champion

1994
Succeeded by
Preceded by Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans
1995 with:
Yannick Dalmas
JJ Lehto
Succeeded by