Kiyoto_Fujinami

Kiyoto Fujinami

Kiyoto Fujinami

Japanese racing driver

Kiyoto Fujinami (藤波清斗, Fujinami Kiyoto, born 13 April 1995) is a Japanese professional racing driver who currently competes in Super GT for Team Mach. He is a two-time champion in the series, having won the GT300 class title with Kondō Racing in 2020 and 2022.

Quick Facts Kiyoto Fujinami 藤波清斗, Nationality ...

Career

Following success in karting, headlined by the 2010 CIK-FIA Asia Pacific KF2 Championship, Fujinami entered the Formula Challenge Japan in 2012 as a member of the Nissan Driver Development Programme (NDDP). He scored 2 points in his first season on the way to 13th in the championship. Returning for 2013, he scored 5 pole positions and 3 podiums over the 12 races, ending with 29 points and 6th in the championship.

Fujinami transitioned to sports car racing in 2014, racing in the ST-3 class of the Super Taikyu Series with Techno First Racing Team. He scored his first class win at Autopolis aboard the #34 Nissan Fairlady Z34. In 2015, Fujinami moved up to the ST-X (GT3) class with Team Mach, and won at Okayama in the #5 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3. The entry was acquired by GTNET Motor Sports in 2016 where Fujinami continued to race in the ST-X class.

He helped lead GTNET Motor Sports to consecutive ST-X championships in 2018 and 2019, with overall victories in the Fuji Super TEC 24 Hours in each of these seasons. Fujinami added a third Fuji 24 Hours win in 2021.

For 2018, Fujinami returned to single-seaters with B-Max Racing in the Japanese Formula 3 Championship, but over seven races scored no points finishes.[1] He fared better in the 2019 F3 Asian Championship, with 14 points in three races for the team.[2][3]

Super GT (2017-2022, 2024)

Fujinami made his Super GT debut in 2017 with Team Mach, driving the #5 Toyota 86 MC (MC86). That season, he earned three points in seven races, and finished 22nd in the standings with a best finish of eighth at Autopolis. He did not receive a full season contract for 2018, but returned to Team Mach as a third driver at the Fuji GT 500 Mile Race.

Fujinami earned another part-time contract in 2019, this time driving for JLOC in their #87 Lamborghini Huracan GT3. At the Fuji GT 500 Mile Race, Fujinami, Andre Couto, and Tsubasa Takahashi took the GT300 class win, ending a five-year winless drought for JLOC.[4][5]

In 2020, Fujinami signed a full-time contract and won the Super GT GT300 class championship alongside Joao Paulo de Oliveira in their #56 Nissan GT-R. Fujinami and Oliveira won two races at Twin Ring Motegi and Fuji Speedway, securing a further podium and finishing with 71 points.[6] In 2021, Fujinami and Oliveira fell short of a repeat championship, despite winning at Okayama and two further podiums at Sugo and Motegi.[7][8][9] They finished second in the standings to the Subaru R&D Sport team of Takuto Iguchi and Hideki Yamauchi.

Fujinami continued racing with Oliveira and Kondo Racing in 2022.[10] For the second straight season, the pair won the opening round at Okayama and led the championship at the half way point of the season.[11] In the final round at Motegi, Fujinami and Oliveira won their second title in three years, despite Oliveira losing a wheel late in the race. They won the championship after championship rival Riki Okusa's teammate Ryuichiro Tomita conceded fifth place on the last lap.[12]

After missing the 2023 season entirely, Fujinami returned to Super GT in 2024 with Team Mach alongside new co-driver Yusuke Shiotsu.[13]

2022-23 off-season controversy

After two championships in three seasons, Fujinami tested a Nissan Z GT500 at Fuji Speedway in December 2022.[14] Fujinami then joined Kondo Racing for a private manufacturers test in their GT500 car on 24 January at Suzuka Circuit, with the expectation that he would be named as a GT500 driver for the upcoming season.[15] But when Nissan announced its 2023 driver line-ups, Fujinami was omitted from the list of drivers.[16]

It later emerged that Fujinami, who also owns a privateer team called KF Motorsports that competes in the FCR-Vita Series, had physically attacked a member of his team.[17] On 17 February, the same day that Nissan confirmed Teppei Natori as his replacement at the Kondo Racing GT300 team,[18] Fujinami apologised for the incident through his social media accounts. Fujinami signed a reserve driver contract with Nissan for the 2023 season, and was retained at GTNET Motor Sports in the Super Taikyu Series.[19] He left Nissan after the 2023 season, ending a 12-year affiliation with the manufacturer.

Racing record

Career summary

More information Season, Series ...

‡ Teams' standings.

Complete Super GT results

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

More information Year, Team ...

References

  1. [1]
    "Kiyoto Fujinami". DriverDB. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  2. [2]
    "Iconic Suzuka presents biggest challenge yet as F3 Asian Championship makes Japan debut". Automobilsport. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  3. [3]
    "2019 F3 Asian Championship Standings". DriverDB. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  4. [4]
    "Lamborghini Records First Super GT300 Victory at Fuji 500 Miles". Yahoo News. Archived from the original on 12 August 2022. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  5. [5]
    "COME-FROM-BEHIND CONSECUTIVE SUPER GT WINS FOR WAKO'S 4CR LC500 AT FUJI". sportscarracingnews.com. 4 August 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  6. [6]
    "YOKOHAMA-equipped car won the GT300 class series championships". Yokohama. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  7. [7]
    "Can Kondo Racing make a piece of SUPER GT history?". Motorsport. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  8. [8]
    "Subaru wins its first-ever Super GT title with all-new Subaru BRZ GT300 in Japan". Subaru Japan. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  9. [9]
    "GT300 Standings 2021". Super GT. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  10. [10]
    "Fujinami and Oliveira Retained By Kondo Racing For 2022 GT300 Effort". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  11. [11]
    "Super GT Okayama: Rookie Toyota holds off Kunimitsu Honda". Autosport. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  12. [12]
    "Calsonic Team Impul & Kondo Racing Secure Championship Double For Nissan | dailysportscar.com". www.dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
  13. [13]
    "Team Mach, Fujinami, Shiotsu Form New Combination". www.dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 2024-04-01.
  14. [14]
    "SUPER GT: Nissan trials youngsters in GT500 audition test". us.motorsport.com. 2022-12-06. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
  15. [15]
    "SUPER GT: Kenta Yamashita taken to hospital after test crash". www.motorsport.com. 2023-01-24. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
  16. [16]
    "Nissan Announces 2023 SUPER GT Teams & Drivers | dailysportscar.com". www.dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
  17. [17]
    "Kiyoto Fujinami Apologises After Incident with Vita Race Team Member | dailysportscar.com". www.dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
  18. [18]
    "Nissan Announces Full Range of SUPER GT Programmes For 2023 | dailysportscar.com". www.dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
  19. [19]
    "SUPER GT: Kiyoto Fujinami handed 2023 Nissan reserve role". www.motorsport.com. 2023-03-09. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
More information Sporting positions ...
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