Hayanari Shimoda (下田隼成; Shimoda Hayanari) (born July 16, 1984) is a Japanese

race car Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organi ...

driver, born in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. His career started in 1997 in

karting Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on f ...

, Shimoda moving up to Italian Formula Renault in 2001. Happy to travel the world to further his career, he raced part of the 2002 Japanese GT Series and fill-in races in both

Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup Formula Renault Eurocup was a Formula Renault motor racing championship. Eurocup raced only on European circuits. It served as a support series to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series as part of the World Series by Renault from 2005 to 2015. Renault ...

and

British Formula Renault British Formula Renault Championship referred to one of two Formula Renault championships that were held in the United Kingdom. The main series was Renault Sport UK's Formula Renault 2.0 UK championship which was held from 1989 to 2011 and was g ...

. A full season in

Formula Renault Formula Renault are classes of formula racing popular in Europe and elsewhere. Regarded as an entry-level series to motor racing, it was founded in 1971, and was a respected series where drivers can learn advanced racecraft before moving on to hig ...

V6 Eurocup followed in 2003, as well as a part season in the

World Sportscar Championship The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992. The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance, and road racing events in Europe and No ...

and one race in the

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The American Le Mans' hea ...

. He stayed in the V6 Eurocup in 2004, and was also set to drive in the

Le Mans Endurance Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

before complications prevented him from doing so. Shimoda was set to be the second driver for the SuperNova team in

GP2 Series The GP2 Series was a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The GP2 format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, while Eccle ...

during 2005. However, at the last minute, he was replaced by

Adam Carroll Adam Carroll may refer to: * Adam Carroll (racing driver) Adam Carroll (born 26 October 1982) is a Northern Irish professional racing driver. He last raced in the 2016–17 Formula E season for Jaguar Racing. He has also raced for Team Ireland ...

who will now partner ex-

Jordan Grand Prix Jordan Grand Prix was a Formula One constructor that competed from 1991 to 2005. The team was named after Irish businessman and founder Eddie Jordan. The team was based at Silverstone, UK but raced with an Irish licence. In early 2005, the t ...

driver

Giorgio Pantano Giorgio Pantano (born 4 February 1979) is an Italian professional racing driver who drove for the Jordan Formula One team for much of the 2004 season before being replaced by Timo Glock. He also raced in Formula 3000. He retired from racing at t ...

. He finished third in the

LMP1 A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is the type of sports prototype race car used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were create ...

championship for

Zytek Gibson Technology is an automotive and motorsport company based at Repton, Derbyshire, England. It was founded by Bill Gibson as "Zytek Engineering" in 1981. In 1981 Gibson founded the "Zytech Group" with two main divisions: Zytek Automotive, b ...

, winning the

1000 km Nürburgring 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

. In 2005 he won the Monterey Sports Car Championships, the final race of the season in the

ALMS Alms (, ) are money, food, or other material goods donated to people living in poverty. Providing alms is often considered an act of virtue or Charity (practice), charity. The act of providing alms is called almsgiving, and it is a widespread p ...

. He was partnered by

Tom Chilton Thomas James Chilton (born 15 March 1985) is a British racing driver. He has spent most of his career competing in touring car racing; he was a former factory Vauxhall and Honda driver in the British Touring Car Championship, and currently driv ...

in a

04S LMP1 sports prototype. He also represented

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in the

A1 Grand Prix A1 Grand Prix (A1GP) was a "single-make" open-wheel auto racing series that ran from 2005 until 2009. It was unique in its field in that competitors solely represented their nation as opposed to themselves or a team, the usual format in most for ...

series for the first time at Eastern Creek in November 2005, and was lucky to escape with only a concussion after a spectacular crash in which the engine separated from the chassis. He also occurred in another spectacular crash at the

round in Mexico. The cars were under a yellow flag when as they were coming onto the pit straight Shimoda's car was launched airborne after hitting the back of

A1 Team New Zealand A1 Team New Zealand is the New Zealand team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. Management The team was formed by and is owned by prominent Auckland businessman Colin Giltrap, well known for this car dealerships. The team is manag ...

's car. Shimoda escaped unhurt. He is currently racing in the

World Series by Renault The Renault Sport Series (formerly known as World Series by Renault) is a motor racing series. The series latterly consisted of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, and used to contain the Renault Sport Trophy and the Formula Renault 3.5 Series. T ...

championship for the Victory Engineering team.

Racing record

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.

References

1984 births Living people Japanese racing drivers Italian Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula Renault V6 Eurocup drivers British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers A1 Team Japan drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers American Le Mans Series drivers European Le Mans Series drivers World Series Formula V8 3.5 drivers {{Japan-autoracing-bio-stub Victory Engineering drivers Arena Motorsport drivers David Price Racing drivers Jota Sport drivers A1 Grand Prix drivers Carlin racing drivers