(born 2 September 1980 in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

) 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. He raced in the

2005 GP2 Series The 2005 GP2 Series season was the thirty-ninth season of the second-tier of Formula One feeder championship and also first season under the GP2 Series moniker. The season started in Imola, Italy on 23 April, and ended in Manama, Bahrain on 30 Sep ...

for the

BCN Competicion Ocean Racing Technology (ORT) was a racing team that took part in both the GP2 Main Series and the GP2 Asia Series Championships. The team, owned by Tiago Monteiro and José Guedes, was formed at the end of the 2008 season after being purchased f ...

team, alongside the Venezuelan

E. J. Viso Ernesto José "E. J." Viso Lossada (born March 19, 1985) is a Venezuelan professional racing driver. He has raced in the 2005 and 2006 GP2 Series seasons, and has also driven the third car for Spyker MF1 Racing. In 2007 he competed in the GP2 Se ...

. For 2006 he was initially teamed with the more experienced

Timo Glock Timo Glock (born 18 March 1982) is a German professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver. He raced in Formula One for the Jordan, Toyota, Virgin Racing and Marussia F1 teams. He finished 10th in the Drivers' Championship in both ...

of Germany. In addition to his racing, he is also the vocalist for

Japanese rock , sometimes abbreviated to , is rock music from Japan. Influenced by American and British rock of the 1960s, the first rock bands in Japan performed what is called Group Sounds, with lyrics almost exclusively in English. Folk rock band Happy End ...

band doa under the name .

Racing career

Yoshimoto is the only driver 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 ...

to have driven the bulk of his pre-GP2 career in Asia, the rest of the series mainly moving up the ranks in South America or Europe. Yoshimoto started out in 1999, competing in

Japanese Formula Junior 1600 Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspo ...

. He moved for

Japanese Formula Toyota Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspo ...

in 2000, racing in

Korean F1800 Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language ** Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju languag ...

later in the year. A move to Japanese Formula Three for 2001 was his reward for hard work, although his stint with the Yellow Hat team resulted in only two races. He got his first taste of a full Japanese F3 season in 2002, though, with the Now team. He achieved 1 win, 1 pole position and two other podium finishes, finishing 8th in the championship. He also finished respectively 5th in the prestigious

Macau Grand Prix The Macau Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prémio de Macau; ) is a motorsport road race for automobiles and motorcycles held annually in Macau. It is the only street circuit racing event in which both cars and motorcycles participate, and one of onl ...

. He stayed with the team for 2003 finishing 10th in the championship before moving on in 2004 for the Japanese GT Series. He also drove two races of the

World Series by Nissan The World Series Formula V8 3.5, formerly the World Series by Nissan from 1998 to 2004, the Formula Renault 3.5 Series from 2005 to 2015 and the Formula V8 3.5 in 2016 and 2017, was a motor racing series promoted by RPM Racing (1998–2004) and R ...

of the same year, for the Gabord team. On 3 and 4 November 2007, Yoshimoto took part in the Formula Asia V6 by Renault Championship at the

Zhuhai International Circuit Zhuhai International Circuit (ZIC) (simplified Chinese: 珠海国际赛车场; traditional Chinese: ) is located at Jin Ding town in Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, China. Motorsport started in Zhuhai when it hosted a race on its street circ ...

. He won round 11 ahead of

James Winslow James Winslow (born 16 April 1983) is a British professional car racing driver who races at Le Mans 24 Hours. A ten-time Motorsport champion member of the British Racing Drivers' Club, he competes in Europe, Australia & Asia in Le Mans LMP & GT ...

and Armaan Ebrahim but stalled on the grid for round 12 and eventually finished 5th. He returned to GP2 for

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, driving for the Qi-Meritus Mahara team in the

GP2 Asia Series The GP2 Asia Series was a form of open wheel motor racing as a result of a spin-off from the GP2 series. The series was officially announced during the weekend of the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix. GP2 series organiser Bruno Michel commented that "It ...

. He continued in the series for the 2008–09 season with the

BCN Competición BCN may refer to: Places * Barcelona El Prat Airport, IATA code * an abbreviation for the city of Barcelona * Port of Barcelona, by shortened form of the UN/LOCODE ESBCN without the country prefix * Baja California, geographical ISO 3166 code MX- ...

team. However, BCN was purchased and renamed as

Ocean Racing Technology Ocean Racing Technology (ORT) was a racing team that took part in both the GP2 Main Series and the GP2 Asia Series Championships. The team, owned by Tiago Monteiro and José Guedes, was formed at the end of the 2008 season after being purchased f ...

after the first round of the season, and Yoshimoto was replaced by

Yelmer Buurman Yelmer Evert Frans Buurman (born 19 February 1987) is a Dutch professional racing driver. He was 3rd in the Blancpain Endurance Series in 2013, and second in the FIA GT1 Championship in 2012. Besides achieving victories in those categories, also ...

Racing record

Complete GP2 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)

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

(

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

Complete Super GT results

* Season still in progress.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yoshimoto, Hiroki 1980 births Living people Japanese racing drivers Formula V6 Asia drivers GP2 Series drivers Sportspeople from Osaka Top Race V6 drivers GP2 Asia Series drivers Super GT drivers Asian Le Mans Series drivers Japanese male rock singers Being Inc. artists 21st-century Japanese singers World Touring Car Championship drivers 21st-century Japanese male singers Team Meritus drivers Porsche Motorsports drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers