is a racing car driver, most famous for being the first Japanese driver to win the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

, in 1995. Sekiya drove in single-seaters in his early career, contesting the Japanese

Formula 3000 Formula 3000 (F3000) was a type of open wheel, single seater formula racing, occupying the tier immediately below Formula One and above Formula Three. It was so named because the cars were powered by 3.0 L engines. Formula 3000 championships ...

Championship and

Formula Nippon The Japanese Super Formula Championship is a formula racing series. It is considered as being the top level of single-seater racing in Japan and regional motorsports in Asia. The series is sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and ...

from 1987 to 1993, mostly for the

Leyton House Leyton House Racing was a Formula One List of Formula One constructors, constructor that raced in the 1990 Formula One season, 1990 and 1991 Formula One season, 1991 seasons. It was, in essence, a rebranding of the March Engineering, March team ...

team. He never achieved any victories, but finished 4th in the standings in 1988 and 1989, scoring three and four podiums, respectively. A long-time works

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

driver, Sekiya drove in the

All Japan Sports Prototype Championship The , abbreviated as JSPC, formed by the Japan Automobile Federation, was a domestic championship which took place in Japan for Group C and IMSA GTP prototype cars and also featured cars that were eligible for touring car racing in its earlier yea ...

, All Japan Grand Touring Championship and

Japanese Touring Car Championship The Japanese Touring Car Championship (abbr: 1985–1993: JTC, 1994–1998: JTCC, officially known as All Japan Touring Car Championship, ja, 全日本ツーリングカー選手権, link=no), was a former touring car racing series held in Japan. ...

, a series which he won in 1994, driving a

Toyota Chaser The Toyota Chaser is a mid-size car produced by Toyota in Japan. Most Chasers are four-door sedans and hardtop sedans; a two-door hardtop coupé was available on the first generation only. It was introduced on the 1976 Toyota Corona Mark II pla ...

for the

Tom's is a factory supported racing team and tuner of Toyota and Lexus vehicles. The name stands for Tachi Oiwa Motor Sport. Their head office is located in Tokyo, Japan. They are currently heavily involved with Super GT, Super Formula and Super Formu ...

team. He was also runner-up the following year. 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 The 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 63rd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 17 and 18 June 1995 in one of the wettest races in the event's history with about 17 hours of steady rain. The race was won by the #59 McLaren F1 GTR driven by J ...

, at the wheel of a

McLaren F1 GTR The McLaren F1 GTR is the racing variant of the McLaren F1 sports car first produced in 1995 for grand touring style racing, such as the BPR Global GT Series, FIA GT Championship, JGTC, and British GT Championship. It was powered by the natur ...

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 Super GT (stylized as SUPER GT) is a grand touring car racing series that began in 1993. Launched as the , generally referred to as either the JGTC or the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, the series was renamed to Super GT in 2005. It is ...

division of the Toyota Team

TOM'S is a factory supported racing team and tuner of Toyota and Lexus vehicles. The name stands for Tachi Oiwa Motor Sport. Their head office is located in Tokyo, Japan. They are currently heavily involved with Super GT, Super Formula and Super Formu ...

and also runs a racing school at

Fuji Speedway is a motorsport race track standing in the foothills of Mount Fuji, in Oyama, Suntō District, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It was built in the early 1960s. In the 1980s, Fuji Speedway was used for the FIA World Sportscar Championship and nati ...

. In 1998, Sekiya also appeared in a TV commercial in Japan driving a JZA80 Supra promoting its handling package.

Racing Record

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Japanese Formula 3000 Championship 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 JTCC results

(

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

Complete JGTC results

(

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

Sources

Masanori Sekiya at Driver Database
1949 births Living people Japanese racing drivers Japanese Formula Two Championship drivers Japanese Formula 3000 Championship drivers Japanese Touring Car Championship drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans winning drivers People from Shizuoka (city) World Sportscar Championship drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers {{Sportscar-autoracing-stub Long Distance Series drivers TOM'S drivers Team LeMans drivers Japanese Sportscar Championship drivers Team Joest drivers