is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the
D1 Grand Prix series for D-MAX. He is the younger brother of
Naoto who both were taught by
Nobushige Kumakubo.
He began his motorsport career racing minibikes in the
Kyūshū
is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...
area, later winning a title. Following this, his motorcycle racing career ended at the age of 20 caused by injuries. As Naoto was involved in the 'Tono Club'
hashiriya
Street racing is typically an unsanctioned and illegal form of auto racing that occurs on a public road. Racing in the streets is considered an ancient hazard, as horse racing occurred on streets for centuries, and street racing in automobiles i ...
group (which one of the members included Katsuhiro Ueo), he also became involved which he was taught how to drift by Naoto. Masao later joined the 'Gowasu?' hashiriya group.
He has been competing in the
D1 Grand Prix series since . In 2002 and he was the youngest driver to compete in the top 16 and he was soon picked up by
RE Amemiya
is an automotive tuning company from Tomisato, Chiba Prefecture, Japan founded by Isami Amemiya. Amemiya has made a name for himself tuning rotary engines since 1974 and has become a pioneer in tuning rotary-powered Mazdas. Thirty years later, ...
a renowned tuner of rotary powered cars. So he switched from his
Nissan Silvia to a
Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) went from strength to strength. The Silvia would be driven by Naoto until he became one of the Kumakubo led
Team Orange
A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal.
As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to infor ...
drivers. Masao took his first win in 2005 and went on to place second overall. He had a slight lull in his performance in , but was back on form in winning twice and finishing the season in third.
He is one of the few D1GP drivers to compete the spinoff D1 Street Legal series in his own FD RX-7 winning the first two rounds of the inaugural season.
Suenaga competed in the M150 20B-Powered FD3S RX-7 in the inaugural Formula Drift: Asia at Fuji Speedway Japan where he would take first place against Masashi Yokoi.
He had been with RE Amemiya for years, but left in 2016. In 2017, he was picked up by
Toyo Tires GLION TRUST RACING and became teammate of
Masato Kawabata
is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for Team TOYO TIRES DRIFT.
Biography
Kawabata first received his license at 18 and at that point he bought the Nissan 180SX. He practiced alone until h ...
. He drove
Nissan GT-R (R35).
From 2020, he belongs to D-MAX and works with
Masashi Yokoi.
Complete Drifting Results
D1 Grand Prix
D1 Street Legal
Sources
D1 Grand Prix
References
External links
Gowasu?のホームページ- Official page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suenaga, Masao
Japanese racing drivers
Drifting drivers
1978 births
Living people
D1 Grand Prix drivers
People from Kagoshima