is a Japanese professional racing driver. He participated in three

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

Grands Prix, débuting in the 1994 European Grand Prix, but did not score any championship points. He replaced

Yannick Dalmas Yannick Dalmas (born 28 July 1961) is a former racing driver from France. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times (in 1992, 1994, 1995 and 1999), each with different teams. Prior to this, he participated in 49 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting ...

in the

Larrousse Larrousse Formula One was a motorsports racing team founded in 1987 by Didier Calmels and former racer Gérard Larrousse, originally under the name Larrousse & Calmels. It was based in Antony, in the southern suburbs of Paris. It was renamed La ...

car for the last three Grands Prix of the season, but failed to finish in any of the three races. In 1995, he joined

Simtek Simtek (Simulation Technology) was an engineering consultancy firm and Formula One racing team. The Formula One (F1) engineering consultancy arm, Simtek Research, was founded in 1989 by Max Mosley and Nick Wirth. It originally was involved ...

as a test driver, hoping to get some races in. However, the

Kobe earthquake The , or Kobe earthquake, occurred on January 17, 1995, at 05:46:53 JST (January 16 at 20:46:53 UTC) in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, including the region known as Hanshin. It measured 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale and h ...

and the folding of the Simtek team ended his brief Formula 1 career. A year later, Noda went to America and raced in the

Indy Lights Indy NXT, previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as Firestone Indy NXT Series for sponsorship reasons. Indy Lights is the highest step on the Road to Indy, a progra ...

and became the only Japanese driver to win a CART-sanctioned event. After a few years in America, Noda moved back to Japan, where he drove a Team Cerumo Toyota Supra with

Hironori Takeuchi Hironori Takeuchi (born December 22, 1964 in Kanagawa) is a Japanese auto racing driver. Career Takeuchi competed in the Japanese Touring Car Championship between 1996 and 1998.http://www.driverdb.com/drivers/3522/career/ Career statistics at Driv ...

. In the annual non-championship All-Star event at Aida, Noda and Takeuchi were forced out with mechanical problems. In 1999, he joined the Esso Tiger Team Le Mans under Koichiro Mori, again to drive a Toyota Supra, ex-Australian V8 Supercar driver

Wayne Gardner Wayne Michael Gardner (born 11 October 1959) is an Australian former professional Grand Prix motorcycle and touring car racer. His most notable achievement was winning the 1987 500 cc Motorcycle World Championship, becoming the first Aus ...

. The highlight of their season was a win at Fuji. With 33 points they were equal 17th in the series. In 2002, Noda returned to the United States and drove in six

Indy Racing League The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...

races for Convergent Racing and

Indy Regency Racing Indy Regency Racing was a racing team owned by Sal Incandela who had worked with several Formula One and CART teams. Team history The team made its debut at the Mid-Ohio round of the 1991 Indy Lights championship, with David Kudrave as its driver, ...

with a best finish of 10th at Phoenix International Raceway while with Convergent. He also competed in a round of the inaugural

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 ...

season with Japan at

Lausitz Lusatia (german: Lausitz, pl, Łużyce, hsb, Łužica, dsb, Łužyca, cs, Lužice, la, Lusatia, rarely also referred to as Sorbia) is a historical region in Central Europe, split between Germany and Poland. Lusatia stretches from the Bóbr ...

, where he scored three points for the Japanese team. He has also been seen in the

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, ...

sports-prototype in 2006.

Career

A1 Grand Prix (2005–2009)

In 2005, Noda was announced as the second driver for the Japan entry for the 2005-06 A1 Grand Prix season, second to

Ryo Fukuda Ryo may refer to: * Ryō, a gold currency unit in pre-Meiji Japan Shakkanhō system * Ryō (actress) (born 1973), Japanese model, actress, and singer * Ryō (given name), a unisex Japanese given name * Ryo, Georgia, an unincorporated community i ...

. His first race for the team came at the second round at

, where he qualified in 21st place. In sprint race, Noda managed to move up 11 places to finish 10th and score one point for Japan. The feature race saw Noda finish one place higher in ninth place, scoring a further two points for the Japanese A1 GP team. Japan finished 21st at the end of the season, with eight points.

Personal life

Noda's daughter Juju is also a racing driver, who currently competes in the W Series.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results

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

Complete Japanese Formula 3000/Formula Nippon results

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

Complete Formula One results

( key)

American open-wheel racing results

( key) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Indy Lights

Indy Racing League

Complete JGTC/Super GT results

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

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Footnotes

References

All Formula One race and championship results are taken from: * ''Official Formula 1 Website. Archive: Results for 1994 season'
www.formula1.com
Retrieved 7 July 2006 All IRL race and championship results are taken from: * ''Official IRL Website. Archive: Results for 2002 season'
IndyCar.com
Retrieved 7 July 2006

External links

Hideki Noda Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Noda, Hideki 1969 births Living people Japanese racing drivers Japanese Formula One drivers Larrousse Formula One drivers IndyCar Series drivers Japanese IndyCar Series drivers Indy Lights drivers A1 Team Japan drivers Japanese Formula 3000 Championship drivers Formula Nippon drivers International Formula 3000 drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers American Le Mans Series drivers European Le Mans Series drivers Super GT drivers Asian Le Mans Series drivers Dandelion Racing drivers TOM'S drivers Team LeMans drivers Alan Docking Racing drivers A1 Grand Prix drivers Carlin racing drivers