is a Japanese racing driver. He is competing in the Japanese Super Formula Championship for

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...

and

Team Goh Team Goh Motorsports is a Japanese auto racing team founded by Kazumichi Goh in 1996. They currently compete in the Japanese Super Formula Championship. History Initially competing in the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC), Team G ...

. He is not related to ex-

Formula 1 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, ...

driver

Takuma Sato , nicknamed "Taku", is a Japanese professional racing driver. Sato is a two time winner of the Indianapolis 500, having won the event in 2017 and 2020. He was the first Asian driver to win the Indianapolis 500, and the twentieth driver to win th ...

Career

Formula 4 (2018-2020)

Sato made his single-seater debut with

Honda Formula Dream Project Honda has been competing in a variety of racing series through the years, including Formula One, IndyCar Series, IndyCar, touring car racing, sports car racing and Grand Prix motorcycle racing, MotoGP. Currently they are involved in Formula One, ...

in the 2018 FIA F4 Japanese Championship. He finished seventh in the championship with 58 points in his first season. In

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, Sato dominated the Japanese F4 circuit en route to his first racing championship. He won 11 out of the season's 14 races, including eight wins in a row to end the season, and finished on the podium in all but one race. Sato clinched the 2019 championship in the penultimate race meeting at Sportsland Sugo, and won the championship by 164 points. He took part in the 2019 French F4 Championship round at

Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours is a motor racing circuit located in central France, near the towns of Magny-Cours and Nevers, some from Paris and from Lyon. It staged the Formula One French Grand Prix from 1991 (succeeding Circuit Paul Ricard ...

as a guest driver. In

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

, Sato, along with Ayumu Iwasa, raced full-time in the French F4 Championship. Sato finished the season runner-up in the standings behind Iwasa, with four wins and 12 podiums.

Super Formula Lights (2021)

Sato would return to the Japanese circuit after just one season in Europe, competing in the

2021 Super Formula Lights The 2021 Super Formula Lights Championship was the second Super Formula Lights Championship season, after the Japanese Formula 3 Championship was rebranded following the end of the 2019 season. It featured drivers competing in Formula 3 cars with ...

championship with TODA Racing. He won four of the last six races of the season, including a sweep of the August race meeting at Motegi, to finish the year third in the championship behind champion

Teppei Natori Teppei Natori (Japanese: 名取鉄平, ''Natori Teppei''; born 11 September 2000) is a Japanese racing driver. Career Karting Natori started karting in 2014 when he was 14. He finished 6th in the ROK Cup International Final. Japanese F4 In 2 ...

, and runner-up

Giuliano Alesi Giuliano Ryu Alesi (born 20 September 1999) is a French-Japanese racing driver. He is the son of Japanese former actress Kumiko Goto and former Formula One driver Jean Alesi. Career Karting Born in Avignon, Alesi began karting in 2013 before ...

Super GT (2021)

Sato made his

Super GT Series 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 ...

debut in 2021, driving the ARTA Honda NSX GT3 in the GT300 class along with two-time series champion

Shinichi Takagi is a Japanese professional racing driver. He won the GT300 class Super GT championship in 2002 and 2019. Career Takagi made his debut in the All-Japan GT Championship (JGTC) in 1998, driving for in the GT500 class. For the 1999 season, he ...

. The team finished fourth in the championship, collecting three podium finishes at Fuji Speedway, Sugo, and Motegi, although their results were intermixed with four finishes outside the top nineteen. In the final race of the season at Fuji, Sato influenced the outcome of the GT500 class championship in controversial manner. While racing the

Subaru BRZ The Toyota 86 and the Subaru BRZ are 2+2 sports cars jointly developed by Toyota and Subaru, manufactured at Subaru's Gunma is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 ...

Hideki Yamauchi Hideki Yamauchi (山内英輝 - Yamauchi Hideki; born October 24, 1988) is a Japanese professional racing driver. Complete Super GT Results ( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) * Season stil ...

for position, he went for an overtake into turn one, but braked too late and crashed into the GT500 class Stanley Honda NSX-GT of Naoki Yamamoto, who was in position to win the GT500 championship with 15 laps remaining. The incident took out both Sato and Yamamoto from the race, and it ultimately cost Yamamoto and Team Kunimitsu the GT500 titles, which were won by

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 drivers

Yuhi Sekiguchi is a Japanese racing driver. He currently competes in the GT500 class of the Super GT Series for TGR Team au TOM's, where he is the 2021 series champion. He also competes in the Super Formula Championship for Carenex Team Impul. Career Form ...

and

Sho Tsuboi is a Japanese racing driver for Toyota Gazoo Racing. He currently competes in the GT500 class of the Super GT Series for TGR Team au TOM's, where he is the 2021 series champion. He also competes in the Super Formula Championship for P.mu Cerumo ...

. After the race, Sato admitted that he was fully responsible for the incident. For 2022, Sato was dropped from Honda's Super GT lineup with his place at the No. 55 ARTA team taken by rookie Iori Kimura. However, Honda affirmed their commitment to Sato by announcing him as a Super Formula driver for 2022.

Super Formula (2022)

Sato took part in the Super Formula manufacturer and rookie test at Suzuka Circuit on 7-9 December, driving the number 15 Red Bull Mugen Team Goh car. Sato finished as the fastest of four rookies on the final day. On 14 January 2022, Sato was announced as a Super Formula driver for Honda. He joined

, who spun off from Team Mugen and formed a two-car team in 2022. Sato won Rookie of the Year honours ahead of his team mate,

Atsushi Miyake is a racing driver from Japan who currently competes in the Super Formula Championship for Team Goh, and the GT300 class of Super GT for Max Racing. Career Miyake was the winner of the SRS-F (Suzuka Circuit Racing School Formula) Scholarship ...

, and recorded his first podium in the JAF Grand Prix Suzuka.

Formula One

In February 2022, it was announced that Sato would join the

Red Bull Junior Team The Red Bull Junior Team is a driver development program run by the energy drink company Red Bull GmbH in an attempt to identify potential future racing stars in open wheel racing. The similar Red Bull Driver Search, now ended, was an American ...

. However, he was released from Red Bull after just a year.

Racing record

Career summary

^† As Sato was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.
* Season still in progress.

Complete F4 Japanese 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 points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Complete French F4 Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† As Sato was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.

Complete Super Formula Lights results

(

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

Complete Super GT results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^* Season still in progress.

Complete Super Formula results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^* Season still in progress.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sato, Ren 2001 births Living people Japanese racing drivers French F4 Championship drivers Super GT drivers Super Formula drivers Karting World Championship drivers Team Aguri drivers Japanese F4 Championship drivers