Sena Sakaguchi (born 9 July 1999) is a Japanese racing driver who currently competes in the Super Formula Championship and Super GT.

Career

Sakaguchi began his senior competition career in 2015, competing for Sutekina Racing Team in the final four rounds of the

F4 Japanese Championship is a formula racing series held in Japan regulated according to FIA Formula 4 regulations. The inaugural season was held in 2015. History Gerhard Berger and the FIA Singleseater Commission launched the FIA Formula 4 in March 2013. The goal of ...

. Through eight races that season, he registered a podium at Motegi and finished outside of the points just once, taking 10th in the championship. The following season, he graduated to the Japanese F3 Championship, taking part thanks to the

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 producti ...

Formula Dream Project. Sakaguchi continued competing in F4 during 2016, tallying his first win in the series at Motegi en route to a second-place point finish. In his maiden F3 season, Sakaguchi would finish 9th in points. He returned to F3 in 2017 with

support, finishing an improved 6th in points, netting his first podium in the series at the penultimate race at Sugo. In 2018, Sakaguchi joined Toda Racing and built upon his previous results, finishing fourth in points off the back of five podium finishes in 17 races. 2018 also marked what would have been his debut in the Super Formula Championship with Team Mugen, filling in for

Nirei Fukuzumi is a Japanese racing driver currently competing in Super Formula for Dandelion Racing. Career Karting In 2010, Fukuzumi began karting, starting his racing career. He remained in karting until 2013, with his best achievement being second plac ...

, who was competing in the F2 Championship that weekend. However, the race was canceled due to inclement weather. Following the 2018 season, Sakaguchi was released from his junior driver role at

. 2019 marked Sakaguchi's first experience with

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...

, as he joined K-Tunes Racing for the

2019 Super GT Series The 2019 Super GT Series was a motor racing championship based in Japan for grand touring cars. The series is sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and run by the GT Association (GTA). It was the twenty-seventh season of the Japan ...

season, competing alongside Morio Nitta in the GT300 class. The drive came about thanks to Sakaguchi's uncle, Ryohei, who had connections with the K-Tunes team. Sakaguchi and Nitta would take two class victories that season; the rain-shortened season-opener at Okayama and Round 3 at Suzuka, finishing 2nd in points. The 2019 season also saw Sakaguchi take on a reduced presence in F3 as a result, tallying three podiums in five races driving for

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 Form ...

. Following the Japanese F3 split at the end of 2019, Sakaguchi competed in both of the resulting series during 2020. In the

Super Formula Lights is a national formula racing championship that takes place in Japan. It is a junior-level feeder formula that uses the same single seater chassis as the pan-European Euroformula Open Championship. The series will be the first with the new b ...

series, Sakaguchi ran the full season with

B-Max Racing B-Max Racing Co., Ltd also known as B-Max Racing Team and B-Max Engineering is a race car builder and racing team headquartered in Ayase, Kanagawa. History Byobugaura Kogyo Co., Ltd. established the race division "B-Max Engineering" in 2009, and ...

. Despite finishing just one race outside of the podium positions, he would finish second in the standings, nearly 40 points behind

Ritomo Miyata (born August 10, 1999) is a Japanese racing driver currently competing in Super Formula for Kuo Vantelin Team TOM'S and Super GT for TGR Team WedsSport Bandoh. He is a 2 time Japanese F4 champion and the 2020 Super Formula Lights champion. ...

. In the K2 Planet-promoted

Formula Regional Japanese Championship The Formula Regional Japanese Championship is a Japan ese formula racing championship held under FIA Formula Regional car regulations. Announced by the Japan Automobile Federation on 26 December 2019, it was confirmed that K2 Planet, promoter of ...

, however, Sakaguchi won all eleven races that he competed in, taking the championship by just over 50 points despite missing the triple-header at Sugo. During 2020, Sakaguchi also played the role of substitute on two occasions, initially replacing

Heikki Kovalainen Heikki Johannes Kovalainen (; born 19 October 1981) is a Finnish racing driver competing in the Japan Rally Championship for Rally Team AICELLO. He raced in Formula One between 2007 and 2013 for the Renault, McLaren, Team Lotus, Caterham and ...

in TGR Team SARD's GT500 class entry at

Fuji Fuji may refer to: Places China * Fuji, Xiangcheng City (付集镇), town in Xiangcheng City, Henan Japan * Mount Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan * Fuji River * Fuji, Saga, town in Saga Prefecture * Fuji, Shizuoka, city in Shizuoka Prefec ...

in July. Later, in September, he filled in for Kondō Racing's

Kenta Yamashita is a Japanese racing driver, known for his successes in single-seater junior categories, including winning the 2013 Formula Challenge Japan and the 2012 Motegi Championship Formula Super FJ. He currently races in the Super Formula Championship, ...

during the Super Formula Championship round at Okayama. However, Sakaguchi once again was unable to make it to the grid, crashing on the warm-up lap and failing to officially register his Super Formula debut. For 2021, Sakaguchi secured a full-time ride in the series with P.mu/cerumo・INGING. In his rookie season, Sakaguchi claimed two podium finishes en route to a 7th-place points finish, taking second at the rain-shortened round at

Autopolis is a international racing circuit located near Kamitsue village in Ōita Prefecture, Japan on the Northeast of Kumamoto. Nippon Autopolis">F1 News - Grandprix.com > GP Encyclopedia > Circuits > Nippon Autopolis/ref> Tsurumaki ordered 30 Bui ...

and the second event at Motegi. Visa issues for Frenchman

Sacha Fenestraz Sacha Fenestraz Jules (born 28 July 1999) is a French-Argentine racing driver currently competing in the Super Formula Championship with Kondō Racing. He is the 2017 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 champion. Currently, he drives for the Nissan F ...

forced Sakaguchi to add a part-time campaign in the GT500 class of the Super GT series. He would pair with

Ryo Hirakawa 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 Ryo is an unincorporated communit ...

for the first five rounds of the season, taking pole at the opening round alongside two podium finishes, before finishing the season with K-Tunes Racing in the GT300 class. Ahead of 2022, Sakaguchi moved to the GT500 class full-time, pairing with

Yuji Kunimoto is a Japanese auto racing driver. He is the younger brother of 2008 Macau Grand Prix winner Keisuke Kunimoto. As of 2021, he is racing for Team KCMG in the Super Formula Championship, and for Racing Project Bandoh in Super GT. Career highligh ...

in the #19

TGR ''TGR'' (Italian: ''TG Regione'') is the brand for Italian state-owned public broadcasting company Rai's regional news programmes. They are broadcast domestically on Rai Tre and Rai Radio 1. It was launched in 1979 as ''TG3 Regione'', and was k ...

Team WedsSport Bandoh entry. Despite Sakaguchi himself claiming three individual poles and the entry scoring four total, the team would only finish 11th in the championship, finishing no higher than fifth in any given race. At the conclusion of the season, sports car racing publication Sportscar365 named Sakaguchi as an honorable mention for their GT500 Driver of the Year. Sakaguchi would return to the team in 2023, paired once again with Kunimoto.

Racing record

Career summary

^* Season still in progress. ‡ Team standings.

Complete Formula Regional Japanese Championship results

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

Complete Super Formula results

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

Complete Super GT results

^* Season still in progress.

References

External links

Sena Sakaguchi
at Motorsport.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Sakaguchi, Sena 1999 births Living people Japanese racing drivers Japanese Formula 3 Championship drivers Super Formula drivers Super GT drivers Formula Regional Japanese Championship drivers Sportspeople from Osaka Mugen Motorsports drivers TOM'S drivers Kondō Racing drivers Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers Japanese F4 Championship drivers