is a Japanese racing driver affiliated with

Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota Gazoo Racing (or Toyota GR/TGR) is a motorsport/performance brand of the Japanese automaker Toyota. Many divisions in various racing disciplines use the branding, including Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, Toyota's World Rally Championship te ...

who currently competes in

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 ...

for Hoppy Team Tsuchiya. A longtime competitor in the series, he is best known for winning the 2016 championship in the GT300 class, driving alongside

Takeshi Tsuchiya is a professional race car driver. Racing Record 24 Hours of Le Mans results Complete Formula Nippon results ( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) References 1972 births Living ...

. He is also a four-time class champion in the Super Taikyū endurance racing series, winning the title in 2009,

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2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, and

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, as well as a two-time class winner at the

Nürburgring 24 Hours The Nürburgring 24 Hours is a 24-hour annual touring car and GT endurance racing event that takes place on a combination of the Nordschleife ("North Loop") and the GP-Strecke ("Grand Prix track") circuits of the Nürburgring in Rhineland-Palat ...

Career

Early career

Matsui began his racing career in

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are als ...

in 2001, and competed primarily in regional championships in

Okayama is the capital city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The city was founded on June 1, 1889. , the city has an estimated population of 720,841 and a population density of 910 persons per km2. The total area is . The city is ...

until his move up to

single-seaters An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have thei ...

in 2006. He made his debut in the Okayama FJ1600 series in 2006, taking four wins and the championship, and made cameos in the national FJ1600 series at Motegi and

Formula Toyota The Formula Toyota was a spec racing series in Japan between 1991 and 2007. Many Japanese Formula One drivers, like Kazuki Nakajima and Toranosuke Takagi, made their racing debut in the Formula Toyota. The class folded after the 2007 season when ...

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 ...

. After catching the attention of , a retired racing driver and director of

Okayama International Circuit Okayama International Circuit (岡山国際サーキット), formerly known as TI Circuit Aida (TIサーキット英田) before 2005, is a private motorsport race track in Mimasaka, Okayama Prefecture, Japan. TI was the abbreviation of "Tanak ...

, Matsui joined the Toyota Young Driver Program (TDP) the following year and moved to the

Formula Challenge Japan Formula Challenge Japan was an open wheel racing series based in Japan. The first season was in 2006 and carried on from the defunct Formula Dream series. It is promoted as a young driver development project jointly by Honda, Toyota and Nissan a ...

series with Toyota support, but was released from the programme after the 2008 season. In 2009, Matsui switched to endurance racing following his departure from Toyota, competing in the Super Taikyū Series in a

Honda Civic Type R The is a series of high-performance hatchback/ sedan models based on the Civic, developed and produced by Honda since September 1997. The first Civic Type R was the third model to receive Honda's Type R badge (after the NSX and Integra). Ty ...

for

Tatsuya Tanigawa Tatsuya Tanigawa (谷川達也 - Tanigawa Tatsuya; born September 2, 1971) is a Japanese professional racing driver. Racing record Complete JGTC/Super GT results Complete Japanese Touring Car Championship (1994-) results References {{ ...

's BOLD Motor Sports and winning the class title despite claiming only one victory. He returned to Formula Challenge Japan for 2010, this time with manufacturer support from

Nissan , trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...

, and finished runner-up to the dominant Yūichi Nakayama. Despite this, he left Nissan at the end of the year and would not drive full-time for the next two years, instead getting a job in the shipping industry. However, after being contacted by

, who had previously worked with him during his time as a Toyota junior, Matsui returned to his full-time racing career in 2014, competing for Tsuchiya's teams in the

Asian Le Mans Series The Asian Le Mans Series is an Asian sports car racing endurance series created by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and based in Asia. It is the successor to the defunct Japan Le Mans Challenge which folded in 2007 after its second season. ...

and the newly introduced

Japan Formula 4 The is a formula racing class in Japan. The class was founded in 1993 by the Japan Automobile Federation as a class above the FJ1600 and below the former All-Japan Formula Three Championship and the current Formula Regional Japanese Championship ...

. With the exception of a one-round cameo in the

All-Japan Formula Three Championship was a national motor racing championship that takes place in Japan. It is a junior-level feeder formula that uses small single seater Formula Three chassis. As a result of Formula 3 naming regulations by the FIA, on 13 August 2019, series pro ...

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, where he won both races in the somewhat poorly contested National class, Matsui has competed exclusively in

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 ...

since 2014.

Super GT

Matsui made his debut in the top-flight

series' GT300 category in

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, driving a

Dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

-developed Toyota 86 MC alongside Takeshi Tsuchiya for Tsuchiya's VivaC Team Tsuchiya, which returned to the series for the first time since 2008. Matsui would rejoin Toyota in 2015 alongside his Super GT commitments after being recommended by

Naoya Gamou is a Japanese professional racing driver who currently competes in 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 ...

, returning to Super Taikyū 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 ...

-run

team and making his international debut with TGR at the 2015 Nürburgring 24 Hours. After claiming one race victory at Sugo during his 2015 campaign, Matsui remained with the team for

to contest what would be his most successful season in the category, taking a dominant victory at Chang (now

Buriram Buriram (, , , 'city of happiness') is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in Thailand, capital of Buriram Province, about northeast of Bangkok. The town occupies ''tambon'' Nai Mueang of Mueang Buriram District. In 2012 it had a population of 27,862 ...

) and charging from the midfield at Motegi to emerge as series champion alongside his teammate Tsuchiya, who retired from full-time driving duties at the end of the year to focus on team management. Despite his performances, Matsui did not move up to GT500, and instead remained with Tsuchiya's team in the GT300 class for

, partnered by

Super Formula 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) an ...

driver

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, S ...

. Alongside Yamashita and fellow Toyota-supported formula racers

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 ...

and

Kimiya Sato is a Japanese racing driver. He currently competes in Super GT. Career After competing in karting in Asia, Sato spent two seasons in Formula BMW UK, ending fourth in 2007. He returned to Japan and resulted runner-up in the 2008 Formula Challen ...

, Matsui would spend 2017,

, and

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 ...

in inconsistent form, demonstrating exceptional qualifying pace and taking pole positions but more frequently finishing towards the end of the field. Results would dip further after the team's switch to the Porsche 911 GT3 R for the

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- ...

season, and remained unremarkable until Matsui's departure at the end of the 2022 season. Matsui joined Team Mach alongside professional sim racer Yusuke Tomibayashi for the 2023 season, driving the familiar Toyota 86 MC. However, the team would ultimately fail to score a single point over the course of the year.

Racing record

Career summary

* Season still in progress.

Complete Super GT 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)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Matsui, Takamitsu 1987 births Living people Japanese racing drivers People from Fukuyama, Hiroshima Sportspeople from Hiroshima Prefecture Super GT drivers Japanese Formula 3 Championship drivers Formula Challenge Japan drivers Asian Le Mans Series drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers TOM'S drivers