is a Japanese racing driver.
Career
Karting
Sasahara began
karting
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 scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on f ...
aged seven in 2003. He won numerous domestic titles, including becoming JAF All Japan Championship Junior Champion in 2009.
In the same year, he beat
Matt Parry
Matthew Parry (born 14 January 1994) is a British racing driver.
Career
Karting
Born in Cardiff, Parry entered karting in 2006, when he finished second in the Hoddesdon Kart Club Championship Minimax. His biggest success was in the last year ...
to win the
Rotax Max Challenge
The Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals (RMC) is a kart racing series owned and organized worldwide by BRP-Powertrain and its distributors, approved and in compliance with CIK-FIA. Competition takes place on a club, national and international ...
Junior Grand Final, a title he went on to win for a second time in 2011. He went on to enjoy further success in the category, winning the Rotax Max Euro Challenge Junior title in 2011,
and the Central Eastern European Rotax Max Challenge Senior title in 2012, his final year in karting.
Formula Renault 2.0
Sasahara graduated 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 2013, racing in the
Formula Renault 2.0 Alps championship for
Vincenzo Sospiri
Vincenzo Sospiri (born 7 October 1966) is an Italian former racing driver.
Early career
In 1981, at the age of 15, Sospiri started racing in the Italian 100cc karting championship. In a karting career described by Michael Schumacher as 'dominati ...
's
Euronova Racing
Vincenzo Sospiri Racing Srl (also known as Fortec Italia Motorsport, Euronova Racing by Fortec, Euronova Racing, VS Racing) is an auto racing team based in Italy.
History
After retiring from racing, Vincenzo Sospiri decided to collaborate with For ...
team. He finished in the points on seven occasions, taking a best race result of sixth at
Misano to finish 13th in the championship. During the season, he also took part in the
Spa-Francorchamps
The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), frequently referred to as ''Spa'', is a motor-racing circuit located in Stavelot, Belgium. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, hosting its first Grand Prix in 1925, and has he ...
and
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
rounds of the
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season with Euronova Racing as a guest driver.
For 2014, Sasahara continued with Euronova Racing, switching to the
Formula Renault 2.0 NEC championship. He took a single podium position, finishing second to
Louis Delétraz
Louis Delétraz (born 22 April 1997) is a Swiss racing driver currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans Series for Prema Orlen Team and in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Tower Motorsport. He is the 2 ...
in the opening race of the season at
Monza
Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...
, and finished in the points in all the remaining races except one to finish sixth in the championship.
In 2015, Sasahara joined the ART Junior Team to contest both the
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0
Formula Renault Eurocup was a Formula Renault motor racing championship. Eurocup raced only on European circuits.
It served as a support series to the Formula 3.5 V8, Formula Renault 3.5 Series as part of the World Series by Renault from 2005 to ...
and
Formula Renault 2.0 NEC championships. After failing to score points in the opening round of the Eurocup at
Motorland Aragón
MotorLand Aragón (alternative Spanish name: Circuito de Alcañiz) is a race track used for motorsports located in Alcañiz, Spain.
The circuit was designed by German architect Hermann Tilke in conjunction with the British architectural busin ...
, Sasahara took his first race victory in the following round at Spa-Francorchamps, becoming only the second Japanese driver to win a Eurocup race after
Kamui Kobayashi
is a Japanese professional racing driver who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing (GR) and in the Super Formula Championship for KCMG . He previously competed in Formula One, Formula E, the GP2 Series, and the ...
in the
2005 season.
In the NEC championship, Sasahara won the opening race of the season at Monza ahead of
Manor MP Motorsport
MP Motorsport (previously Marcel Peters Motorsport) is a Dutch auto racing team currently competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship. The team has also participated in Auto GP, Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula Renault 2.0 Northern Europea ...
's Ignazio D'Agosto.
Italian F4
In June 2014, Sasahara took part in the opening round of the
Italian F4 Championship
Italian Formula 4 Championship is the first formula racing series regulated according to FIA Formula 4 regulations. The inaugural season was the 2014 Italian F4 Championship, effectively replacing the Formula Abarth.
History
Gerhard Berger and th ...
at
Adria International Raceway
Adria International Raceway was a motorsport race track near Adria in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. It was a permanent road course, the venue has hosted the FIA GT Championship, Italian Formula Three, Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters and the F ...
for Euronova Racing, replacing Italian driver Andrea Fontana who missed the event due to illness. After finishing fifth in the opening race, he won the reversed-grid second race ahead of the
Prema Powerteam
Prema Powerteam (competing as Prema Racing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, the FIA Formula 3 Championship and European Le Mans Series and as Prema Orlen Team in the FIA World Endurance Championship) is a motorsport team from Italy. It mainly ...
entry of eventual series champion
Lance Stroll
Lance Strulovitch (born 29 October 1998), better known as Lance Stroll, is a Canadian–Belgian racing driver competing under the Canadian flag in Formula One. He has driven for Aston Martin since , having previously driven for Williams and R ...
.
Racing record
Career summary
† As Sasahara was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.
Complete FIA Formula 3 European 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 ...
)
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)
‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.
Complete Super Formula 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:Sasahara, Ukyo
1996 births
Living people
People from Gunma Prefecture
Japanese racing drivers
Italian F4 Championship drivers
Formula Renault Eurocup drivers
Formula Renault 2.0 Alps drivers
Formula Renault 2.0 NEC drivers
FIA Formula 3 European Championship drivers
F3 Asian Championship drivers
FIA Motorsport Games drivers
Japanese Formula 3 Championship drivers
Super Formula drivers
Super GT drivers
Euronova Racing drivers
Fortec Motorsport drivers
Hitech Grand Prix drivers
Motopark Academy drivers
Mugen Motorsports drivers
Dandelion Racing drivers
T-Sport drivers
R-ace GP drivers
ART Grand Prix drivers