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 ...

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 ...

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

(

) (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

(

) (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