is a Japanese racing driver, best known for winning the

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

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 ...

Career

Karting

Born in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Nakayama began his racing career in

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 ...

at the age of six and raced in various local championships, progressing to the

KF2 KF2, is a kart racing class for top drivers aged 14 and up. This class used to be called Intercontinental A (ICA) and has changed since January 2007 when Commission Internationale de Karting, CIK-Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA de ...

category in 2007, finishing 7th in the Asia-Pacific Championship.

Early career

In 2008, Nakayama graduated to single–seaters into 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 ...

mono-series. He finished thirteenth in the series standings, without scoring a podium. He stayed in the series for another season, progressing to fourth position in the standings, collecting six podiums. He stayed in the series for a third successive season in 2010. He dominated the whole season and won ten from twelve races, finishing every race in the podium positions and finally took the championship title. He also contested the final rounds in

Formula BMW Pacific JK Racing Asia Series, formerly known as both Formula BMW Asia and Formula BMW Pacific, was a Open wheel car, single-seater racing series based in Asia. Formula BMW Asia was created in 2003 as a replacement for Asian Formula 2000 and was under th ...

, joining the

Asia Racing Team Asia Racing Team (ART Motorsports) is a Chinese / Macanese motor racing team that was formed in 2003. Its main operational headquarters is located within the Zhuhai International Circuit complex, in Southern China, with a second workshop in C ...

All-Japan Formula Three

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, Nakayama stepped up to the National class of the

with the TOM'S Spirit team. He finished third, taking three class wins. In

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

he switched to the series' Championship class, joining the main

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 ...

team. He finished as runner-up to

Ryō Hirakawa is a Japanese racing driver who is currently competing for Toyota Gazoo Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship and Japanese Super Formula Championship. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Hypercar World Endurance Drivers' Championship ...

, winning races at Motegi, Sugo and

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 Prefectur ...

. During the season he also appeared in the

Macau Grand Prix The Macau Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prémio de Macau; ) is a motorsport road race for automobiles and motorcycles held annually in Macau. It is the only street circuit racing event in which both cars and motorcycles participate, and one of onl ...

, finishing 21st. He continued his collaboration with

. This time he dominated the championship, finishing each of the 13 races he contested – 11 wins and a pair of runner-up placings – on the podium, clinching the championship title before the final round of the season, that he was forced to miss. He also repeated his effort to win the

trophy with

Super Formula

Nakayama made his début in

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 ...

in 2014 with

KCMG KCMG may refer to * KC Motorgroup, based in Hong Kong, China * Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, British honour * KCMG-LP, radio station in New Mexico, USA * KCMG, callsign 1997-2001 of Los Angeles radio station KKLQ (FM) ...

. He finished in eighteenth position in the championship standings, without scoring a point. Despite this, the team decided to retain him for the 2015 season.

Racing record

Career summary

†– As Nakayama was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points. ^* Season still in progress. ‡ Team standings.

Complete Super Formula results

(Races in bold indicate pole position) ^* 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) ^* Season still in progress.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nakayama, Yuichi 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Tokyo Japanese racing drivers Formula BMW Pacific drivers Japanese Formula 3 Championship drivers Super Formula drivers Super GT drivers Formula Challenge Japan drivers Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers KCMG drivers TOM'S drivers Kondō Racing drivers Asia Racing Team drivers Team LeMans drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers