Toshio_Suzuki_(racing_driver)
Toshio Suzuki (racing driver)
Japanese racing driver (born 1955)
Toshio Suzuki (鈴木 利男, Suzuki Toshio, born March 10, 1955) is a former racing driver from Saitama Prefecture, Japan.
The Toyota GT-One driven by Suzuki at the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans. | |||||||
| Born | (1955-03-10) 10 March 1955 (age 69) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Formula One World Championship career | |||||||
| Nationality |  Japanese | ||||||
| Active years | 1993 | ||||||
| Teams | Larrousse | ||||||
| Entries | 2 | ||||||
| Championships | 0 | ||||||
| Wins | 0 | ||||||
| Podiums | 0 | ||||||
| Career points | 0 | ||||||
| Pole positions | 0 | ||||||
| Fastest laps | 0 | ||||||
| First entry | 1993 Japanese Grand Prix | ||||||
| Last entry | 1993 Australian Grand Prix | ||||||
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |||||||
| Years | 1985–1986, 1988–1990, 1993, 1995–1996, 1998–2000, 2008 | ||||||
| Teams | Dome, Team LeMans, Tom's, NISMO, TV Asahi Team Dragon, Tōkai University YGK | ||||||
| Best finish | 2nd (1999) | ||||||
| Class wins | 1 (1999) | ||||||
| NASCAR Xfinity Series career | |||||||
| 1 race run over 1 year | |||||||
| Best finish | 96th (1996) | ||||||
| First race | 1996 Meridian Advantage 200 (Nazareth Speedway) | ||||||
| |||||||
As a youth, Suzuki won the All-Japan Kart Championships in 1975 and 1976. In 1979, he took the title of the first All-Japan Formula Three Championship.
In 1992, he won the 24 Hours of Daytona with Kazuyoshi Hoshino and Masahiro Hasemi. In the same year, he was runner-up in the Japanese F3000 championship.
Formula One
In 1993, he participated in two Formula One Grands Prix, standing in for Philippe Alliot at the Larrousse team. Though he scored no championship points, Suzuki finished both races.
After Formula One
Suzuki competed mainly in national championships, including the Japanese Formula 3000 Championship (later Formula Nippon), Japanese Touring Car Championship (JTCC) and All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC). He also participated into the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 1996, he made a single start in the NASCAR Busch Series, driving for Joe Bessey at Nazareth Speedway; an accident during the race left him with a concussion.[1]
In 2006, he became director of the R&D SPORT in Super GT to continue the team that Direxiv abandoned.
Most recently,[when?] he worked for Nissan as a test driver to help in the development of the R35 Nissan GT-R.
24 Hours of Le Mans results
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Japanese Formula Two/Formula 3000/Formula Nippon results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Heroes Racing Corporation | SUZ | MIN | SUZ | SUZ | SUZ Ret |
SUZ | NC | 0 | |||||
| 1982 | Heroes Racing Corporation | SUZ | FUJ | SUZ | SUZ | SUZ 9 |
SUZ 12 |
21st | 2 | |||||
| 1983 | Kondou Racing | SUZ | FUJ | MIN | SUZ Ret |
SUZ 6 |
FUJ Ret |
SUZ 9 |
SUZ 10 |
14th | 9 | |||
| 1984 | Team Le Mans | SUZ 5 |
FUJ 8 |
MIN 3 |
SUZ 7 |
SUZ 9 |
FUJ Ret |
SUZ 10 |
SUZ Ret |
8th | 30 | |||
| 1987 | Heroes Racing Corporation | SUZ 3 |
FUJ Ret |
MIN 1 |
SUZ 5 |
SUZ 6 |
SUG 8 |
FUJ 2 |
SUZ Ret |
SUZ 5 |
5th | 72 | ||
| 1989 | Cabin Racing Heroes | SUZ 7 |
FUJ Ret |
MIN 12 |
SUZ 13 |
SUG 8 |
FUJ 20 |
SUZ 17 |
SUZ 6 |
19th | 1 | |||
| 1990 | Super Evolution Racing | SUZ 20 |
FUJ | MIN 14 |
SUZ 11 |
SUG 8 |
FUJ 11 |
FUJ Ret |
SUZ 22 |
FUJ 11 |
SUZ 12 |
NC | 0 | |
| 1991 | Universal Racing | SUZ 11 |
AUT DNS |
FUJ 8 |
MIN 5 |
SUZ 5 |
SUG 9 |
FUJ DNQ |
SUZ 11 |
FUJ C |
SUZ 12 |
FUJ 11 |
15th | 4 |
| 1992 | Universal Racing | SUZ Ret |
FUJ Ret |
MIN Ret |
SUZ 7 |
AUT Ret |
SUG 2 |
FUJ 2 |
FUJ 1 |
SUZ 17 |
FUJ 1 |
SUZ Ret |
2nd | 30 |
| 1993 | Universal Racing | SUZ 6 |
FUJ 4 |
MIN Ret |
SUZ Ret |
AUT C |
SUG 4 |
FUJ C |
FUJ 1 |
SUZ 3 |
FUJ 5 |
SUZ Ret |
5th | 22 |
| 1994 | Mirai Corporation | SUZ 7 |
FUJ 6 |
MIN | SUZ | SUG | FUJ | SUZ | FUJ | FUJ | SUZ | 16th | 1 | |
| 1995 | Hoshino Racing | SUZ 5 |
FUJ C |
MIN 2 |
SUZ 1 |
SUG Ret |
FUJ 3 |
TOK 6 |
FUJ 3 |
SUZ 1 |
1st | 34 | ||
| 1996 | Team Impul | SUZ 18 |
MIN Ret |
FUJ 12 |
TOK 11 |
SUZ 9 |
SUG 10 |
FUJ 7 |
MIN 4 |
SUZ 3 |
FUJ Ret |
12th | 7 | |
| 1997 | Mirai | SUZ 8 |
MIN 5 |
FUJ 7 |
SUZ Ret |
SUG 4 |
FUJ 16 |
MIN 9 |
MOT 8 |
FUJ Ret |
SUZ 9 |
13th | 5 |
Complete Japanese Touring Car Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | DC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Impul | Nissan Skyline GT-R | JTC-1 | NIS 1 |
SUG 1 |
SUZ 2 |
TSU 1 |
SEN 1 |
FUJ 1 |
1st | 230 | ||||||||||
| 1991 | Impul | Nissan Skyline GT-R | JTC-1 | SUG 1 |
SUZ Ret |
TSU 3 |
SEN 1 |
AUT 2 |
FUJ 1 |
3rd | 174 | ||||||||||
| 1993 | Nismo | Nissan Skyline GT-R | JTC-1 | MIN 14 |
AUT 5 |
SUG 3 |
SUZ 5 |
AID 2 |
TSU 1 |
TOK 2 |
SEN 18 |
FUJ 3 |
3rd | 106 | |||||||
| 1995 | Nismo | Nissan Sunny | FUJ 1 |
FUJ 2 |
SUG 1 23 |
SUG 2 Ret |
TOK 1 11 |
TOK 2 6 |
SUZ 1 7 |
SUZ 2 21 |
MIN 1 Ret |
MIN 2 Ret |
AID 1 21 |
AID 2 14 |
SEN 1 8 |
SEN 2 7 |
FUJ 1 NC |
FUJ 2 Ret |
17th | 16 |
Complete JGTC results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | DC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Team Zexel | Nissan Skyline GT-R | GT1 | FUJ Ret |
SEN 6 |
FUJ 6 |
SUG 2 |
MIN Ret |
10th | 27 | ||
| 1995 | Nismo | Nissan Skyline GT-R | GT1 | SUZ 2 |
FUJ 4 |
SEN 6 |
FUJ 2 |
SUG 5 |
MIN 7 |
3th | 58 | |
| 1996 | Nismo | Nissan Skyline GT-R | GT500 | SUZ 6 |
FUJ Ret |
SEN 17 |
FUJ 5 |
SUG 3 |
MIN 10 |
11th | 27 | |
| 1997 | TOYOTA Castrol TEAM | Toyota Supra | GT500 | SUZ 3 |
FUJ 6 |
SEN 3 |
FUJ 3 |
MIN 3 |
SUG 4 |
3th | 64 | |
| 1998 | Toyota Castrol Team TOM'S | Toyota Supra | GT500 | SUZ 7 |
FUJ* C |
SEN 6 |
FUJ 11 |
MOT Ret |
MIN 10 |
SUG 2 |
9th | 26 |
| 1999 | Toyota Castrol Team TOM'S | Toyota Supra | GT500 | SUZ 3 |
FUJ 4 |
SUG 11 |
MIN 2 |
FUJ 15 |
TAI 15 |
MOT 10 |
9th | 38 |
| 2000 | Toyota Castrol Team TOM'S | Toyota Supra | GT500 | MOT 9 |
FUJ Ret |
SUG 8 |
FUJ 14 |
TAI 12 |
MIN 9 |
SUZ 12 |
21st | 7 |
*The race at Fuji Speedway was cancelled due to a large crash on the first lap and heavy fog afterwards.
Complete Formula One results
(key)
NASCAR
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
Busch Series
| NASCAR Busch Series results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | NBGNC | Pts | Ref | |||||||||
| 1996 | Joe Bessey Motorsports | 9 | Chevy | DAY | CAR | RCH | ATL | NSV | DAR | BRI | HCY | NZH 33 |
CLT | DOV | SBO | MYB | GLN | MLW | NHA | TAL | IRP | MCH | BRI | DAR | RCH | DOV | CLT | CAR | HOM | 96th | 64 | [2] | |||||||||
- Erzar, John (March 20, 1996). "Veteran Trickle earns fourth-place finish". Times Leader. Wikes-Barre, PA. Archived from the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved 2013-09-28.
- "Toshio Suzuki – 1996 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
- Toshio Suzuki driver statistics at Racing-Reference
- Profile at grandprix.com
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Inaugural |
All-Japan Formula Three Champion 1979 |
Succeeded by Shuroku Sasaki |
| Preceded by | Japanese Formula 3000 Champion 1995 |
Succeeded by |