Tomoki Nojiri

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Tomoki Nojiri
FasWVsHaQAAb9ZZ.jpg
NationalityJapan Japanese
Born (1989-09-15) September 15, 1989 (age 34)
Ibaraki, Japan
Super GT GT500 career
Debut season2015
Current teamAutobacs Racing Team Aguri
Car number8
Starts59 (60 entries)
Wins8
Podiums11
Poles10
Fastest laps7
Best finish2nd in 2021
Super Formula career
Debut season2014
Current teamTeam Mugen
Car number16
Former teamsDandelion Racing
Starts68 (71 entries)
Championships2 (2021, 2022)
Wins7
Podiums17
Poles11
Fastest laps6
Best finish1st in 2021, 2022
Previous series
2013–2014
2011–2013		Super GT GT300
All-Japan Formula Three

Tomoki Nojiri (野尻智紀, Nojiri Tomoki, born September 15, 1989) is a Japanese racing driver for the Honda Motor Company. He currently drives in the GT500 class of the Autobacs Super GT Series, and the Super Formula Championship, where he is the 2021 and 2022 series champion.[1]

Racing career

Early career

Nojiri began his karting career in the All-Japan Karting Championship in 2003, and in 2006, he became the FA class champion.[2] Nojiri moved to Europe to race in the European championship, the Italian Masters, and World Cup KF1 in 2007. In 2008, Nojiri was the top graduate from the Suzuka Circuit Racing School Formula, earning him a scholarship to compete in Formula Challenge Japan (FCJ) for 2009. He finished fifth in the FCJ standings in 2009, and again in 2010, while also finishing fifth in the JAF Formula 4 West Series in 2009.

In 2011, Nojiri graduated to the All-Japan Formula 3 Championship National Class with HFDP Racing. He won three times, including in his first start at Suzuka Circuit, and finished second in the championship to Katsumasa Chiyo. In 2021, Nojiri stepped up to the main level championship in Japanese F3; he finished fifth in the standings, and won the tenth round at Okayama International Circuit. Nojiri moved to Toda Racing in 2013, where he finished fourth in the championship.

Super Formula (2014–present)

Nojiri's championship-winning 2021 car on display

In 2014, Nojiri joined Docomo Team Dandelion Racing in the Japanese Super Formula Championship. In the sixth and penultimate round of the championship at Sportsland Sugo, Nojiri scored his first career victory in just his seventh race.[3] He finished the year tenth in the championship, and won Rookie of the Year honours ahead of Formula One veteran Vitantonio Liuzzi, and reigning Japanese F3 champion Yuichi Nakayama. Nojiri remained with Dandelion Racing from 2015 to 2018. He finished seventh in the championship in 2015, ninth in 2016, and seventh in 2018. Over these four seasons, Nojiri won three pole positions, recorded four podiums, and two fastest laps.

For the 2019 season, Nojiri transferred to Team Mugen, in a swap for reigning champion Naoki Yamamoto (who took Nojiri's place at Dandelion Racing). The move to Mugen, along with the introduction of the new Dallara SF19 chassis, paid dividends for Nojiri. He finished a career-best fourth in the championship, while also ending a five-year winless drought at the season-ending JAF Grand Prix in Suzuka. He finished fifth in the championship in 2020, winning the fourth round at Autopolis from pole position.

Nojiri won back-to-back races at Fuji Speedway and Suzuka to open the 2021 season. He then went on to win the fifth round at Mobility Resort Motegi from pole position. In the next race at Motegi, Nojiri finished fifth to clinch his first Super Formula drivers' championship, becoming the first driver since Loïc Duval in 2009 to clinch the Japanese top formula championship before the final round of the season.[4]

Super GT (2013–present)

The Honda NSX-GT with which Nojiri took his first Super GT win in 2017

Nojiri's first Super GT start came in the GT300 class, driving Autobacs Racing Team Aguri (ARTA)'s Honda CR-Z GT300 at the 2013 Suzuka 1000km. He stepped up to full-time Super GT competition in 2014 with Team Mugen, taking over for reigning GT300 champion Hideki Mutoh. Nojiri and co-driver Yuhki Nakayama finished tenth in the GT300 championship, with a third place finish at the Fuji 500km.

In 2015, Nojiri moved up to the GT500 class with ARTA. He finished fourth in his top class debut, at Okayama. Two years later, Nojiri won his first GT500 pole in the fourth round at Sugo, and then won the fifth round at Fuji Speedway (with co-driver Takashi Kobayashi) to take his first career GT500 victory. Takuya Izawa transferred to ARTA as Nojiri's new co-driver in 2018. Nojiri and Izawa won the third round at Suzuka, and the eighth and final round at Motegi, en route to a third place finish in the GT500 championship. They won the rain-shortened opening round at Okayama in 2019, but fell to tenth in the standings at the end of the season.

For 2020, Nirei Fukuzumi joined ARTA as Nojiri's co-driver. After a difficult start to the season, Nojiri and Fukuzumi strung together four top five finishes to finish the year fifth in the championship; this included a win at the seventh round at Motegi. Nojiri and Fukuzumi returned to ARTA for the 2021 season. One week after clinching the Super Formula championship, Nojiri won the sixth round of the Super GT series at Autopolis alongside Fukuzumi.

Racing record

Career summary

Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position
2009 Formula BMW Pacific TopSpeed Racing Shanghai 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC†
2010 Formula BMW Pacific EuroInternational 1 0 0 0 1 0 NC†
2011 Japanese Formula 3 Championship - National Honda Formula Dream Project 14 3 5 2 10 89 2nd
2012 Japanese Formula 3 Championship Honda Formula Dream Project 15 1 2 1 6 49 5th
2013 Japanese Formula 3 Championship TODA Racing 15 0 0 0 7 50 4th
Super GT - GT300 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC
Asian Le Mans Series - SGT 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2014 Super Formula Docomo Team Dandelion Racing 9 1 0 0 1 10 10th
Super GT - GT500 Team Mugen 8 0 0 0 1 26 11th
2015 Super Formula Docomo Team Dandelion Racing 8 0 0 2 2 19 7th
Super GT - GT500 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri 8 0 0 0 0 10 14th
2016 Super Formula Docomo Team Dandelion Racing 8 0 1 0 1 14.5 9th
Super GT - GT500 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri 8 0 0 0 0 16 15th
2017 Super Formula Docomo Team Dandelion Racing 8 0 1 0 0 2 17th
Super GT - GT500 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri 8 1 3 2 1 37 9th
Super Taikyu - ST-X K's Frontier 3 0 0 0 0 36‡ 7th‡
2018 Super Formula Docomo Team Dandelion Racing 7 0 1 0 1 12.5 7th
Super GT - GT500 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri 8 2 3 2 3 71 3rd
2019 Super Formula Team Mugen 7 1 0 0 1 24 4th
Super GT - GT500 ARTA 8 1 0 0 0 31 10th
Super Taikyu - ST-TCR Modulo Racing with Dome 1 0 1 0 0 88‡ 2nd‡
2020 Super Formula Team Mugen 7 1 2 0 1 47 5th
Super GT - GT500 ARTA 8 1 0 0 3 54 5th
Super Taikyu - ST-TCR Floral Racing with Uematsu 1 0 0 0 1 194‡ 1st‡
2021 Super Formula Team Mugen 7 3 2 2 4 86 1st
Super GT - GT500 ARTA 8 2 1 0 2 60 2nd
2022 Super Formula Team Mugen 10 2 6 1 8 154 1st
Super GT - GT500 ARTA 4 1 0 0 1 21* 7th*

† As Nojiri was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.
‡ Team standings.
* Season still in progress.

Complete Super GT 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 DC Points
2013 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda CR-Z GT300 OKA FUJ SEP SUG SUZ
Ret 		FUJ FUJ
Ret 		AUT MOT NC 0
2014 Team Mugen Honda CR-Z GT300 OKA
9 		FUJ
3 		AUT
5 		SUG
11 		FUJ
18 		SUZ
8 		BUR
9 		MOT
13 		10th 26
2015 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda NSX Concept-GT GT500 OKA
4 		FUJ
13 		CHA
Ret 		FUJ
Ret 		SUZ
10 		SUG
12 		AUT
14 		MOT
11 		14th 10
2016 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda NSX Concept-GT GT500 OKA
Ret 		FUJ
6 		SUG
14 		FUJ
6 		SUZ
9 		CHA
8 		MOT
11 		MOT
13 		15th 16
2017 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda NSX-GT GT500 OKA
DNS 		FUJ
9 		AUT
Ret 		SUG
5 		FUJ
1 		SUZ
8 		CHA
11 		MOT
9 		9th 37
2018 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda NSX-GT GT500 OKA
11 		FUJ
8 		SUZ
1 		CHA
Ret 		FUJ
4 		SUG
2 		AUT
12 		MOT
1 		3rd 71
2019 ARTA Honda NSX-GT GT500 OKA
1‡ 		FUJ
9 		SUZ
4 		CHA
Ret 		FUJ
7 		AUT
5 		SUG
12 		MOT
13 		10th 31
2020 ARTA Honda NSX-GT GT500 FUJ
8 		FUJ
14 		SUZ
13 		MOT
ret 		FUJ
3 		SUZ
3 		MOT
1 		FUJ
5 		5th 54
2021 ARTA Honda NSX-GT GT500 OKA
7 		FUJ
8 		MOT
5 		SUZ
11 		SUG
10 		AUT
1 		MOT
1 		FUJ
6 		2nd 60
2022 ARTA Honda NSX-GT "Type S" GT500 OKA
10 		FUJ1
1 		SUZ1
7 		FUJ2
5 		SUZ2
 SUG
 AUT
 MOT
 7th* 21*

‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.
* Season still in progress.

Complete Super Formula 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 DC Points
2014 Docomo Team Dandelion Racing SUZ
9 		FUJ
Ret 		FUJ
15 		FUJ
12 		MOT
9 		AUT
9 		SUG
1 		SUZ
12 		SUZ
9 		10th 10
2015 Docomo Team Dandelion Racing SUZ
8 		OKA
3 		FUJ
8 		MOT
6 		AUT
10 		SUG
3 		SUZ
5 		SUZ
Ret 		7th 19
2016 Docomo Team Dandelion Racing SUZ
9 		OKA
4 		FUJ
13 		MOT
Ret 		OKA
4 		OKA
16 		SUG
3 		SUZ
4 		SUZ
Ret 		9th 14.5
2017 Docomo Team Dandelion Racing SUZ
16 		OKA
13 		OKA
10 		FUJ
10 		MOT
8 		AUT
14 		SUG
12 		SUZ
C 		SUZ
C 		17th 2
2018 Docomo Team Dandelion Racing SUZ
3 		AUT
C 		SUG
7 		FUJ
14 		MOT
8 		OKA
4 		SUZ
9 		7th 12.5
2019 Team Mugen SUZ
4 		AUT
18 		SUG
Ret 		FUJ
4 		MOT
8 		OKA
9 		SUZ
1 		4th 24
2020 Team Mugen MOT
7 		OKA
10 		SUG
4 		AUT
1 		SUZ
7 		SUZ
5 		FUJ
Ret 		5th 47
2021 Team Mugen FUJ
1 		SUZ
1 		AUT
5 		SUG
6 		MOT
1 		MOT
5 		SUZ
3 		1st 86
2022 Team Mugen FUJ
2 		FUJ
1 		SUZ
2 		AUT
4 		SUG
3 		FUJ
3 		MOT
3 		MOT
4 		SUZ SUZ 1st* 113*

* Season still in progress.

References

  1. ^ Klein, Jamie (23 July 2021). "The late bloomer emerging from obscurity to become Honda's new hero". Autosport. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Tomoki Nojiri | SUPER GT | Honda.Racing". Honda Racing. Retrieved 30 October 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ Ribault, Pierre-Laurent (2014-09-29). "Super Formula 2014-6 : Première victoire pour Tomoki Nojiri à Sugo". Leblogauto.com (in French). Retrieved 2021-10-30.
  4. ^ "Motegi Super Formula: Nojiri seals title, Otsu wins race". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2021-10-30.

External links

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