24h Le Mans
We saw both Kazuki Nakajima and Tsugio Matsuda at Le Mans last year, but they were certainly not the first Japanese drivers to rise to the challenge of the French 24-hour marathon. Among them Kunimitsu Takahashi, the veteran driver who celebrates his 76th birthday today.
There are strong links between the Land of the Rising Sun and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Manufacturers such as Toyota (since 2012) and Nissan (last seen in 2015) are fascinated by the race and several Japanese drivers have also taken part.
Masanori Sekiya was the first Japanese driver to win the race in 1995 (with Yannick Dalmas and JJ Lehto in the McLaren F1 GTR). Next there was Seiji Ara who made a total of 29 appearances at Le Mans and finished top of the podium in 2004 in an Audi R8 with Dindo Capello and Yojiro Terada. Then last year’s entry list included Kazuki Nakajima (Toyota TS040 Hybrid n°1) and Tsugio Matsuda (Nissan GT-R LM Nismo n°21).
However, Kunimitsu Takahashi, 76 today, is the eldest of all the Japanese drivers to have competed at Le Mans. The former motorcycle and racing car driver joined the 24 Hours of Le Mans Hall of Fame in 2013 after a career that spanned some 40 years. He started out racing motorbikes in 1958 and became the first Japanese driver to win a Grand Prix (on a 250 cc Honda in Germany). After subsequent victories in France, Spain and the United States, he decided to switch to four wheels in 1965.
He competed in the Japanese F1 Grand Prix in 1977 and made his first outing at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1986. From then on, he devoted all his energies to endurance racing, returning to Le Mans a total of eight times, with Porsche (driving the 962) and Honda (with the NSX). The highpoint came in 1995 when he took the GT2 crown with co-drivers Keiichi Tsuchiya and Akira Iida, his own all-Japanese team that excelled in the Honda NSX.
Takahashi was also chairman of the GT Association, organiser of the Japanese Super GT series, from 1993 to 2007. He is a prominent figure in Japanese motorsport and here at the ACO, we’d like to wish him many happy returns!
Geoffroy Barre | Translated from French by Clair Pickworth
Photo: Le Mans veteran Kunimitsu Takahashi (centre) represents Japanese racing drivers as Kamui Kobayashi (left) and Pierre Fillon (right), ACO President pay tribute at the 6 Hours of Fuji in 2013.
