| Kazuto Kotaka | |
|---|---|
 Kotaka atMobility Resort Motegi in 2024 | |
| Nationality |  Japanese |
| Born | (1999-04-17)17 April 1999 (age 25) Yamato,Kanagawa, Japan |
| Super Formula Championship career | |
| Debut season | 2021 |
| Current team | TGMGP |
| Racing licence |  FIA Gold |
| Car number | 28 |
| Former teams | KCMG,Kondo Racing |
| Starts | 22 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Poles | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| Best finish | 15th in2023 |
| Previous series | |
| 2019-24 2020-22 2019 2018-19 2015-18 | Super GT - GT300 Super Formula Lights Toyota Racing Series Japanese Formula 3 Championship F4 Japanese Championship |
| Championship titles | |
| 2022 | Super Formula Lights |
Kazuto Kotaka (小高一斗,Kotaka Kazuto, born 17 April 1999) is a Japanese racing driver forToyota Gazoo Racing who currently competes inSuper Formula forKondo Racing andSuper GT for apr. He won theSuper Formula Lights championship in2022. He is part of theTGR Driver Challenge Program.
Kotaka made his debut in formula racing in 2015, racing forTOM'S from the second race weekend in theF4 Japanese Championship. He regularly finished in the top 10, with a fourth-place finish at theSuzuka International Racing Course as his best result. He finished sixth in the championship with 50 points.
In 2016, Kotaka remained active in Japanese Formula 4 withTOM'S. He won two races at Fuji Speedway and another at Sportsland SUGO. He later took another podium finish at Fuji, but achieved erratic results for the remainder of the season. He finished fifth overall with 113 points.
In 2017, Kotaka did not race, but in 2018 he returned to Japanese Formula 4 at TOM's. He missed the first race weekend, but nevertheless he won two races at Fuji and was on the podium in seven other races. With 188 points, he finished third in the standings behindYuki Tsunoda andTeppei Natori. At the end of the season, he made hisJapanese Formula 3 Championship debut with Hanashima Racing over the weekend at SUGO. He scored a point with sixth in the final race and was classified thirteenth in the final standings.
In 2019, Kotaka started the year in the New Zealand racing in theToyota Racing Series with the teamMTEC Motorsport.[1] He took a podium finish in the season finale at the Manfeild: Circuit Chris Amon, finishing the season in tenth place with 176 points. He then made his debut as a full-time driver inJapanese Formula 3 with theCorolla Chukyo Kuo TOM'S team. He took five podiums: one at Suzuka, three at SUGO and one at the Twin Ring Motegi, but he also had to miss two race weekends. He finished fifth in the final standings with 48 points.
In 2020, Kotaka remained active in Japanese Formula 3, which had changed its name toSuper Formula Lights,[2] with theTOM'S team. He won one race in the final race weekend at Fuji and was on the podium in ten other races. With 73 points, he finished third in the final standings behindRitomo Miyata andSena Sakaguchi.
Kotaka still raced in Super Formula Lights in 2021, albeit only for one round, where he managed to get 2 podiums. For 2022, Kotaka stays with TOM'S. He then won the title with eight wins and eleven podiums, as he beatsKakunoshin Ohta andIori Kimura.[3]
Kotaka made debut in GT300 class for apr in Super GT for two races at Fuji Sweedway, sharing a Toyota GR Sport Prius PHV apr GT with Hiroaki Nagai and Manabu Orido, but scored no points. He also appeared in Non Championship round in Fuji Speedway, where he raced with McLaren 720S GT3 with Hanashima Racing alongside Katsuaki Kubota.[4] Kotaka also competed full-time in the GT300 class of the Super GT with the team Advics muta Racing INGING, sharing a Toyota 86 MC GT300 with Ryohei Sakaguchi. The two took two pole positions at Fuji and two podiums at Suzuka and Fuji. They finished ninth in the championship with 34 points. For 2021 and 2022, he only appeared for 3 rounds with INGING and K-Tunes Racing for 2 races each respectively, and 2022 for apr withKoki Saga andYuhki Nakayama.
Kotaka made his full season debut with apr number 31 new Lexus LC 500h GT alongside Saga andYuki Nemoto where both claimed one podium.[5] Kotaka continues with the same team, and paired with debutantJin Nakamura.[6]
During the 2025 season, he will accompanyToyota Gazoo Racing in all races as the reserve driver for the GT500 class.
In 2021 Kotaka would continue to drive in the2021 Super Formula Lights at TOM'S. However, he missed the first two race weekends as he made his Super Formula debut that year with thecarrozzeria Team KCMG as a replacement forKamui Kobayashi, who was unable to fly to Japan due to travel restrictions due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[7] He ended up competing in all but one round of the series, but didn't manage to score a single point.
After He won the Super Formula Lights title, he returns to the series in 2023 withKondo Racing.[8]
Kotaka then switch to rebrandedTGMGPTGR-DC withHibiki Taira as his team mate.[9]
* Season still in progress.
‡ Team standings
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | DC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | TOM'S Spirit | OKA 1 | OKA 2 | FUJ1 1 10 | FUJ1 2 13 | FUJ2 1 6 | FUJ2 2 5 | SUZ 1 6 | SUZ 2 4 | SUG 1 6 | SUG 2 7 | AUT 1 8 | AUT 2 6 | MOT 1 16 | MOT 2 11 | 6th | 50 |
| 2016 | TOM'S Spirit | OKA 1 10 | OKA 2 10 | FUJ1 1 1 | FUJ1 2 1 | SUG 1 DSQ | SUG 2 1 | FUJ2 1 2 | FUJ2 2 25 | FUJ2 3 16 | SUZ 1 7 | SUZ 2 Ret | MOT 1 24 | MOT 2 4 | MOT 3 16 | 5th | 113 |
| 2018 | TOM'S Spirit | OKA 1 | OKA 2 | FUJ1 1 3 | FUJ1 2 2 | SUZ 1 2 | SUZ 2 2 | FUJ2 1 1 | FUJ2 2 1 | SUG 1 5 | SUG 2 6 | AUT 1 2 | AUT 2 2 | MOT 1 21 | MOT 2 3 | 3rd | 188 |
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | DC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Hanashima Racing | ToyotaTOM'S | SUZ 1 | SUZ 2 | SUG1 1 | SUG1 2 | FUJ1 1 | FUJ1 2 | OKA1 1 | OKA1 2 | OKA1 3 | MOT 1 | MOT 2 | MOT 3 | OKA2 1 | OKA2 2 | OKA2 3 | SUG2 1 7 | SUG2 2 8 | SUG2 3 Ret | SUG2 4 6 | FUJ2 1 | FUJ2 2 | 13th | 1 |
| 2019 | Corolla Chukyo KuoTOM'S | ToyotaTOM'S | SUZ 1 4 | SUZ 2 3 | AUT 1 6 | AUT 2 6 | AUT 3 5 | OKA 1 | OKA 2 | OKA 3 | SUG 1 2 | SUG 2 4 | FUJ 1 4 | FUJ 2 5 | SUG 1 3 | SUG 2 4 | SUG 3 3 | MOT 1 Ret | MOT 2 3 | MOT 3 4 | OKA 1 | OKA 2 | 5th | 48 |
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | MTEC Motorsport | HIG 1 8 | HIG 2 Ret | HIG 3 6 | TER 1 10 | TER 2 C | TER 3 C | HMP 1 11 | HMP 2 9 | HMP 3 6 | HMP 4 6 | TAU 1 9 | TAU 2 15 | TAU 3 10 | TAU 4 6 | MAN 1 Ret | MAN 2 10 | MAN 3 3 | 10th | 176 |
| Year | Entrant | Cup | Qualifying | Quali Race | Main race |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Team Japan | Formula 4 | 7th | DNF | 16th |
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Vehicle | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | apr | Toyota GR Sport Prius PHV apr GT | GT300 | OKA | FUJ 21 | SUZ | CHA | FUJ 25 | AUT | SUG | MOT | NC | 0 |
| 2020 | Advics muta RacingINGING | Toyota 86 MC GT300 | GT300 | FUJ 14 | FUJ 9 | SUZ 13 | MOT 16 | FUJ 7 | SUZ 2 | MOT | FUJ 3 | 9th | 34 |
| 2021 | muta RacingINGING | Toyota 86 MC GT300 | GT300 | OKA | FUJ 10 | MOT | 26th | 3 | |||||
| K-tunes Racing | Lexus RC F GT3 | SUZ 17 | SUG 8 | AUT | MOT | FUJ | |||||||
| 2022 | apr | Toyota GR Sport Prius PHV apr GT | GT300 | OKA | FUJ | SUZ | FUJ 11 | SUZ 26 | SUG | AUT | MOT | NC | 0 |
| 2023 | apr | Lexus LC 500h GT | GT300 | OKA 16 | FUJ 8 | SUZ 13 | FUJ 5 | SUZ 6 | SUG 11 | AUT 3 | MOT 4 | 11th | 33 |
| 2024 | apr | Lexus LC 500h GT | GT300 | OKA 5 | FUJ 5 | SUZ 4 | FUJ 12 | SUG 6 | AUT 14 | MOT 111 | SUZ 3 | 6th | 39 |
* Season still in progress.
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Pos | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Corolla Chukyo Kuo TOM'S | MOT 1 4 | MOT 2 2 | MOT 3 3 | OKA 1 7 | OKA 2 3 | SUG 1 3 | SUG 2 5 | SUG 3 3 | AUT 1 Ret | AUT 2 4 | AUT 3 4 | SUZ 1 3 | SUZ 2 2 | SUZ 3 3 | FUJ 1 3 | FUJ 2 1 | FUJ 3 3 | 3rd | 73 | |
| 2021 | TOM'S | FUJ 1 | FUJ 2 | FUJ 3 | SUZ 1 | SUZ 2 | SUZ 3 | AUT 1 | AUT 2 | AUT 3 | SUG 1 | SUG 2 | SUG 3 | MOT1 1 | MOT1 2 | MOT1 3 | MOT2 1 5 | MOT2 2 2 | MOT2 3 3 | 8th | 14 |
| 2022 | TOM'S | FUJ 1 4 | FUJ 2 1 | FUJ 3 7 | SUZ 1 1 | SUZ 2 2 | SUZ 3 1 | AUT 1 6 | AUT 2 6 | AUT 3 6 | SUG 1 1 | SUG 2 1 | SUG 3 1 | MOT 1 1 | MOT 2 4 | MOT 3 2 | OKA 1 3 | OKA 2 1 | OKA 3 4 | 1st | 114 |
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | carrozzeriaKCMG | Toyota | FUJ 15 | SUZ 16 | AUT 16† | SUG 17 | MOT 14 | MOT | SUZ 18 | 25th | 0 | |||||
| 2023 | Kondo Racing | Toyota | FUJ 10 | FUJ 14 | SUZ 7 | AUT 19 | SUG 14 | FUJ 14 | MOT 6 | SUZ 15 | SUZ 12 | 15th | 10 | |||
| 2024 | Kondo Racing | Toyota | SUZ Ret | AUT 18 | SUG 8 | FUJ 17 | MOT 8 | FUJ 16 | FUJ 12 | SUZ Ret | SUZ 19 | 14th | 4.5 | |||
| 2025 | KDDITGMGPTGR-DC | Toyota | SUZ Ret | SUZ 18 | MOT | MOT | AUT | FUJ | FUJ | SUG | FUJ | FUJ | SUZ | SUZ | 22nd* | 0 |
* Season still in progress.
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Super Formula Lights Champion 2022 | Succeeded by |