Kazuyoshi Hoshino

Hoshino (right) and his sonKazuki at the 2025 Super GT Malaysia Festival
Born	(1947-07-01)1 July 1947 (age 78) Shizuoka,Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Japanese
Active years	1976 –1977
Teams	Heros Racing
Entries	2
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Careerpoints	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1976 Japanese Grand Prix
Last entry	1977 Japanese Grand Prix
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	1986–1990, 1995–1998
Teams	Nismo,TOM'S
Best finish	3rd (1998)

Kazuyoshi Hoshino (Shinjitai: 星野 一義,Hoshino Kazuyoshi; born 1 July 1947) is aJapanese formerracing driver and businessman.^[1]

Hoshino's nickname was "the fastest man/guy in Japan" (日本一速い男,Nippon ichi hayai otoko). He won the Japanesemotocross national championships in the 90cc and 125cc classes forKawasaki in 1968 before switching to cars as aNissan factory driver in 1969.^[2]

Hoshino participated in twoFormula One Grands Prix, debuting on 24 October1976 at theJapanese Grand Prix, making him – along with compatriotsNoritake Takahara andMasahiro Hasemi – the first Japanese driver to start a Formula One Grand Prix.^[3] Driving aTyrrell-Ford forHeros Racing, he ran as high as fourth, but retired having used up his tyre supply. He returned in1977 and once again entered theJapanese Grand Prix driving for Heros Racing. He finished in eleventh place driving a year-oldKojima-Ford.^[4] He scored no championship points in his Formula 1 career.^[5]

His only major world championship win was in the1985 World Sportscar Championship round at theFuji 1000 race, which was boycotted by many competing teams due to torrential rain.^[6]

Hoshino won theJapanese Formula 2000 championship in 1975 and 1977, before winning theJapanese Formula Two championship in 1978.^[7][8] He then competed in theJapanese Formula 3000 championship, winning that title in1987,1990 and1993.^[9] His 6 championships and 39 race wins still stand as series records.

Hoshino also dominated theFuji Grand Champion Series in the 1970s and 1980s. He won five titles in 1978, 1982, 1984, 1985 and 1987, collecting 28 wins and 42 podiums.

Like his compatriot,Masahiro Hasemi, he continued his career racing for Nissan, driving aSkyline GT-R to win theJapanese Touring Car Championship in1990. Hoshino drove aNissan R90C withToshio Suzuki to win the 1990Suzuka 1000 race.^[6] Hoshino and Suzuki also won theAll Japan Sports Prototype Championship in 1991 and 1992.^[10] Along withNissan Motorsports teammatesAguri Suzuki and Masahiko Kageyama, Hoshino drove aNissan R390 GT1 to a third-place finish at the1998 24 Hours of Le Mans.^[11]

Hoshino retired from racing in 2002 and now continues to run his ownSuper GT team and his own Nissan specialised aftermarket parts company,Impul. Since2003, his racing team has won the Formula Nippon championship seven times in eight years. His son,Kazuki Hoshino, also became a racing driver before succeeding his father as Impul's team director in bothSuper GT andSuper Formula in 2023.^[12]

This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(March 2021)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

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(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

(key)

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1986	Nissan Motorsport	Keiji Matsumoto Aguri Suzuki	Nissan R86V	C1	64	DNF	DNF
1987	Nissan Motorsport	Kenji Takahashi Keiji Matsumoto	Nissan R87E	C1	181	DNF	DNF
1988	Nissan Motorsport	Takao Wada Aguri Suzuki	Nissan R88C	C1	296	DNF	DNF
1989	Nissan Motorsport	Masahiro Hasemi Toshio Suzuki	Nissan R89C	C1	167	DNF	DNF
1990	Nissan Motorsport	Masahiro Hasemi Toshio Suzuki	Nissan R90C	C1	348	5th	5th
1995	Nissan Motorsport	Masahiko Kageyama Toshio Suzuki	Nissan Skyline GT-R LM	GT1	157	DNF	DNF
1996	Nissan Motorsport	Masahiro Hasemi Toshio Suzuki	Nissan Skyline GT-R LM	GT1	307	15th	10th
1997	Nissan Motorsport TWR	Érik Comas Masahiko Kageyama	Nissan R390 GT1	GT1	294	12th	5th
1998	Nissan Motorsport TWR	Aguri Suzuki Masahiko Kageyama	Nissan R390 GT1	GT1	347	3rd	3rd

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1981	Nissan Motor Co.	Masahiro Hasemi	Nissan Bluebird (910) Turbo	4 Cylinder	66	DNF	DNF
1982	Nissan Motor Co.	Masahiro Hasemi	Nissan Bluebird (910) Turbo	B	153	8th	1st

• Kazuyoshi Hoshino profile at the Japan Automobile Federation
• CalsonicArchived 1 March 2017 at theWayback Machine Sponsor's site(in Japanese)
• Impul Own aftermarket company and team site(in Japanese)
• Calsonic racing team(in Japanese)
• Nismo.com: Hoshino History 1969-2002Archived 3 March 2016 at theWayback Machine(in Japanese) – charting the motorsport career of Hoshino
• Kazuyoshi Hoshino career summary at DriverDB.com

• 1947 births
• Living people
• Sportspeople from Shizuoka (city)
• Japanese racing drivers
• Japanese Formula One drivers
• Japanese Formula Two Championship drivers
• European Formula Two Championship drivers
• Japanese Formula 3000 Championship drivers
• Formula Nippon drivers
• 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
• 24 Hours of Daytona drivers
• Japanese Touring Car Championship drivers
• Japanese motocross riders
• World Sportscar Championship drivers
• Sports car racing team owners
• Carlin racing drivers
• Grand Champion Series drivers
• Long Distance Series drivers
• Japanese Sportscar Championship drivers
• Australian Endurance Championship drivers
• Nismo drivers

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