Toranosuke Takagi
Toranosuke Takagi, known simply as Tora Takagi is a Japanese former racing driver.
Early career
Takagi was heavily influenced by his father, a touring car driver. In the early 1980s he began racing karts, competing in his first championship kart race in 1987. After winning several All Japan National Kart A2 series races, Takagi ended his kart racing career in 1991 and began racing Formula Toyota in 1992. In 1993, he began competing in All Japan Formula Three, finishing 10th in his rookie season.Formula One
During his performance in a 1994 race he drew the attention of Japanese Formula One driver Satoru Nakajima, joining the Nakajima Racing team and competing in Formula 3000. He was heavily involved in the team from 1995 until he was chosen as Tyrrell's Formula One test driver in 1997. He graduated to a race seat for. Takagi later competed with the Arrows Formula One team, and his European popularity was on the rise. However, there were organizational and communication problems between Takagi and both teams, and he left Formula One at the end of the season.Post–Formula One career
In 2000, Takagi joined Nakajima Racing's Formula Nippon team, earning eight victories in ten races, the most dominant performance ever by a driver in the series. He later competed in CART for the Walker Racing team in 2001 and 2002 finishing in a career-best 4th place in Houston, Texas. He transferred to Indy Racing League and joined Mo Nunn Racing, finishing 10th in 2003. In the same year, he competed in the Indianapolis 500, starting in 7th place and finishing in 5th, earning him the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award.After another, largely disappointing season in the IndyCar Series, Takagi returned to Japan in 2005 to compete in Formula Nippon once again, taking part ownership of the Cerumo team and running one of their cars in his own name. Takagi also was one of the co-drivers of the #38 Toyota Supra Super GT car, claiming the series title along with Yuji Tachikawa. Takagi's title made him the first Super GT rookie to become champion in the GT500 class since John Nielsen and David Brabham in 1996, as well as the last until Jenson Button in 2018.
Career timeline
- 1987 – Finished 8th in Japanese A2 National Kart Series championship.
- 1988 – Finished 4th in Japanese A2 National Kart Series championship.
- 1989 – Won the Japanese A2 National Kart Series championship.
- 1990 – Won the Japanese A2 National Kart Series championship.
- 1991 – Finished 2nd in Japanese FA National Kart Series championship.
- 1992 – Won two races in Formula Toyota.
- 1993 – Finished 10th in his rookie season in Japanese Formula 3 championship.
- 1994 – Finished 6th in Japanese Formula 3 championship. Spot participation in Japanese Formula 3000 championship from Nakajima Planning, scoring three top-10 finishes.
- 1995 – Finished 2nd in Japanese Formula 3000 championship with Nakajima Planning, scoring three victories.
- 1996 – Finished 4th in Japanese Formula Nippon championship with Nakajima Planning, scoring two victories.
- 1997 – Served as test driver for Tyrrell Formula One team. Takagi scored one victory en route to finishing 6th in Japanese Formula Nippon championship with Nakajima Planning.
- 1998 – Drove in Formula One in rookie year driving for Tyrrell. He finished in the top-10 twice, including ninth at Silverstone and Monza.
- 1999 – Competed in Formula One with Arrows, scoring two top-10 finishes, including a career-best seventh at Melbourne.
- 2000 – Won eight of 10 races en route to winning the Japanese Formula Nippon series title with Nakajima Planning.
- 2001 – Finished 21st in CART point standings in rookie year driving for Walker Racing. He finished in the top-10 three times, including a career-best fourth at Houston.
- 2002 – Finished 15th in CART point standings with Walker Racing. He finished in the top-10 seven times, including tying career-best finish with a fourth place at Chicago.
- 2003 – Finished 10th in Indy Racing League point standings in rookie year driving for Mo Nunn Racing. He scored nine top-10 finishes, including a season-best third in June at Texas. He started seventh and finished fifth in first Indianapolis 500, the highest-finishing rookie. He won the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award.
- 2004 – Competed in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series with Mo Nunn Racing.
- 2005 – Competed in Formula Nippon as owner-driver of Takagi Planning with CERUMO.
Career results
Complete Japanese Formula 3000/Formula Nippon results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | DC | Points |
| 1994 | Nakajima Racing | SUZ | FUJ | MIN | SUZ | SUG | FUJ | SUZ 7 | FUJ 8 | FUJ | SUZ 9 | NC | 0 |
| 1995 | Nakajima Racing | SUZ 7 | FUJ C | MIN 5 | SUZ Ret | SUG 1 | FUJ 12 | TOK 1 | FUJ 1 | SUZ Ret | 2nd | 29 | |
| 1996 | PIAA Nakajima Racing | SUZ Ret | MIN 3 | FUJ Ret | TOK Ret | SUZ 1 | SUG 1 | FUJ Ret | MIN Ret | SUZ 6 | FUJ Ret | 4th | 25 |
| 1997 | PIAA Nakajima Racing | SUZ Ret | MIN DNS | FUJ 3 | SUZ 1 | SUG Ret | FUJ Ret | MIN 5 | MOT Ret | FUJ Ret | SUZ 5 | 6th | 18 |
| 2000 | PIAA Nakajima Racing | SUZ 1 | MOT 1 | MIN Ret | FUJ 1 | SUZ 1 | SUG 1 | MOT 1 | FUJ 1 | MIN 1 | SUZ 2 | 1st | 86 |
| 2005 | Team Cerumo | MOT 9 | SUZ Ret | SUG 11 | FUJ 9 | SUZ 10 | MIN 9 | FUJ 8 | MOT Ret | SUZ 12 | 15th | 0 | |
| 2006 | Team LeMans | FUJ 22 | SUZ 16 | MOT 11 | SUZ 8 | AUT 16 | FUJ 8 | SUG Ret | MOT Ret | SUZ Ret | 18th | 0 | |
| 2007 | Forum Engineering Team LeMans | FUJ Ret | SUZ 12 | MOT 9 | OKA 16 | SUZ 8 | FUJ 9 | SUG 10 | MOT 12 | SUZ 8 | 16th | 3 |
Complete Formula One results
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | WDC | Points |
| 1998 | PIAA Tyrrell Ford | Tyrrell 026 | Ford V10 | AUS Ret | BRA Ret | ARG 12 | SMR Ret | ESP 13 | MON 11 | CAN Ret | FRA Ret | GBR 9 | AUT Ret | GER 13 | HUN 14 | BEL Ret | ITA 9 | LUX 16 | JPN Ret | NC | 0 |
| 1999 | Repsol Arrows F1 Team | Arrows A20 | Arrows V10 | AUS 7 | BRA 8 | SMR Ret | MON Ret | ESP 12 | CAN Ret | FRA DSQ | GBR 16 | AUT Ret | GER Ret | HUN Ret | BEL Ret | ITA Ret | EUR Ret | MAL Ret | JPN Ret | NC | 0 |