Ukyo
Sasahara
Japan
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Touring Car
Date of birth | April 24, 1996 |
|---|---|
Birthplace | Numata City, Gunma Prefecture |
Age | 30 |
Nationality | Japan |
Career start | 2003 |
Disciplines | Motorsports Various |
Born in Numata City, Gunma Prefecture, Japan, Ukyo Sasahara was born to parents who ran an auto maintenance shop, and was named Ukyo by his mother, who was an avid fan of racing driver Ukyo Katayama.
Influenced by his father, who was an auto mechanic, Ukyo became familiar with motorsports from an early age and he made his kart racing debut at the age of seven.
His prodigious motorsport talent and skills soon became apparent, and he won numerous kart races, earning several championship titles.
In 2009 and 2011, he won the world's biggest kart race, the Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals, and won the world championship twice, making his name worldwide.
In 2012, he ventured to Europe by himself aiming for further success, whilst continuing to hone his skills through martial arts training and in 2013 he entered his first formula car race.
He participated in the 2014 Italian F4 Championship and won one of his three races. After that, he won the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, and steadily achieved good results in numerous competitions, making his name widely known in Europe.
In 2016, he returned to Japan aiming for a Honda scholarship and the following year, he took second place overall in the FIA-F4 Japanese Championship.
The next season saw him finish in third place overall in the Japanese Formula 3 Championship and become the double series champion of the Porsche Carrera Cup Japan, plus a gold medal success at the FIA Motorsport Games GT Cup.
Since 2020, Ukyo has been competing in the Super GT and Super Formula series, where he's achieved promising results, including pole positions and podiums.