30 Facts About Katsumasa Chiyo

Katsumasa Chiyo is a Japanese factory racing driver, currently competing in the Autobacs Super GT Series as a factory driver for Nissan.

Katsumasa Chiyo is a graduate of the Nissan Driver Development Program, and a past champion of the Bathurst 12 Hour race, and the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.

Katsumasa Chiyo finished third in the 2008 FCJ series, before moving into the National Class of the All-Japan Formula Three Championship in 2009.

Katsumasa Chiyo won the National Class title in 2011 with NDDP Racing, winning five races to defeat Honda prospect Tomoki Nojiri on a tie breaker.

Katsumasa Chiyo returned to All-Japan F3 in 2013, competing in the main class with the B-Max Racing Team.

Katsumasa Chiyo finished third in the championship, with two victories.

Katsumasa Chiyo took part in the 2013 Macau Grand Prix, finishing in 15th place.

In 2015, Katsumasa Chiyo made a one off return to F3 at Fuji Speedway.

In 2016, Katsumasa Chiyo returned to F3 to contest the full season with B-Max Racing.

Katsumasa Chiyo won one race, and finished sixth in the championship, after missing four races over two rounds due to a back injury.

Katsumasa Chiyo took his first victory at Sportsland SUGO with Yuhi Sekiguchi, and went on to finish the season in fourth place.

Katsumasa Chiyo finished 28th in the standings after taking just one points-scoring finish.

Katsumasa Chiyo finished the season second in the championship, despite missing two races due to his ongoing commitments in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.

Katsumasa Chiyo finished the season twelfth in the standings in 2016, and again in 2017, where Chiyo nearly took his first premier class victory at Sugo after a last-lap battle between Motoyama and Kohei Hirate.

At the sixth round of the season in Autopolis, Katsumasa Chiyo was called on as a last-minute replacement for James Rossiter at C nic Team Impul, after Rossiter was diagnosed with acute tinnitus.

Katsumasa Chiyo returned to full-time GT500 competition in 2020, returning to NDDP Racing with B-Max alongside Hirate.

In 2022, Mitsunori Takaboshi, a fellow NDDP graduate, replaced Hirate at NDDP Racing alongside Katsumasa Chiyo, coinciding with the debut of the new Nissan Z GT500.

At long last, Katsumasa Chiyo won for the first time as a GT500 driver when he and Takaboshi won the Suzuka GT 300km Race.

Katsumasa Chiyo began racing in the Blancpain Endurance Series in 2014, driving a Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 for RJN Motorsport.

Katsumasa Chiyo scored a podium finish at Circuit Paul Ricard.

In doing so, Katsumasa Chiyo became the first Japanese driver to win a championship in a top-level sports car racing series organized by the Stephane Ratel Organisation, and the first to win a major sports car racing championship of any kind outside of Asia.

Katsumasa Chiyo competed in the 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour as part of the Nismo Global Driver Exchange, driving a Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 with Buncombe and Reip.

Katsumasa Chiyo was involved in a crash in the early stages of the race, ending the team's chances after 58 laps.

Katsumasa Chiyo returned to the race in 2015, this time paired with Reip and Florian Strauss.

The trio won the race after Katsumasa Chiyo took the lead with two laps remaining.

In 2017, Katsumasa Chiyo participated in the Blancpain Endurance Series with Alex Buncombe and Lucas Ordonez with RJN who retired the Nissan GT Academy program to run a new program with Motul forming Motul Team RJN Nissan.

Katsumasa Chiyo returned to the sport in 2019, driving for KCMG after RJN Motorsport withdrew the Nissan marque.

Katsumasa Chiyo was teamed with Tsugio Matsuda and Josh Burdon.

Katsumasa Chiyo was set to debut the 2020 Bathurst 12 Hour with Burdon and Matsuda but withdrew the race after he crashed in the first practice which caused major damage to the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3.

Katsumasa Chiyo competed for one season in the Japanese Super Formula Championship, driving for B-Max Racing Team in 2018.