69 Facts About Satoshi Motoyama

Satoshi Motoyama is a Japanese professional racing driver and team manager.

Satoshi Motoyama is best known for racing in the Super GT Series, formerly known as the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship as a factory driver for Nissan, and for racing in the Formula Nippon Championship.

Satoshi Motoyama won the A1 class All-Japan Karting Championship in 1986, and the A2 class titles in 1987 and 1989.

Satoshi Motoyama graduated from karts in 1990, taking part in the All-Japan Formula Three Championship.

Satoshi Motoyama enjoyed only limited success over his first three seasons, and in 1993 and 1994 he struggled to secure sponsorship and raced only part-time in the series.

In 1995, Satoshi Motoyama signed with Dome Racing and finished second in the championship to Pedro de la Rosa, winning one race as De la Rosa took victories in the other eight races that season.

Satoshi Motoyama raced in the Japanese Touring Car Championship from 1995 to 1997 during the Super Touring era.

In 1997, Satoshi Motoyama won three races and finished third in the championship driving for Nismo.

Satoshi Motoyama made his debut in the All-Japan GT Championship in the third round of the 1996 season at Sendai Hi-Land Raceway, driving a GT300 class Nissan Silvia S14 owned by Kazuyoshi Hoshino.

Satoshi Motoyama took GT300 class pole position in his debut race, and scored pole position in the fifth round at Sportsland Sugo.

Satoshi Motoyama switched teams for the 1998 season, partnering up with Aguri Suzuki and the new Autobacs Racing Team Aguri squad and co-driver Takeshi Tsuchiya.

Satoshi Motoyama finished 11th in the 1997 standings, and 12th in 1998.

In 1999, Satoshi Motoyama, who had just won his first Formula Nippon championship, was promoted to the reigning champions at Nismo, driving the Pennzoil Skyline GT-R alongside defending series champion and Formula 1 veteran Erik Comas.

Satoshi Motoyama scored four podium finishes in total, and finished third in the Drivers' Championship as Comas went on to win his second straight GT500 title.

Satoshi Motoyama only missed the second round of the 1999 season at Fuji Speedway, as he was participating in a pre-qualifying session for the 24 Hours of Le Mans that same day.

Satoshi Motoyama moved back to C nic Team Impul in 2000, and had another solid year that included a second career win at Mine in the penultimate round of the year.

Satoshi Motoyama finished third in the championship with co-driver Hoshino.

In 2002, Satoshi Motoyama moved back to Nismo having won his second Formula Nippon title.

Satoshi Motoyama was given a new car for his 2004 title defense, the new Nissan Fairlady Z33, which succeeded the Skyline GT-R as Nissan's flagship GT500 car.

Satoshi Motoyama won one race in each of the next three seasons, and continued to compete for championships in 2005 and in 2006, finishing third and sixth in the standings respectively.

The win at Autopolis was notable for Satoshi Motoyama sprinting from 12th on the grid to the lead of the race in just 26 laps, in a race that they needed to win in order to keep their championship hopes alive going into the Motegi finale.

At the fourth round of the 2017 season at Sugo, Satoshi Motoyama took his final Super GT podium finish with a second place, notable for Satoshi Motoyama's battle on the final corners of the final lap with Kohei Hirate.

Satoshi Motoyama drove his final race as a GT500 driver on November 11,2018, at Twin Ring Motegi, finishing 9th.

On 10 February, 2019, Satoshi Motoyama announced his retirement as a Nissan GT500 driver.

Satoshi Motoyama became an Executive Advisor to Nissan's factory GT500 programme that same year.

Satoshi Motoyama made his debut in the Formula Nippon Championship in 1996, driving for first-year team owner Aguri Suzuki and the new Funai Super Aguri team.

Satoshi Motoyama scored his first podium finish in the sixth round of the season at Sportsland Sugo, and started on the front row in the final round at Fuji Speedway before he was involved in a multi-car pileup on the first lap.

Satoshi Motoyama finished 10th in the championship in 1996 and 11th in 1997.

Satoshi Motoyama took his first career win at the second round at Central Park Mine Circuit, and his second win in the following round at Fuji, where he recorded his first pole position.

Satoshi Motoyama won his third race at Mine in the eighth round of the season, and clinched his first Formula Nippon championship with a second-place finish in the penultimate round at Fuji.

Satoshi Motoyama returned to Team LeMans the following year in 1999, taking another three victories and three pole positions.

Satoshi Motoyama went on to finish second in the championship standings to Tom Coronel.

In 2000, Satoshi Motoyama changed teams to Team Impul, driving for Kazuyoshi Hoshino as he did in the JGTC.

Satoshi Motoyama finished a distant third in the championship behind Toranosuke Takagi, taking one win, two poles, and four podiums in the final four races.

The 2001 season started with Satoshi Motoyama taking three pole positions through the first four rounds, and a victory at Mine, but two retirements and a non-scoring finish saw him trail championship leader Naoki Hattori by 22 points after four races.

However, Satoshi Motoyama took victories in three of the following four rounds, taking the championship lead as Hattori began to struggle, and eventually clinching his second Formula Nippon title with a second-place finish at Motegi.

In 2002, the first year in which Formula Nippon went to a spec chassis, Satoshi Motoyama had another fantastic season, winning five out of the ten races that season.

Satoshi Motoyama won the opening round at Suzuka Circuit, and won the following round at Fuji.

Satoshi Motoyama was unable to celebrate his win at Fuji after he learned of his childhood friend Daijiro Kato suffering critical injuries in a crash during the 2003 MotoGP World Championship round at Suzuka.

Satoshi Motoyama took another victory in the sixth round at Sugo, and despite a late surge from his Impul teammate Benoit Treluyer, Satoshi Motoyama was able to clinch his third championship with a second-place finish in the penultimate round at Motegi.

Satoshi Motoyama joined his mentor Kazuyoshi Hoshino and former F1 driver Satoru Nakajima as only the third driver to win three or more Japanese top formula championships, and was the first driver in the Formula Nippon era to win three championships.

Satoshi Motoyama only won once, in the sixth round of the season at Sugo, and finished sixth in the championship - his worst result since 1997.

For 2005, Satoshi Motoyama secured a transfer back to Team Impul, and returned to championship form by winning three races at Sugo, Suzuka, and in the penultimate round at Motegi, a win which clinched his fourth Formula Nippon championship, ahead of his Impul teammate Yuji Ide.

Satoshi Motoyama remained with Impul in 2006, but failed to win a race for the first time since 1997 as he finished fifth in the championship with four podiums.

Satoshi Motoyama returned to winning form in 2007, winning all three of the season's races held at Suzuka Circuit.

Satoshi Motoyama returned to Team LeMans, the team for whom he won his first championship, for the 2008 season.

Satoshi Motoyama finished eleventh in the championship, with one podium finish in the second leg of a double-header round at Suzuka.

On February 18,2009, Satoshi Motoyama announced on his website that he would not race in the 2009 Formula Nippon Championship, bringing an end to his career in Japanese top formula racing.

In March 2018, Satoshi Motoyama became the team director of B-Max Racing Team in the Super Formula Championship.

Satoshi Motoyama remained semi-active in racing after retiring from GT500 driving duties.

In December 2020, Satoshi Motoyama returned to single-seater racing, competing in the final round of the Formula Regional Japanese Championship at Autopolis in a car entered by Team Goh Motorsports.

Satoshi Motoyama entered the final round of the Super Formula Lights Championship at Fuji Speedway, driving for B-Max Racing.

On 30 January, 2021, Satoshi Motoyama announced that he would return to full-time Super GT competition in the GT300 class.

Satoshi Motoyama partnered with Team LeMans, the team for whom he won his first Formula Nippon Championship, to form Team LeMans with Satoshi Motoyama Racing.

Team LeMans with Satoshi Motoyama Racing recorded a best finish of 12th at Suzuka Circuit in 2021.

Satoshi Motoyama returned to Team LeMans for the 2022 season, and achieved a breakthrough fifth-place finish to start the season at Okayama.

Satoshi Motoyama has competed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times, making his debut in 1998 with NISMO and Tom Walkinshaw Racing in one of four factory Nissan R390 GT1s.

Satoshi Motoyama returned the following year in 1999 with NISMO, driving the new Nissan R391 Le Mans prototype.

In one of the race's most memorable moments, Satoshi Motoyama spent two hours trying to repair the DeltaWing, as his Nissan mechanics stood behind the spectator fencing to give instructions.

On October 10,2003, Satoshi Motoyama was given a Friday test drive for the Jordan F1 Team prior to the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit.

On December 10,2003, Satoshi Motoyama was given a chance to test with the Renault F1 Team at Circuito de Jerez in Spain.

Satoshi Motoyama completed 69 laps and was only two seconds off the fastest lap recorded by Renault ace driver Fernando Alonso.

Ultimately, Satoshi Motoyama was unable to secure a drive for the 2004 season, and soon thereafter abandoned his pursuit of a Formula One drive.

In 1999, Satoshi Motoyama won the Le Mans Fuji 1000km at Fuji Speedway, driving the same Nissan R391 that he competed with at Le Mans that year.

Satoshi Motoyama has competed in the Super Taikyu Series, most recently in 2023 in a one-off entry in the 2023 Fuji Super TEC 24 Hours, driving a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport for Porsche Team EBI Waimarama.

Satoshi Motoyama ran the 2019 Fuji 24 Hours, driving a customer Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 for Tairoku Racing with B-Max Engineering, and finished 2nd overall.

Satoshi Motoyama was expected to enter that year's Intercontinental GT Challenge Suzuka 10 Hours later that year, but health issues forced team president Tairoku Yamaguchi to suspend his team's operations for the rest of 2019.

Satoshi Motoyama was expected to return to the team for the 2020 Super Taikyu Series, but their entry was suspended due to complications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two years prior, he competed as the owner and driver of SKT Team Satoshi Motoyama, fielding a Nissan Fairlady Z34 in the ST-3 class.