Hiroki Yoshimoto

Hiroki Yoshimoto
Hiroki Yoshimoto
Born	September 2, 1980 (age 46); Osaka, Japan
Occupation(s)	Race car driver, singer
Years active	1999–present
Known for	Professional racing career in GP2 Series; lead singer of Japanese rock group doa

(born 2 September 1980 in Osaka) is a professional Japanese race car driver. During the 2005 GP2 Series season, he raced for the BCN Competicion team alongside Venezuelan driver E. J. Viso. In 2006, his teammate was initially the seasoned German racer Timo Glock. Outside of motorsport, Yoshimoto serves as the lead singer for the Japanese rock group doa, using the same Japanese characters as his racing name for his musical persona. In 2023, Yoshimoto and the other members of doa departed from their management company Giza Studio to pursue freelance activities under Floodlight company, as stated on the official doa website.

Racing career

Yoshimoto stands out as the sole GP2 Series competitor whose career prior to GP2 was predominantly based in Asia, unlike most drivers who typically advance through circuits in South America or Europe. His racing journey began in 1999 with Japanese Formula Junior 1600, progressing to both Japanese Formula Toyota and Korean F1800 categories in 2000. In 2001, he entered the Japanese Formula Three series with the Yellow Hat team but participated in only two events.

The following year, 2002, saw Yoshimoto complete a full season in Japanese F3 with Now Motor Sports, where he achieved one victory, secured one pole position, earned two podium finishes, and concluded the championship in eighth place overall. Additionally, he attained fifth position at the esteemed Macau Grand Prix. Continuing with Now Motor Sports in 2003, he ended that season tenth in the standings before transitioning to the Japanese GT Series in 2004 and competing in two rounds of the World Series by Nissan for Gabord.

In November 2007, Yoshimoto took part in the Formula Renault V6 Asia Championship at Zhuhai International Circuit. He won round eleven but encountered difficulties in round twelve after stalling on the starting grid, finishing fifth.

He made a return to GP2 during the 2008 GP2 Asia Series season, driving for Qi-Meritus Mahara. In the subsequent 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series season, he competed with BCN Competición, which was acquired and renamed Ocean Racing Technology following the opening round; shortly thereafter, Yoshimoto was replaced by Yelmer Buurman.

Complete Japanese Formula 3 Championship results

(key) (Races shown in bold denote pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year

Entrant

Chassis

Engine

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

DC

Points

2001

Aim Sports

Dallara F300

Torii-Toyota 3S-GE

SUZ
1

SUZ
2

TSU
1

TSU
2

FUJ
1

FUJ
2

MIN
1

MIN
2

MOT
1

MOT
2

SUZ

SUG
1

SUG
2

SEN
1

SEN
2

OKA
1

OKA
2

MOT
1

MOT
2

NC

0

2002

Now Motor Sports

Dallara F302

Toyota-TOM'S 3S-GE

TSU 1

TSU 2

SUZ 1

SUZ 2

FUJ 1

FUJ 2

MIN 1

MIN 2

MOT 1

MOT 2

SUZ 1

SUZ 2

SUG 1

SUG 2

SEN 1

SEN 2

OKA 1

OKA 2

MOT 1

MOT 2

8th

85

2003

Now Motor Sports

Lola-Dome F106

Toyota-TOM'S 3S-GE

SUZ 1

...

Full World Series by Nissan results

(key) (Entries in bold denote pole positions) (Entries in italics signify fastest laps)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Final Position	Points
2004	Gabord Reyco	JAR 1	JAR 2	ZOL 1	ZOL 2	MAG 1	MAG 2	VAL 1	VAL 2	LAU 1	LAU 2	EST 1	EST 2	CAT 1	CAT 2	VAL 1 Ret	VAL 2 12	JER 1 Ret	JER 2 10	24th	1

Full GP2 Series results

(key) (Bolded races indicate pole position) (Italicized races represent fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	Final Standing	Points Scored
2005	BCN Competición	IMO FEA Ret	IMO SPR 9	CAT FEA Ret	CAT SPR 17	MON FEA DNS	NÜR FEA 11	NÜR SPR Ret	MAG FEA 6	MAG SPR 2	SIL FEA 13	SIL < br /> SPR < br > Ret	HOC < br /> FEA < br > 12	HOC < br /> SPR < br > Ret	HUN < br /> FEA < br > 13	HUN < br /> SPR < br > 17	IST < br /> FEA < br > 8	IST < br /> SPR < br > 10	MNZ < br /> FEA < br > 10	MNZ < br /> SPR < br > 16	SPA < br /> FEA < br > Ret	SPA < br /> SPR < br > 17	BHR < br /> FEA < br > 7	BHR < br /> SPR < br > 6	16th	14
2006	nowrap\| BCN Competición	style="background:#EFCFFF;"	VAL< br/>FEA< br/> Ret\| style="background:#CFCFFF;"	VAL< br/>SPR< br/> 12\| style="background:#DFFFDF;"	IMO< br/>FEA< br/> 8\| style="background:#FFDF9F;"	IMO< br/>SPR< br/> 3\| style="background:#DFFFDF;"	NÜR< br/>FEA< br/> 8\| style="background:#DFFFDF;"	NÜR< br/>SPR< br/> 4\| style="background:#EFCFFF;"	CAT< br/>FEA< br/> Ret\| style="background:#EFCFFF;"	CAT< br/>SPR< br/> Ret\| style="background:#EFCFFF;"	MON< br/>FEA< br/> Ret\| style="background:#EFCFFF;"	SIL< br/>FEA< br/> Ret\| style="background:#CFCFFF;"	SIL< br/>SPR< br/> 17†\| style="background:#CFCFFF;"	MAG < br/>FEA < br /> 9 \| style = " background : # EFC FFF ;" \| [ [ Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours \| MAG < br /> SPR ]] < br /> Ret \| style = " background : # CFC FFF ;" \| [ [ Hockenheimring \| HOC < br /> FEA ]] < br /> 23† \| style = " background : # EFC FFF ;" \| [ [ Hockenheimring \| HOC < br /> SPR ]] < br /> Ret \| style = " background : # EFC FFF ;" \| [ [ Hungaroring \| HUN < br /> FEA ]] < br /> Ret \| style = " background : # EFC FFF ;" \| [ [ Hungaroring \| HUN < br /> SPR ]] < br /> Ret \| style = " background : # EFC FFF ;" \| [ [ Istanbul Park \| IST < br /> FEA ]] < br /> Ret \| style = " background : # CFC FFF ;" \| [ [ Istanbul Park \| IST < br /> SPR ]] < br /> 19 \| style = " background : # DFF FD F ;" \| [ [ Autodromo Nazionale Monza \| MNZ < br /> FEA ]] < br /> 8 \| style = " background : # DFF FD F ;" \| [ [ Autodromo Nazionale Monza \| MNZ < br /> SPR ]] < br /> 5 \| colspan=2 \|	15th	12

Full GP2 Asia Series standings

(legend) (Events shown in bold denote pole position) (Events in italics signify fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final Position	Points
2008	Qi-Meritus Mahara	DUB FEA 6	DUB SPR 4	SEN FEA Retired	SEN SPR 20	SEP FEA Retired	SEP SPR 10	BHR FEA 12	BHR SPR 4	DUB FEA 5	DUB SPR 13			10th	13
2008–09	BCN Competición	SHI FEA Retired	SHI SPR 8							24th	0

Full Formula Renault V6 Asia Championship standings

(legend) (Events in bold indicate pole position) (Events in italics represent fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final Position	Points
2007	Team Meritus	SEP1 1st	SEP1 2nd	SEP2 1st	SEP2 2nd	SEN 1st	SEN 2nd	CHE 1st	CHE 2nd				<style="background:#FFFFBF;">ZHU 1 1st</style> <style="background:#DFFFDF;">ZHU 2 5th</style>	14th	22

Full Super GT results

Year	Team Name	Vehicle Model	Category	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 9	Final Standing	Points Earned
2004	Team LeyJun	Vemac RD320R	GT300	TAI 6th	SUG 6th	SEP 14th	TOK 22nd	MOT 19th	AUT	SUZ		12th	16
2005	Direxiv	Vemac RD320R	GT300							<style="background:#DFFFDF;"> AUT 10th</style> <style="background:#CFCFFF;"> SUZ 14th</style>	22nd	1

The current season is ongoing.

Complete Formula Nippon results

Year	Team	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Pts
2007	SG team 5ZIGEN	Honda HF386E	FUJ 13	SUZ 19	MOT 18	OKA 17	SUZ 15	FUJ 17	SUG Ret	MOT Ret	SUZ 15			21st	0
2008	SG team 5ZIGEN	Honda HF386E	FUJ	SUZ	MOT	OKA	SUZ 18	SUZ 15	MOT 14	MOT 10	FUJ	FUJ	SUG	20th	0

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold denote pole position) (Races in italics signify fastest lap)

... [Content truncated for brevity]

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	DC	Points
2011	SUNRED Engineering	SUNRED SR León 1.6T	"BRA 1"	"BRA 2"	"BEL 1"	"BEL 2"	"ITA 1"	"ITA 2"	"HUN 1"	"HUN 2"	(continued)

Complete Asian Le Mans Series results

(key) (Events in bold represent pole position) (Events in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Car	Engine	Class	1	2	3	4	DC	Points
2015–16	Team AAI - HubAuto	BMW Z4 GT3	BMW 4.4 L V8	GT	FUJ 3 <style="background:#dfffdf;"> SEP 6 colspan=2\|	7th	43
2015–16	Team AAI - HubAuto	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	Mercedes-Benz 6.2 L V8 colspan=2\| style="background:#dfffdf;" \| BUR 4 style="background:#dfffdf;" \| SEP 6	GT		7th	43