Kenta Yamashita

Kenta Yamashita
Nationality	Japanese
Born	(1995-08-03) 3 August 1995 (age 26) Chiba, Japan
Japanese Formula 3 Championship career
Debut season	2014
Current team	Petronas Team TOM'S
Car number	36
Starts	49
Wins	14
Poles	13
Fastest laps	10
Best finish	1st in 2016
Previous series
2014–16 2013 2012	Japanese Formula 3 Championship Formula Challenge Japan Motegi Championship Formula Super FJ
Championship titles
2016 2013 2012	Japanese Formula 3 Championship Formula Challenge Japan Motegi Championship Formula Super FJ

Kenta Yamashita (山下 健太, Yamashita Kenta) is a Japanese racing driver, known for his successes in single-seater junior categories, including winning the 2013 Formula Challenge Japan and the 2012 Motegi Championship Formula Super FJ. He currently races in the Super Formula Championship, Super GT and FIA World Endurance Championship.

Career[]

Karting[]

Yamashita competed in karts before graduating to single-seater cars in 2012.

Formula Super FJ and Formula Challenge Japan[]

Yamashita began his racing car career in the 2012 Motegi Championship Formula Super FJ, which he won in his first season. In all four starts, he took the pole, fastest lap, and race win.^[1] In 2013, he progressed to the Formula Challenge Japan series, which was a racing category intended for drivers between entry level and Formula 3. He scored 7 podiums and in 12 races, including 4 wins, and took the championship title.^[2]

All-Japan Formula Three[]

In 2014, Yamashita graduated to the All-Japan Formula Three Championship with the Petronas Team TOM'S. He finished runner-up in the championship to the more experienced Nobuharu Matsushita.^[3]

In 2015, Yamashita continued to race in the All-Japan Formula Three Championship, and currently holds the lead of the championship. In addition, he has raced in the GT300 category of the 2015 Super GT season.

Racing record[]

Career summary[]

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	FLaps	Podiums	Points	Position
2012	Motegi Championship Formula Super FJ	?	4	4	4	4	4	64	1st
2013	Formula Challenge Japan	?	12	4	2	3	7	65	1st
2014	Japanese Formula 3 Championship	Petronas Team TOM's	15	2	1	1	12	90	2nd
	Macau Grand Prix		1	0	0	0	0	0	9th
2015	Japanese Formula 3 Championship	Petronas Team TOM's	17	5	5	5	13	113	2nd
	Macau Grand Prix		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	15th
	Super GT - GT300	Porsche Team KTR	8	0	0	0	0	6	20th
2016	Japanese Formula 3 Championship	Team TOM's	17	7	7	4	10	113	1st
	Super GT - GT300	VivaC Team Tsuchiya	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	Macau Grand Prix	ThreeBond with T-Sport	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	4th
2017	Super GT - GT300	VivaC Team Tsuchiya	7	1	3	1	2	48	5th
	Super GT	Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh	1	0	0	0	0	1	20th
	Super Formula	Kondō Racing	7	0	1	0	0	6.5	11th
	Macau Grand Prix	B-Max Racing Team	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
2018	Super GT	Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh	8	0	0	0	2	32	11th
	Super Formula	Kondō Racing	6	0	0	0	1	11.5	9th
2019	Super GT	Lexus Team LeMans Wako's	8	2	1	0	4	85	1st
	Super Formula	Kondō Racing	7	1	0	0	2	21	5th
2019-20	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2	High Class Racing	7	0	0	0	0	47	13th
2020	Super Formula	Kondō Racing	6	0	0	0	1	34	7th
	Super GT	Toyota Gazoo Racing Team SARD	1	0	0	0	0	27	14th
		Toyota Gazoo Racing Team KeePer Tom's	2	0	1	1	1
	24 Hours of Le Mans	High Class Racing	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
2021	Super GT	Toyota Gazoo Racing Team Eneos Rookie	5	1	0	0	2	35	5th*
	Super Formula	Kondō Racing	5	0	0	0	0	0	17th*

^* Season still in progress.

Complete Super GT results[]

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

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	DC	Points
2015	Porsche Team KTR	Porsche 911 GT3	GT300	OKA 14	FUJ 12	CHA 8	FUJ Ret	SUZ 18	SUG 17	AUT 8	MOT 14	20th	6
2016	VivaC Team Tsuchiya	Toyota 86 MC	GT300	OKA	FUJ	SUG	FUJ	SUZ 22	CHA	MOT	MOT	NC	0
2017	VivaC Team Tsuchiya	Toyota 86 MC	GT300	OKA 4		AUT 1	SUG 3	FUJ 29	SUZ 18	CHA 15	MOT 5	5th	48
	Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh	Lexus LC 500	GT500		FUJ 10							20th	1
2018	Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh	Lexus LC 500	GT500	OKA 9	FUJ 12	SUZ 13	CHA 3	FUJ 10	SUG Ret	AUT 3	MOT 5	11th	32
2019	Lexus Team LeMans Wako's	Lexus LC 500	GT500	OKA 13	FUJ 8	SUZ 3	CHA 1	FUJ 1	AUT 6	SUG 6	MOT 2	1st	85
2020	Toyota Gazoo Racing Team SARD	Toyota GR Supra GT500	GT500	FUJ 5	FUJ	SUZ	MOT	FUJ	SUZ			14th	27
	Toyota Gazoo Racing Team KeePer Tom's									MOT 6	FUJ 2
2021	Toyota Gazoo Racing Team Eneos Rookie	Toyota GR Supra GT500	GT500	OKA 1	FUJ 2	MOT 13	SUZ 12	SUG 12	AUT	MOT	FUJ	5th*	35*

^* Season still in progress.

Complete Super Formula results[]

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

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	DC	Points
2017	Kondō Racing	SUZ 14	OKA 7	OKA 6	FUJ Ret	MOT 6	AUT 13	SUG 11	SUZ C	SUZ C	11th	6.5
2018	Kondō Racing	SUZ 9	AUT C	SUG 8	FUJ 18	MOT 6	OKA 6‡	SUZ 3			9th	11.5
2019	Kondō Racing	SUZ 3	AUT 7	SUG 6	FUJ 17	MOT 13	OKA 1	SUZ 9			5th	21
2020	Kondō Racing	MOT 2	OKA	SUG 6	AUT 5	SUZ 9	SUZ 6	FUJ 10			7th	34
2021	Kondō Racing	FUJ 12	SUZ 12	AUT 11	SUG 14	MOT 15	MOT	SUZ			17th*	0*

^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed. ^* Season still in progress.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results[]

Year	Entrant	Class	Car	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Rank	Points
2019–20	High Class Racing	LMP2	Oreca 07	Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8	SIL 7	FUJ 4	SHA 6	BHR 7	COA 7	SPA 7	LMS Ret	BHR	13th	47

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results[]

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2020	High Class Racing	Anders Fjordbach Mark Patterson	Oreca 07	LMP2	88	DNF	DNF

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• Kenta Yamashita career summary at DriverDB.com

Sporting positions
Preceded by Nobuharu Matsushita	Formula Challenge Japan Champion 2013	Succeeded by None (Series ended)
Preceded by Nick Cassidy	Japanese Formula 3 Championship Champion 2016	Succeeded by
Preceded by Jenson Button Naoki Yamamoto	Super GT GT500 Champion 2019 With: Kazuya Oshima	Succeeded by Naoki Yamamoto Tadasuke Makino