Keiji Matsumoto (松本 恵二, Matsumoto Keiji, 26 December 1949 – 17 May 2015)[1] was a Japanese racing driver who competed at the top level of Japanese Formula racing, currently known as Super Formula, between 1976 and 1992. Under the Japanese Formula 2 moniker, he won the championship in 1979[1] and was runner-up to future Formula 1 driver Satoru Nakajima in 1982 and 1985.
Motorsport career
Matsumoto scored 11 wins and 29 podium finishes, seventh all-time in both accounts, over a 129-race career, which put him third in all-time Super Formula career starts behind generational peers Kazuyoshi Hoshino and Kunimitsu Takahashi. In a rare overseas foray in 1981, he also took part in the Donington "50.000," a race of the European Formula Two championship, crossing the finish line in 15th place.[citation needed]
Until 1989, he also dabbled in Japanese sports car racing, winning the Fuji Grand Champion Series in 1983 [2[1] and the Fuji 1000 km in 1985 and 1989. [2] In the 1985 win, Matsumoto, Hoshino, and Akira Hagiwara became the first Japanese drivers to ever win a race in the World Sportscar Championship. [4[3] Hoshino was actually the only one who got to drive the car before the race was stopped early due to heavy rain. Matsumoto also competed in the 1987 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside Hoshino and Kenji Takahashi as an official Nissan driver. [4]
Matsumoto was the first public face of Cabin Racing, begun by Japan Tobacco in 1986, and his appearance in TV commercials brought him wide public attention.[1] After retiring, he remained active in the Japanese motorsports scene and was a driver coach for Shintaro Kawabata, Ryo Michigami, Shinji Nakano, and Juichi Wakisaka, among others. [5]
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