Kohei Hirate

Kohei Hirate
Hirate at the 2010 Fuji 400km Super GT race.
Nationality	Japanese
Born	(1986-03-24) 24 March 1986 (age 38) Komaki, Aichi, Japan
Super GT career
Debut season	2008
Current team	HELM Motorsports
Racing licence	FIA Platinum
Car number	62
Former teams	Lexus Team Cerumo, apr, Lexus Team SARD, NDDP Racing with B-Max Racing, Kondo Racing
Starts	60
Wins	6
Fastest laps	1
Best finish	1st in 2013, 2016
Previous series
2008–13 2007 2004–06 2004 2003–04 2003–04 2003 2003 2002	Super Formula GP2 Series Formula 3 Euro Series Asian Formula Renault FR2000 Germany FR2000 Italia FR2000 Netherlands FR2000 Masters Formula Toyota
Championship titles
2013 & 2016	Super GT

Kohei Hirate (平手 晃平, Hirate Kōhei, born 24 March 1986 in Komaki, Aichi) is a Japanese race car driver. Hirate has won the Super GT series twice.^[1]

Career

Hirate began karting in 1999 when he was 13. After winning the All Japan Junior Kart Championship, coming third and fifth in the All Japan Kart Championship and coming third in the FIA Oceania Championship, he moved on to Formula Toyota, where he raced for the Tom's Spirit team and came second with four wins to his name.^{[citation needed]}

Hirate during free practice for the first Motegi round of the 2010 Formula Nippon season.

In 2003, he moved to Formula Renault, at the Prema Power team. In his two-year spell here he won 7 races and came second in the 2004 season. In 2004 he also raced for Prema Power's Formula Three Euroseries team twice, and in 2005 made the decision to race here. After coming twelfth for Team Rosberg, he was made a Toyota F1 test driver in 2006 and came third in the Formula Three Euroseries. In 2007 he continued as a Toyota test driver and also drove for GP2 team Trident Racing.^{[citation needed]}

Hirate returned to Japan in 2008, where he competed in both Formula Nippon and Super GT. He finished fourth in the 2008 Formula Nippon season and fifth in 2009, both times driving for Team Impul.^{[citation needed]}

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2002	Formula Toyota	TOM'S Spirit	?	4	2	?	?	?	2nd
2003	Formula Renault 2000 Italia	Prema Powerteam	12	1	0	1	2	113	8th
	Formula Renault 2000 Masters		8	0	0	0	0	8	21st
	Formula Renault 2000 Germany	Franken Racing	4	0	0	0	0	33	24th
	Formula Renault 2000 Netherlands	?	?	?	?	?	?	15	21st
2004	Formula 3 Euro Series	Prema Powerteam	4	0	0	0	0	0	28th
	Bahrain Superprix		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	12th
	Formula Renault 2000 Italia		15	6	6	2	10	266	2nd
	Formula Renault 2000 Germany		2	0	0	0	0	25	25th
	Asian Formula Renault Challenge	Asia Racing Team	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2005	Formula 3 Euro Series	Team Rosberg	20	0	0	0	1	18	11th
	Masters of Formula 3		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	5th
	Macau Grand Prix		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC
2006	Formula 3 Euro Series	Manor Motorsport	20	1	0	2	5	61	3rd
	Masters of Formula 3		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	4th
	Macau Grand Prix		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	27th
	Formula One	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Test driver
2007	GP2 Series	Trident Racing	21	0	0	0	1	9	19th
	Formula One	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Test driver
2008	Formula Nippon	Team Impul	8	1	0	0	3	42	4th
	Super GT - GT300	apr	7	1	1	0	1	33	15th
2009	Formula Nippon	Team Impul	8	0	1	0	2	32	5th
	Super GT - GT500	Lexus Team SARD	9	0	0	0	1	27	14th
2010	Formula Nippon	Team Impul	8	1	0	2	2	25.5	5th
	Super GT - GT500	Lexus Team SARD	8	0	0	0	0	12	12th
2011	Formula Nippon	Team Impul	8	0	0	1	1	15	8th
	Super GT - GT500	Lexus Team Cerumo	8	1	0	0	2	47	6th
2012	Formula Nippon	Project μ/cerumo・INGING	8	0	0	1	0	8	9th
	Super GT - GT500	Lexus Team Cerumo	8	2	0	0	3	74	2nd
2013	Super Formula	P.mu/cerumo・INGING	7	0	0	0	1	11	9th
	Super GT - GT500	Lexus Team Cerumo	8	1	0	0	4	69	1st
2014	Super GT - GT500	Lexus Team Cerumo	8	1	0	0	2	43	8th
2015	Super GT - GT500	Lexus Team SARD	8	0	0	1	0	23	13th
2016	Super GT - GT500	Lexus Team SARD	8	1	1	2	4	82	1st
2017	Super GT - GT500	Lexus Team SARD	8	1	0	0	2	44	8th
2018	Super GT - GT300	apr Racing	8	0	0	0	4	61	3rd
	Suzuka 10 Hours	ARN Racing	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	16th
2019	Super GT - GT500	NDDP Racing with B-Max Racing	7	1	0	0	1	36	6th
2020	Super GT - GT500	NDDP Racing with B-Max	8	0	0	0	0	29	13th
2021	Super GT - GT500	NDDP Racing with B-Max	8	0	0	0	1	39	10th
2022	Super GT - GT500	Kondo Racing	7	0	0	0	2	30.5	9th
	Super Taikyu - ST-Q	NISMO
2023	Super GT - GT500	Kondo Racing	7	0	1	0	0	11	16th
	Super Taikyu - ST-Q	NISMO
2024	Super GT - GT300	HELM Motorsports	8	0	0	0	0	1	20th
	Super Taikyu - ST-Q	NISMO

• * Season still in progress.

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

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

Year	Entrant	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	DC	Pts
2005	Team Rosberg	Opel	HOC 1 12	HOC 2 11	PAU 1 10	PAU 2 16	SPA 1 5	SPA 2 4	MON 1 16	MON 2 Ret	OSC 1 Ret	OSC 2 9	NOR 1 Ret	NOR 2 Ret	NÜR 1 3	NÜR 2 7	ZAN 1 Ret	ZAN 2 DSQ	LAU 1 17	LAU 2 8	HOC 1 12	HOC 2 10	12th	18
2006	Manor Motorsport	Mercedes	HOC 1 1	HOC 2 4	LAU 1 18	LAU 2 11	OSC 1 4	OSC 2 2	BRH 1 DNS	BRH 2 17	NOR 1 4	NOR 2 Ret	NÜR 1 5	NÜR 2 Ret	ZAN 1 3	ZAN 2 13	CAT 1 2	CAT 2 4	LMS 1 5	LMS 2 3	HOC 1 5	HOC 2 7	3rd	61

Complete GP2 Series 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	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	DC	Points
2007	Trident Racing	BHR FEA 18	BHR SPR Ret	CAT FEA 13	CAT SPR 10	MON FEA 12	MAG FEA Ret	MAG SPR 11	SIL FEA 18	SIL SPR Ret	NÜR FEA 5	NÜR SPR 2	HUN FEA 11	HUN SPR 10	IST FEA Ret	IST SPR Ret	MNZ FEA Ret	MNZ SPR 10	SPA FEA Ret	SPA SPR 13	VAL FEA Ret	VAL SPR 16	19th	9

Complete Formula Nippon/Super Formula results

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

Year	Team	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
2008	Team Impul	Toyota	FUJ Ret	SUZ 2	MOT 6	OKA 3	SUZ1 5	SUZ2 1	MOT1 Ret	MOT2 DNS	FUJ1	FUJ2	SUG 5	4th	42
2009	Team Impul	Toyota	FUJ 3	SUZ 4	MOT Ret	FUJ 5	SUZ 5	MOT 8	AUT 4	SUG 3				5th	32
2010	Team Impul	Toyota	SUZ 4	MOT 7	FUJ 1	MOT 3	SUG 12	AUT 8	SUZ1 9	SUZ2 6				5th	25.5
2011	Team Impul	Toyota	SUZ 9	AUT 8	FUJ 2	MOT 5	SUZ C	SUG 8	MOT1 7	MOT2 Ret				8th	15
2012	P.mu/cerumo・INGING	Toyota	SUZ 10	MOT NC	AUT 7	FUJ 7	MOT 8	SUG 8	SUZ1 9	SUZ2 5				9th	8
2013	P.mu/cerumo・INGING	Toyota	SUZ 12	AUT Ret	FUJ 2	MOT 15	SUG Ret	SUZ1 5	SUZ2 7					9th	11

Complete Super GT results

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	DC	Pts
2008	apr	Toyota MR-S	GT300	SUZ 13	OKA 12	FUJ 1	SEP 9	SUG 6	SUZ	MOT	AUT 9	FUJ Ret	15th	33
2009	Lexus Team SARD	Lexus SC430	GT500	OKA 15	SUZ 10	FUJ 10	SEP 13	SUG 2	SUZ 7	FUJ 11	AUT 12	MOT 5	14th	27
2010	Lexus Team SARD	Lexus SC430	GT500	SUZ 5	OKA 10	FUJ Ret	SEP 10	SUG 10	SUZ 8	FUJ C	MOT 11		12th	12
2011	Lexus Team Cerumo	Lexus SC430	GT500	OKA 8	FUJ 5	SEP 5	SUG 11	SUZ 14	FUJ 1	AUT 3	MOT 10		6th	47
2012	Lexus Team Cerumo	Lexus SC430	GT500	OKA 1	FUJ 8	SEP 2	SUG 5	SUZ 9	FUJ 8	AUT 7	MOT 1		2nd	74
2013	Lexus Team Cerumo	Lexus SC430	GT500	OKA 4	FUJ 2	SEP 14	SUG 11	SUZ 11	FUJ 1	AUT 2	MOT 3		1st	69
2014	Lexus Team Cerumo	Lexus RC F	GT500	OKA 14	FUJ 2	AUT 12	SUG 1	FUJ 14	SUZ 8	BUR 11	MOT 7		8th	43
2015	Lexus Team SARD	Lexus RC F	GT500	OKA 5	FUJ 5	CHA 7	FUJ 9	SUZ 11	SUG Ret	AUT 13	MOT 6		13th	23
2016	Lexus Team SARD	Lexus RC F	GT500	OKA 7	FUJ 2	SUG 2	FUJ 8	SUZ 8	CHA 7	MOT 2	MOT 1		1st	82
2017	Lexus Team SARD	Lexus LC500	GT500	OKA 3	FUJ 7	AUT 14	SUG 1	SUZ 10	FUJ 13	CHA 6	MOT 8		8th	44
2018	apr	Toyota Prius	GT300	OKA Ret	FUJ 2	SUZ 9	CHA 2	FUJ 3	SUG 25	AUT 10	MOT 2		3rd	61
2019	NDDP Racing	Nissan GT-R Nismo GT500	GT500	OKA 4‡	FUJ 6	SUZ 9	CHA 6	FUJ 11	AUT 11	SUG 1	MOT DNS		9th	36
2020	NDDP Racing	Nissan GT-R Nismo GT500	GT500	FUJ 7	FUJ 8	SUZ 6	MOT 7	FUJ Ret	SUZ 4	MOT 15	FUJ 6		13th	29
2021	NDDP Racing	Nissan GT-R Nismo GT500	GT500	OKA 9	FUJ 5	SUZ 6	MOT 2	SUG Ret	AUT 4	MOT 14	FUJ 8		10th	39
2022	Kondo Racing	Nissan Z GT500	GT500	OKA 14	FUJ 8	SUZ 6	FUJ 3	SUZ 10	SUG 14	AUT 3	MOT Ret		9th	30.5
2023	Kondo Racing	Nissan Z GT500	GT500	OKA 14	FUJ 15	SUZ 8	FUJ 10	SUZ 13	SUG 5	AUT 12	MOT 14		16th	11
2024	HELM Motorsports	Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3	GT300	OKA 18	FUJ 10	SUZ 11	FUJ 13	SUG 13	AUT 17	MOT 17	SUZ 16		20th	1

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

References

1. Klein, Jamie (23 April 2021). "Why a driver twice rejected by Toyota can have the last laugh". Autosport. Retrieved 26 April 2021.

External links

• Kohei Hirate official website

Sporting positions
Preceded by Ronnie Quintarelli Masataka Yanagida	Super GT (GT500) Champion 2013 with: Yuji Tachikawa	Succeeded by Tsugio Matsuda Ronnie Quintarelli
Preceded by Tsugio Matsuda Ronnie Quintarelli	Super GT (GT500) Champion 2016 with: Heikki Kovalainen	Succeeded by Ryo Hirakawa Nick Cassidy