Kazuho Takahashi

Kazuho Takahashi
Kazuho Takahashi
Nationality	Japanese
Born	18 January 1953 (age 71); Aichi Prefecture, Japan
Previous series
2001–19	Super GT
Years
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	2008
Teams	Terramos
Best finish	NC (2008)
Class wins	0

Kazuho Takahashi (高橋一穂, Takahashi Kazuho, born 18 January 1953)^[1] is a Japanese businessman and semi-retired amateur racing driver. He is the CEO, president and founder of VT Holdings and Honda Cars Tokai,^[2] a chain of Honda dealerships found across Aichi Prefecture.

Racing career

Takahashi's first known form of racing was in 1994 in the Tokachi 24 Hours; he would race intermittently in that series, last competing in that series in 2001. Takahashi also competed in two editions of the Suzuka 1000 km as a privateer;^[1] it was around 1998 when he started Cars Tokai Dream28 as the racing arm of his family of dealerships.^{[citation needed]}

Takahashi first competed in what was then known as the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship in 2001; being a Honda-based team thanks to his dealerships he would drive a Honda NSX. Initially paired up with Hiroshi Kimura, for 2002 he would pair up with Akira Watanabe. The team switched from a Honda NSX to a Vemac RD320R in 2005,^[3] the series now being known as Super GT.

2006 would see Takahashi with a new teammate, Hiroki Katoh, and a new car, the Mooncraft Shiden. 2006 and 2007 were both strong years for the team, achieving wins and podiums; both years would have the team fighting for the Drivers's and Constructors's championships at the end of the year. Despite tying with other teams in points Cars Tokai Dream28 would lose both the 2006 and 2007 Drivers's Championships on countback, although they would win the 2007 Constructors's Championship.^{[citation needed]}

Takahashi retired from full-time competition after the 2019 Super GT Series, but vowed to continue racing in other categories.^[4]

Racing record

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	9	DC	Points
2001	Verno Tokai Dream28	Honda NSX	GT300	TAI	FUJ	SUG	FUJ	MOT 13	SUZ 13	MIN			NC	0
2002			GT300	TAI 9	FUJ 14	SUG 4	SEP 8	FUJ 10	MOT Ret	MIN Ret	SUZ 9		16th	22
2003			GT300	TAI 5	FUJ Ret	SUG 5	FUJ 21	FUJ 9	MOT 19	AUT 13	SUZ 8		14th	22
2004			GT300	TAI 18	SUG Ret	SEP 17	TOK 17	MOT 14	AUT 20	SUZ 22			NC	0
2005		Vemac RD320R	GT300	OKA 14	FUJ 13	SEP 14	SUG 9	MOT 6	FUJ Ret	AUT 14	SUZ 6		14th	12
2006	Cars Tokai Dream28	Mooncraft Shiden	GT300	SUZ 6	OKA 11	FUJ 4	SEP 4	SUG 3	SUZ 5	MOT 21	AUT 1	FUJ 12	2nd	89
2007			GT300	SUZ 2	OKA 2	FUJ 5	SEP 11	SUG 4	SUZ 1	MOT 6	AUT 10	FUJ 3	2nd	89
2008			GT300	SUZ 2	OKA 9	FUJ 3	SEP 5	SUG 10	SUZ Ret	MOT 2	AUT 3	FUJ 11	4th	68
2009			GT300	OKA 6	SUZ	FUJ	SEP	SUG	SUZ	FUJ	AUT	MOT	20th	5
2010			GT300	SUZ	OKA	FUJ	SEP	SUG	SUZ 18	FUJ	MOT		NC	0
2011			GT300	OKA 7	FUJ Ret	SEP 10	SUG 13	SUZ 6	FUJ 3	AUT 4	MOT 8		10th	32
2012			GT300	OKA 7	FUJ 2	SEP DNS	SUG Ret	SUZ 15	FUJ 13	AUT DNQ	MOT 16		11th	25
2013		McLaren MP4-12C GT3	GT300	OKA Ret	FUJ 18	SEP 15	SUG 16	SUZ 18	FUJ 14	FUJ 5	AUT 11	MOT 17	25th	3
2014		McLaren MP4-12C GT3	GT300	OKA 14	FUJ 7	AUT 13	SUG 21	FUJ 12	SUZ 12	CHA 15	MOT 19		33rd	4
2015		Lotus Evora MC GT300	GT300	OKA 16	FUJ Ret	CHA 11	FUJ 22	SUZ 7	SUG Ret	AUT 21	MOT 13		24th	5
2016			GT300	OKA 17	FUJ 13	SUG 23	FUJ Ret	SUZ Ret	CHA DNS	MOT 19	MOT Ret		NC	0
2017			GT300	OKA 26	FUJ 22	AUT 24	SUG Ret	FUJ 24	SUZ 23	CHA 20	MOT Ret		NC	0
2018			GT300	OKA 23	FUJ 23	SUZ 13	CHA 12	FUJ 20	SUG Ret	AUT 21	MOT 22		NC	0
2019			GT300	OKA 14	FUJ 23	SUZ 23	CHA 21	FUJ 12	AUT 23	SUG 17	MOT 29		NC	0

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2008	Terramos	Yojiro Terada Hiroki Katoh	Courage LC70	LMP1	224	NC	NC

References

^ ^a ^b "2005 Driver Information". Super GT (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 June 2023.
^ "会社概要". hondacars-tokai.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 June 2023.
^ "VernoTokai Dream28". Super GT (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 June 2023.
^ "スーパーGT：高橋一穂が長いGT300でのキャリアに幕。「レースは今後もやっていきます」". Super GT (in Japanese). 6 November 2019. Retrieved 27 June 2023.

External links

Kazuho Takahashi career summary at DriverDB.com

[kaz-1] "2005 Driver Information". Super GT (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 June 2023.

[tokai-2] "会社概要". hondacars-tokai.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 June 2023.

[vemac-3] "VernoTokai Dream28". Super GT (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 June 2023.

[4] "スーパーGT：高橋一穂が長いGT300でのキャリアに幕。「レースは今後もやっていきます」". Super GT (in Japanese). 6 November 2019. Retrieved 27 June 2023.

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