Masanori Sekiya

Masanori Sekiya

Nationality	Japanese
Born	27 November 1949 Ikawa, Shizuoka, Japan
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Participating years	1985–1990, 1992–1993, 1995–1997
Teams	Tom's, Porsche Kremer Racing, Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing, SARD, Gulf Team Davidoff
Best finish	1st (1995)
Class wins	1 (1995)

Masanori Sekiya (関谷 正徳 Sekiya Masanori), born 27 November 1949) is a racing car driver, most famous for being the first Japanese driver to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in 1995.

Sekiya drove in single-seaters in his early career, contesting the Japanese Formula 3000 Championship and Formula Nippon from 1987 to 1993, mostly for the Leyton House team. He never achieved any victories, but finished 4th in the standings in 1988 and 1989, scoring three and four podiums, respectively.

A long-time works Toyota driver, Sekiya drove in the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship, All Japan Grand Touring Championship and Japanese Touring Car Championship, a series which he won in 1994, driving a Toyota Chaser for the Tom's team. He was also runner-up the following year.

As Sekiya is rather fond of Le Mans, in 1987, he got married in the town prior to the race. His best result in international sports car racing was winning the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans, at the wheel of a McLaren F1 GTR for Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing. He became the first Japanese-born driver to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He was also fourth in the 1993 edition. He competed in the JGTC until the 2000 season and now works as team manager for the Super GT division of the Toyota Team TOM'S and also runs a racing school at Fuji Speedway. In 1998, Sekiya also appeared in a TV commercial in Japan driving a JZA80 Supra promoting its handling package.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1985	Tom's Team	Satoru Nakajima Kaoru Hoshino	Tom's 85C-L-Toyota	C1	330	12th	12th
1986	Tom's Co. Ltd.	Satoru Nakajima Geoff Lees	Tom's (Dome) 86C-L-Toyota	C1	105	DNF	DNF
1987	Toyota Team Tom's	Tiff Needell Kaoru Hoshino	Toyota 87C-L	C1	39	DNF	DNF
1988	Toyota Team Tom's	Geoff Lees Kaoru Hoshino	Toyota 88C	C1	351	12th	12th
1989	Porsche Kremer Racing	Hideki Okada George Fouché	Porsche 962CK6	C1	42	DNF	DNF
1990	Toyota Team Tom's	Geoff Lees Hitoshi Ogawa	Toyota 90C-V	C1	347	6th	6th
1992	Toyota Team Tom's	Pierre-Henri Raphanel Kenny Acheson	Toyota TS010	C1	346	2nd	2nd
1993	Toyota Team Tom's	Eddie Irvine Toshio Suzuki	Toyota TS010	C1	364	4th	4th
1995	Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing	Yannick Dalmas JJ Lehto	McLaren F1 GTR	GT1	298	1st	1st
1996	Team SARD Toyota	Hidetoshi Mitsusada Masami Kageyama	Toyota Supra LM	GT1	205	DNF	DNF
1997	Gulf Team Davidoff GTC Racing	Ray Bellm Andrew Gilbert-Scott	McLaren F1 GTR	GT1	326	DNF	DNF

Sources

• Masanori Sekiya at Driver Database
• Japanese Sports Prototype Championship tables
• Toyota Team TOM'S profile