Yojiro Terada
| Nationality |
 Japanese |
|---|---|
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
| Participating years | 1974, 1981-2008 |
| Teams | Mazda Automotive, Mazdaspeed, Lotus Sport, Team Artnature, T.D.R., Courage Compétition, Autoexe, Welter Racing, Binnie Motorsports, T2M Motorsport, Terramos |
| Best finish | 7th (1995) |
| Class wins | 4 (1983, 1988, 1990, 1996) |
Yojiro Terada (寺田陽次郎 Terada Yōjirō, born 26 March 1947) is a Japanese racing driver from Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture. He is known for holding the record for the most participations in the 24 Hours of Le Mans without winning, having run on 29 occasions (28 of which were consecutive) since 1974. He is also third behind Henri Pescarolo and Bob Wollek for the drivers with the most participations.[1] His best overall finish was seventh in 1995, although he has had several class victories over the years.
He began his racing career in a Honda S600[2] in 1969, before he was taken on as Mazda's factory driver, a position he held through the 1990s including participating in the World Sportscar Championship and All Japan Sports Prototype Championship.
He also took class wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona on two occasions, including in the Mazda RX-7's debut race in 1979, scoring a GTU class win at fifth place overall.[3] The other occasion was a fourth place overall finish and a GTO class win in 1982.[4]
When he is not racing, he runs the Tokyo-based AutoExe (オートエクゼ) tuning business, specialising in tuning parts and accessories for Mazda.[5][6] and instructs on driving at NATS (Nihon Automobile High Technical School) [7]
He is the father of voice actress Haruhi Nanao.
24 Hours of Le Mans results
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Mazda Automotive |
Yasuhiro Okamoto Harukuni Takahashi |
Sigma MC74-Mazda | S 3.0 |
155 | NC | NC |
| 1981 | Mazdaspeed |
Hiroshi Fushida Win Percy |
Mazda RX-7 | IMSA GTO |
25 | DNF | DNF |
| 1982 | Mazdaspeed |
Takashi Yorino Allan Moffat |
Mazda RX-7 | IMSA GTX |
282 | 14th | 6th |
| 1983 | Mazdaspeed |
Takashi Yorino Yoshimi Katayama |
Mazda 717C | C Jr. | 302 | 12th | 1st |
| 1984 | Mazdaspeed |
.svg.png){kind=small} Pierre Dieudonné Takashi Yorino |
Mazda 727C | C2 | 261 | 20th | 6th |
| 1985 | Mazdaspeed |
Yoshimi Katayama Takashi Yorino |
Mazda 737C | C2 | 264 | 24th | 6th |
| 1986 | Mazdaspeed |
Yoshimi Katayama Takashi Yorino |
Mazda 757 | GTP | 59 | DNF | DNF |
| 1987 | Mazdaspeed |
Yoshimi Katayama Takashi Yorino |
Mazda 757 | GTP | 34 | DNF | DNF |
| 1988 | Mazdaspeed |
 David Kennedy Pierre Dieudonné |
Mazda 757 | GTP | 337 | 15th | 1st |
| 1989 | Mazdaspeed |
Marc Duez Volker Weidler |
Mazda 767 | GTP | 339 | 12th | 3rd |
| 1990 | Mazdaspeed |
Yoshimi Katayama Takashi Yorino |
Mazda 767B | GTP | 304 | 20th | 1st |
| 1991 | Mazdaspeed Oreca |
Pierre Dieudonné Takashi Yorino |
Mazda 787 | C2 | 346 | 8th | 8th |
| 1992 | Mazdaspeed Oreca |
 Maurizio Sandro Sala Takashi Yorino |
Mazda MXR-01 | C1 | 124 | DNF | DNF |
| 1993 | Lotus Sport Chamberlain Engineering |
Peter Hardman Thorkild Thyrring |
Lotus Esprit S300 | GT | 92 | DNF | DNF |
| 1994 | Team Artnature |
Franck Fréon Pierre de Thoisy |
Mazda RX-7 GTO | IMSA GTS |
250 | 15th | 2nd |
| 1995 |  D.T.R. Mazdaspeed |
Jim Downing Franck Fréon |
Kudzu DG-3-Mazda | WSC | 282 | 7th | 3rd |
| 1996 | Mazdaspeed |
Jim Downing Franck Fréon |
Kudzu DLM-Mazda | LMP2 | 251 | 25th | 1st |
| 1997 | Team D.T.R Mazdaspeed |
Jim Downing Franck Fréon |
Kudzu DLM-4-Mazda | LMP | 263 | 17th | 6th |
| 1998 | Courage Compétition |
Franck Fréon Olivier Thévenin |
Courage C36-Porsche | LMP1 | 300 | 16th | 5th |
| 1999 | Autoexe Motorsport |
Franck Fréon Robin Donovan |
Autoexe LMP99-Ford | LMP | 74 | DNF | DNF |
| 2000 | Rachel Welter |
Richard Balandras Sylvain Boulay |
WR LMP-Peugeot | LMP675 | 266 | 26th | 2nd |
| 2001 | Gerard Welter |
Stéphane Daoudi Jean-René de Fournoux |
WR LMP01-Peugeot | LMP675 | 245 | 19th | 2nd |
| 2002 | Autoexe Motorsport |
John Fergus Jim Downing |
Autoexe (WR) LMP-02-Mazda | LMP675 | 5 | DNF | DNF |
| 2003 | Rachel Welter |
Olivier Porta Gavin Pickering |
WR LMP01-Peugeot | LMP675 | 235 | NC | NC |
| 2004 | Rachel Welter |
Patrice Roussel Olivier Porta |
WR LM2001-Peugeot | LMP2 | 270 | 26th | 2nd |
| 2005 | Rachel Welter |
Patrice Roussel William Binnie |
WR LMP04-Peugeot | LMP2 | 233 | NC | NC |
| 2006 | Binnie Motorsports |
William Binnie Allen Timpany |
Lola B05/42-Zytek | LMP2 | 326 | 13th | 2nd |
| 2007 | T2M Motorsport |
Robin Longechal Yutaka Yamagishi |
Dome S101.5-Mader | LMP2 | 56 | DNF | DNF |
| 2008 | Terramos |
Hiroki Katoh Kazuho Takahashi |
Courage LC70-Mugen | LMP1 | 224 | NC | NC |
References
- ↑ "The Most Regular Competitors". Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). Archived from the original on December 5, 2008. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
- ↑ 寺田陽次郎公式ウェブサイト » 寺田陽次郎について
- ↑ World Sports Racing Prototypes - IMSA 1979
- ↑ World Sports Racing Prototypes - IMSA 1982
- ↑ (Japanese) Welcome AutoExe Page
- ↑ http://www.nihoncar.com/en/news-263-Mazda+Roadster+by+Autoexe,+HDTV.html Nihon Car.com:Mazda Roadster by Autoexe, HDTV
- ↑ (Japanese) 学園の10大ポイント
External links
- (Japanese) Official website
- (Japanese) Terada's blog page
- (English) AutoExe
- Yojiro Tarada in the 24h of Le Mans