Aguri Suzuki

Template:Nihongo is a Japanese former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from Template:F1 to Template:F1.

Suzuki entered 88 Formula One Grands Prix, achieving a best result of third at the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix, becoming the first Asian driver to score a podium finish. He also won the Japanese Formula 3000 Championship in 1988, and later finished third overall at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1998. He was also a race-winner in the All-Japan GT Championship.

He became involved in team ownership after his Formula One career, first forming Autobacs Racing Team Aguri (ARTA) in 1997 in partnership with Autobacs. ARTA has competed mostly in Super GT, where they have won titles in both the GT500 and GT300 classes. He was the owner of the Super Aguri F1 team, which participated in Formula One from Template:F1 to Template:F1. He also formed Team Aguri, which raced in Formula E from 2014 to 2016.

Early life

Aguri Suzuki was born in Tokyo; his father Masashi Suzuki was of mixed ancestry from Japan and Martinique. Masashi Suzuki had worked as an aircraft technician for Honda Airways, and in 1973 established a go-cart shop.

Aguri was named after the main character in the Kuri-chan comic strip. He attended Josai University majoring in the sciences, but did not complete his degree.

Racing career

Early career

Suzuki began racing karts in 1972, at the age of 12. In 1978 he won the Japanese kart championship and in 1979 made his debut in the Japanese Formula Three (All-Japan F3) championship. He continued in karting and in 1981 was again Japanese Kart Champion. In 1983 he finished second in the All-Japan F3 series, driving a Hayashi-Toyota. He then turned to touring car racing and, driving for the Nissan factory team won the Japanese title in 1986. The same year he made his debut in Japanese F2 and drove in the Le Mans 24 Hours. In 1987 he finished runner-up in the Japanese F3000 series, winning one race (Suzuka). In 1988, driving a March-Yamaha he won the title with three wins (Fuji, Nishi-Nippon and Suzuka).Template:Fact

Formula One career

In 1988, Suzuki raced in European F3000 with Footwork, before he debuted in Formula One on October 30 at his home race, replacing the ill Yannick Dalmas in the Larrousse-Lola. Zakspeed, who were using Yamaha engines, hired Suzuki for 1989, but he failed to pre-qualify in all 16 races.

File:Aguri Suzuki demonstrating Lola LC90 2012 Japan.jpg

Suzuki demonstrates his Larrousse-Lola 90 at Suzuka in 2012 - the scene of his podium finish 22 years earlier.

For 1990 and 1991, he drove again for Larrousse. He finished sixth three times, before finishing third at Suzuka – the first ever podium for an Asian driver in F1. He also set the second-fastest lap.Template:Citation needed

In 1992 and 1993, he was at Footwork alongside Michele Alboreto and then Derek Warwick, but both usually outperformed him. He shared a Ligier with Martin Brundle in 1995, but only scored one point in his races, and was criticised by Mika Salo after the two collided in Buenos Aires. A massive crash in practice for the 1995 Japanese Grand Prix caused a neck injury which saw him miss the race,<ref>Tremayne, David. "Schumacher asserts his authority". The Independent, 30 October 1995. Retrieved on 30 June 2013.</ref> and he immediately announced his retirement.

Suzuki scored a total of eight championship points in F1. At the time he retired, he was the second most successful Japanese F1 driver after Satoru Nakajima in terms of points scored, but Takuma Sato and Kamui Kobayashi have since passed them both.

After Formula One

Suzuki later raced in the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, and remained involved in Japanese driver development. In 2000, with long-term sponsor Autobacs, he ran Autobacs Racing Team Aguri, which won the GT300 title in 2002, and expanded to Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters a season later. He also launched Super Aguri Fernandez Racing with Adrian Fernandez, running cars in the Indy Racing League.

Team ownership

File:Takuma Sato 2007 (crop).jpg

Takuma Sato driving for Super Aguri F1 at the 2007 Malaysian Grand Prix

From 2006 Suzuki ran the Super Aguri F1 Formula One team with the backing of Honda. He put his new team together in four and half months from his initial announcement on 1 November 2005.<ref>BBC. "New team bidding for F1 status". 1 November 2005. Retrieved on 30 June 2013.</ref> The team's initial entry was rejected by the FIA after they failed to secure financial guarantees before the entry deadline, and their acceptance was not formally confirmed until 26 January 2006.<ref>BBC. "Super Aguri handed F1 green light". 26 January 2006. Retrieved on 30 June 2013.</ref> The team made its debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix on 12 March 2006. In 2007, Takuma Sato scored two top-eight finishes, earning the team its first points, and Super Aguri ended up ninth in the Constructors' World Championship. On 6 May 2008, after competing in the opening four races of the season, the team withdrew from Formula One due to financial problems.<ref>BBC. "Struggling Super Aguri out of F1". 6 May 2008. Retrieved on 30 June 2013.</ref>

Helmet

Suzuki's helmet is white with a red line with black sides surrounding the top, a red and black line going from the rear down the chin (forming an A) and a black circle on the top.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
1979	Japanese Formula Three	Team Italya With Tetsu	2	0	0	0	0	2	14th
1980	Japanese Formula Three	Team Italya With Tetsu	4	0	0	0	0	14	13th
1981	Japanese Formula Three	N/A	7	0	0	?	1	30	7th
1982	Japanese Formula Three	Hayashi Racing	9	0	0	?	5	74	4th
	World Sportscar Championship	Kaoru Hoshino	1	0	0	0	0	8	55th
1983	Japanese Formula Three	Hayashi Cars	7	2	3	1	5	62	2nd
	World Sportscar Championship	Panasport Japan	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
1984	Japanese Formula Three	N/A	3	1	0	?	1	28	7th
	All-Japan Sports Prototype Championship	Autobacs Racing	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
1985	Japanese Formula Three	N/A	?	?	?	?	?	77	2nd
	All-Japan Sports Prototype Championship	Central 20 Racing Team	4	0	0	0	0	11	29th
	Japanese Formula Two	NC Speed	2	0	0	0	0	4	16th
	World Sportscar Championship	Central 20 Racing Team	2	0	0	0	0	1.5	92nd
	Macau Grand Prix	Nissan Motorsport	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
1986	Japanese Touring Car Championship	NISMO	?	?	?	?	?	92	1st
	All-Japan Endurance Championship	Person's Racing	4	0	0	0	0	11	29th
	World Sportscar Championship	Nissan Motorsports	2	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	Japanese Formula Two	Yura Takuya Racing Team	1	0	0	0	0	6	13th
1987	Japanese Formula 3000	Footwork Sports Racing Team	9	2	1	?	6	107	2nd
	All-Japan Sports Prototype Championship	Footwork Sports Racing Team	5	0	1	0	0	6	41st
	World Sportscar Championship	Nissan Motorsports	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
1988	Japanese Formula 3000	Footwork Sports Racing Team	8	3	3	3	6	45	1st
	All-Japan Sports Prototype Championship	Nissan Motorsports	5	0	1	0	2	30	11th
	World Sportscar Championship		2	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	International Formula 3000	Footwork	2	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship	Nissan Motorsports	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	Formula One	Larrousse Calmels	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
1989	Formula One	West Zakspeed Racing	0	0	0	0	0	0	NC
1990	Formula One	Espo Larrousse F1	16	0	0	0	1	6	12th
	24 Hours of Le Mans	Toyota Team Tom's	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
1991	Formula One	Larrousse F1	12	0	0	0	0	1	22nd
1992	Formula One	Footwork Mugen Honda	14	0	0	0	0	0	NC
1993	Formula One	Footwork Mugen Honda	16	0	0	0	0	0	NC
1994	Japanese Touring Car Championship	Toyota Team Tom's	15	0	1	1	7	102	5th
	Formula One	Sasol Jordan	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
1995	Formula One	Ligier Gitanes Blondes	5	0	0	0	0	1	17th
1996	All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship	Nismo Team Zexel	6	0	0	0	2	46	6th
	24 Hours of Le Mans	Nismo	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
	International Touring Car Championship	UPS Mercedes-AMG	1	0	0	0	0	0	27th
1997	All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship	Nismo	6	1	0	1	3	60	4th
	24 Hours of Le Mans	Nissan Motorsports	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
	FIA GT Championship	AMG-Mercedes	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
1998	All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship	Nismo	6	0	0	0	1	29	8th
	24 Hours of Le Mans	Nissan Motorsports	1	0	0	0	1	N/A	3rd
1999	All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship	Nismo	7	0	0	0	2	40	6th
	24 Hours of Le Mans	Nissan Motorsports	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNS
2000	All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	7	1	0	0	1	24	13th
2007	Formula One	Super Aguri F1	Test driver

Complete Japanese Formula 3000 Championship 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	DC	Points
1985	NC Speed	SUZ	FUJ	MIN	SUZ	SUZ	FUJ Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small		16th	4
1986	Yura Takuya Racing Team	SUZ	FUJ	MIN	SUZ	SUZ	FUJ	SUZ	SUZ Template:Small		13th	6
1987	Footwork Sports Racing Team	SUZ Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	MIN Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	SUG Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	2nd	107
1988	Footwork Sports Racing Team	SUZ Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	MIN Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	SUG Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small		1st	45

Complete Macau Grand Prix results

Year	Team	Chassis/Engine	Qualifying	Race1	Race2	Overall ranking
1985	Template:Flagicon Nismo	Ralt・Nissan	28th	19	DNF	DNF

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Template:Tooltip	Template:Tooltip
1986	Template:Flagicon Nissan Motorsports	Template:Flagicon Kazuyoshi Hoshino Template:Flagicon Keiji Matsumoto	Nissan R86V	C1	64	DNF	DNF
1987	Template:Flagicon Nissan Motorsports	Template:Flagicon Masahiro Hasemi Template:Flagicon Takao Wada	Nissan 87E	C1	117	DNF	DNF
1988	Template:Flagicon Nissan Motorsports	Template:Flagicon Kazuyoshi Hoshino Template:Flagicon Takao Wada	Nissan (March) R88C	C1	286	DNF	DNF
1990	Template:Flagicon Toyota Team TOM'S	Template:Flagicon Johnny Dumfries Template:Flagicon Roberto Ravaglia	Toyota 90C-V	C1	64	DNF	DNF
1996	Template:Flagicon NISMO	Template:Flagicon Masahiko Kageyama Template:Flagicon Masahiko Kondo	Nissan Skyline GT-R LM	GT1	209	DNF	DNF
1997	Template:Flagicon Nissan Motorsports Template:Flagicon TWR	Template:Flagicon Riccardo Patrese Template:Flagicon Eric van de Poele	Nissan R390 GT1	GT1	121	DNF	DNF
1998	Template:Flagicon Nissan Motorsports Template:Flagicon TWR	Template:Flagicon Kazuyoshi Hoshino Template:Flagicon Masahiko Kageyama	Nissan R390 GT1	GT1	347	3rd	3rd
1999	Template:Flagicon Nissan Motorsports	Template:Flagicon Masami Kageyama Template:Flagicon Eric van de Poele	Nissan R391	LMP	0	DNS	DNS

Complete International Formula 3000 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	DC	Points
1988	Footwork	JER	VAL	PAU Template:Small	SIL Template:Small	MNZ	PER	BRH Template:Small	BIR	BUG	ZOL	DIJ	NC	0

Complete Formula One results

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

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Points
1988	Larrousse Calmels	Lola LC88	Cosworth V8	BRA	SMR	MON	MEX	CAN	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN Template:Small	AUS		NC	0
1989	West Zakspeed Racing	Zakspeed 891	Yamaha V8	BRA Template:Small	SMR Template:Small	MON Template:Small	MEX Template:Small	USA Template:Small	CAN Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	HUN Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	POR Template:Small	ESP Template:Small	JPN Template:Small	AUS Template:Small		NC	0
1990	Espo Larrousse F1	Lola LC89	Lamborghini V12	USA Template:Small	BRA Template:Small																12th	6
		Lola LC90				SMR Template:Small	MON Template:Small	CAN Template:Small	MEX Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	HUN Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	POR Template:Small	ESP Template:Small	JPN Template:Small	AUS Template:Small
1991	Larrousse F1	Larrousse Lola LC91	Cosworth V8	USA Template:Small	BRA Template:Small	SMR Template:Small	MON Template:Small	CAN Template:Small	MEX Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	HUN Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	POR Template:Small	ESP Template:Small	JPN Template:Small	AUS Template:Small		22nd	1
1992	Footwork Mugen Honda	Footwork FA13	Mugen Honda V10	RSA Template:Small	MEX Template:Small	BRA Template:Small	ESP Template:Small	SMR Template:Small	MON Template:Small	CAN Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	HUN Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	POR Template:Small	JPN Template:Small	AUS Template:Small		NC	0
1993	Footwork Mugen Honda	Footwork FA13B	Mugen Honda V10	RSA Template:Small	BRA Template:Small																NC	0
		Footwork FA14				EUR Template:Small	SMR Template:Small	ESP Template:Small	MON Template:Small	CAN Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	HUN Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	POR Template:Small	JPN Template:Small	AUS Template:Small
1994	Sasol Jordan	Jordan 194	Hart V10	BRA	PAC Template:Small	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	EUR	JPN	AUS		NC	0
1995	Ligier Gitanes Blondes	Ligier JS41	Mugen Honda V10	BRA Template:Small	ARG Template:Small	SMR Template:Small	ESP	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER Template:Small	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	EUR	PAC Template:Small	JPN Template:Small	AUS	17th	1

Complete Japanese Touring Car Championship (1994-) results

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	DC	pts
1994	Toyota Team Tom's	Toyota Corona	AUT 1 Template:Small	AUT 2 Template:Small	SUG 1	SUG 2	TOK 1 Template:Small	TOK 2 Template:Small	SUZ 1 Template:Small	SUZ 2 Template:Small	MIN 1 Template:Small	MIN 2 Template:Small	AID 1 Template:Small	AID 2 Template:Small	TSU 1 Template:Small	TSU 2 Template:Small	SEN 1 Template:Small	SEN 2 Template:Small	FUJ 1 Template:Small	FUJ 2 Template:Small	5th	102

Complete JGTC results

(key)

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	DC	Pts
1996	Nismo Team Zexel	Nissan Skyline GT-R	GT500	SUZ 4	FUJ Ret	SEN 7	FUJ 3	SUG 5	MIN 3		6th	46
1997	Nismo	Nissan Skyline GT-R	GT500	SUZ 1	FUJ 4	SEN 2	FUJ 10	MIN 9	SUG 3		4th	60
1998	Nismo	Nissan Skyline GT-R	GT500	SUZ Ret	FUJ C	SEN 2	FUJ 7	MOT 11	MIN 5	SUG 9	8th	29
1999	Nismo	Nissan Skyline GT-R	GT500	SUZ 5	FUJ 11	SUG 9	MIN 12	FUJ 12	TAI 2	MOT 2	6th	40
2000	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	Honda NSX	GT500	MOT 7	FUJ Ret	SUG 15	FUJ 1	TAI Ret	MIN Ret	[[Suzuka International Racing Course|Template:Ifsubst style="color:white">SUZ]] DSQ	13th	24

See also

• Super Aguri (disambiguation)
• Autobacs Racing Team Aguri (ARTA)
• Super Aguri F1

External links

• Official Site
• Driver profile
• Suzuki's short biography
• An article of Suzuki in French
• Suzuki featured at itv-f1.com
• Aguri Suzuki's profile and statistics at Formula One DataBase
• 2005 Super GT GT500 profile
• 2005 Super GT GT300 profile