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Sena Sakaguchi

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Sena Sakaguchi
Sakaguchi at Mobility Resort Motegi in 2024
NationalityJapan Japanese
Born (1999-07-09) 9 July 1999 (age 25)
Habikino, Osaka, Japan
Super GT career
Debut season2019
Current teamTGR Team WedsSport Bandoh
Car number19
Former teamsTGR Team SARD
TGR Team KeePer TOM'S
K-Tunes Racing (GT300)
Starts32
Wins3
Podiums7
Poles6
Fastest laps3
Best finish2nd in 2019 (GT300)
Super Formula Championship career
Debut season2018
Current teamCerumo・INGING
Car number39
Former teamsKondō Racing
Team Mugen
Starts26
Wins0
Podiums2
Poles1
Fastest laps0
Best finish7th in 2021
Previous series
2020
2020
2019-2021
2016-19
2015-16		Formula Regional Japanese Championship
Super Formula Lights
Super GT - GT300
Japanese Formula 3 Championship
F4 Japanese Championship
Championship titles
2020Formula Regional Japanese Championship

Sena Sakaguchi (阪口晴南, Sakaguchi Sena, born 9 July 1999) is a Japanese racing driver for Toyota Gazoo Racing who is currently competing in Super GT for Racing Project Bandoh and in Super Formula for Cerumo・INGING. He is the champion of the 2020 Formula Regional Japanese Championship.

Career

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Early Career

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Sakaguchi competing in the Super Formula Championship in 2018

Sakaguchi began his senior competition career in 2015, competing for Sutekina Racing Team in the final four rounds of the F4 Japanese Championship. Through eight races that season, he registered a podium at Motegi and finished outside of the points just once, taking 10th in the championship. The following season, he graduated to the Japanese F3 Championship, taking part thanks to the Honda Formula Dream Project.[1] Sakaguchi continued competing in F4 during 2016, tallying his first win in the series at Motegi en route to a second-place point finish.[2] In his maiden F3 season, Sakaguchi would finish 9th in points.[citation needed]

He returned to F3 in 2017 with Honda support, finishing an improved 6th in points, netting his first podium in the series at the penultimate race at Sugo. In 2018, Sakaguchi joined Toda Racing and built upon his previous results, finishing fourth in points off the back of five podium finishes in 17 races.[3] Following the 2018 season, Sakaguchi was released from his junior driver role at Honda.[4]

Sakaguchi raced in F3 2019 season tallying three podiums in five races driving for TOM'S. Following the Japanese F3 split at the end of 2019, Sakaguchi competed in both of the resulting series during 2020. In the Super Formula Lights series, Sakaguchi ran the full season with B-Max Racing.[5] Despite finishing just one race outside of the podium positions, he would finish second in the standings, nearly 40 points behind Ritomo Miyata. In the K2 Planet-promoted Formula Regional Japanese Championship, however, Sakaguchi won all eleven races that he competed in, taking the championship by just over 50 points despite missing the triple-header at Sugo.[6]

Super Formula

[edit]

Sakaguchi would have been his debut in the Super Formula Championship with Team Mugen, filling in for Nirei Fukuzumi, who was competing in the F2 Championship that weekend.[7] However, the race was canceled due to inclement weather. Later, in 2020, he filled in for Kondo Racing's Kenta Yamashita during the Super Formula Championship round at Okayama.[8] However, Sakaguchi once again was unable to make it to the grid, crashing on the warm-up lap and failing to officially register his Super Formula debut.[4]

For 2021, Sakaguchi secured a full-time ride in Super Formula with P.mu/cerumo・INGING, replacing retiring two-time series champion Hiroaki Ishiura.[9] In his rookie season, Sakaguchi claimed two podium finishes en route to a 7th-place points finish, taking second at the rain-shortened round at Autopolis and the second event at Motegi. Sakaguchi endured a quiet 2023 season in Super Formula, finishing a season-high fifth at Motegi.

Super GT

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Sakaguchi's GT500-class Toyota GR Supra in 2023.

2019 marked Sakaguchi's first experience with sports car racing, as he joined K-Tunes Racing for the 2019 Super GT Series season, competing alongside veteran Morio Nitta in the GT300 class. The drive came about thanks to Sakaguchi's uncle, Ryōhei Sakaguchi a racing driver who was competing in the series and had connections with the K-Tunes team.[4] Sakaguchi and Nitta would take two class victories that season; the rain-shortened season-opener at Okayama and Round 3 at Suzuka, finishing 2nd in points. During 2020, Sakaguchi also played the role of substitute on two occasions, initially replacing Heikki Kovalainen in TGR Team SARD's GT500 class entry at Fuji in July.[10]

For 2021, Visa issues for Frenchman Sacha Fenestraz enabled Sakaguchi to add a part-time campaign in the GT500 class of the Super GT series.[11] He would pair with Ryo Hirakawa for the first five rounds of the season, taking pole at the opening round alongside two podium finishes, before finishing the season with K-Tunes Racing in the GT300 class.

Ahead of 2022, Sakaguchi moved to the GT500 class full-time, pairing with Yuji Kunimoto in the #19 TGR Team WedsSport Bandoh entry.[12] Despite Sakaguchi himself claiming three individual poles and the entry scoring four total,[13] the team would only finish 11th in the championship, finishing no higher than fifth in any given race. At the conclusion of the season, sports car racing publication Sportscar365 named Sakaguchi as an honorable mention for their GT500 Driver of the Year.[14] Sakaguchi would return to the team in 2023, paired once again with Kunimoto.[15] The duo would claim the first GT500-class victory for Bandoh since 2016 in a red-flag shortened event at Suzuka,[16] concluding the season 12th in the overall championship.

Racing record

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Career summary

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Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position
2015 F4 Japanese Championship Sutekina Racing Team 8 0 0 1 1 41 10th
Super-FJ Okayama Series Drago Corse Toda Power 1 1 1 1 1 20 6th
Super-FJ - Japan Finals Nakanihon Automotive College Toda Wako's 1 1 1 1 1 N/A 1st
2016 F4 Japanese Championship Honda Formula Dream Project 13 1 0 2 7 138 2nd
Japanese Formula 3 Championship 17 0 0 0 1 20 9th
2017 Japanese Formula 3 Championship 20 0 0 0 1 27 6th
2018 Japanese Formula 3 Championship Toda Racing 19 0 0 0 5 52 4th
Macau Grand Prix 2 0 0 0 0 0 18th
Super Formula Team Mugen 0 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2019 Super GT - GT300 K-tunes Racing 8 2 0 1 4 58 2nd
Japanese Formula 3 Championship Corolla Chukyo Kuo TOM'S 5 0 0 0 3 20 8th
2020 Formula Regional Japanese Championship Sutekina Racing Team 11 11 8 8 11 275 1st
Super Formula Lights B-Max Racing 17 4 5 2 16 116 2nd
Super GT - GT300 K-tunes Racing 7 0 1 0 0 15 16th
Super GT - GT500 TGR Team SARD 1 0 0 0 0 5 18th
Super Formula Kondō Racing 0 0 0 0 0 0 NC
Super Taikyū - ST-1 ADVICS Muta Racing 2 0 0 0 2 50‡ 2nd‡
2021 Super Formula P.mu/cerumo・INGING 7 0 0 0 2 35.5 7th
Super GT - GT500 TGR Team KeePer TOM'S 5 0 1 1 2 28 14th
Super GT - GT300 K-tunes Racing 3 0 0 0 1 15 16th
Super Taikyū - ST-1 Tracy Sports 2 0 0 0 2 124‡ 2nd‡
2022 Super GT TGR Team WedsSport Bandoh 8 0 4 0 0 28.5 11th
Super Formula P.mu/cerumo・INGING 10 0 0 0 0 6 18th
Super Taikyu - ST-3 Tracy Sports 1 0 0 0 1 99‡ 3rd‡
2023 Super GT TGR Team WedsSport Bandoh 8 1 0 0 1 30 12th
Super Formula P.mu/cerumo・INGING 9 0 0 0 0 15 12th
2024 Super GT TGR Team WedsSport Bandoh
Super Formula Vertex Partners Cerumo・INGING 9 0 1 0 0 20 12th

* Season still in progress.

‡ Team standings.

Complete Japanese Formula 3/Super Formula Lights results

[edit]
Year Team Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 DC Pts
2016 HFDP Racing Mugen SUZ
1
9 		SUZ
2
7 		FUJ
1
8 		FUJ
2
7 		OKA
1
6 		OKA
2
4 		SUZ
1
7 		SUZ
2
7 		FUJ
1
5 		FUJ
2
8 		MOT
1
6 		MOT
2
6 		OKA
1
6 		OKA
2
2 		SUG
1
7 		SUG
2
5 		SUG
3
5 		9th 20
2017 HFDP Racing Toda Racing OKA
1
6 		OKA
2
5 		OKA
3
7 		SUZ
1
4 		SUZ
2
4 		FUJ
1
4 		FUJ
2
Ret 		OKA
1
6 		OKA
2
9 		SUZ
1
7 		SUZ
2
16 		FUJ
1
4 		FUJ
2
6 		MOT
1
7 		MOT
2
6 		MOT
3
6 		AUT
1
5 		AUT
2
6 		SUG
1
3 		SUG
2
9 		6th 27
2018 Toda Racing Toda Racing SUZ
1
3 		SUZ
2
3 		SUG
1
4 		SUG
2
3 		FUJ
1
2 		FUJ
2
4 		OKA
1
6 		OKA
2
4 		OKA
3
C 		MOT
1
5 		MOT
2
5 		MOT
3
9 		OKA
1
Ret 		OKA
2
4 		OKA
3
C 		SUG
1
8 		SUG
2
5 		SUG
3
Ret 		SUG
4
4 		FUJ
1
2 		FUJ
2
6 		4th 52
2019 Corolla Chukyo Kuo TOM'S Toyota SUZ
1 		SUZ
2 		AUT
1 		AUT
2 		AUT
3 		OKA
1
5 		OKA
2
3 		OKA
3
4 		SUG
1 		SUG
2 		FUJ
1 		FUJ
2 		SUG
1 		SUG
2 		SUG
3 		MOT
1 		MOT
2 		MOT
3 		OKA
1
3 		OKA
2
3 		8th 20
2020 B-Max Racing Team VW MOT
1
2 		MOT
2
3 		MOT
3
2 		OKA
1
2 		OKA
2
1 		SUG
1
2 		SUG
2
1 		SUG
3
2 		AUT
1
2 		AUT
2
1 		AUT
3
2 		SUZ
1
8 		SUZ
2
1 		SUZ
3
2 		FUJ
1
2 		FUJ
2
2 		FUJ
3
2 		2nd 116

Complete Formula Regional Japanese Championship results

[edit]

(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 Pos Points
2020 Sutekina Racing Team FUJ1
1
1 		FUJ1
2
1 		FUJ1
3
1 		SUG
1 		SUG
2 		SUG
3 		FUJ2
1
1 		FUJ2
2
1 		MOT
1
1 		MOT
2
1 		OKA
1
1 		OKA
2
1 		AUT
1
1 		AUT
2
1 		1st 275

Complete Super Formula results

[edit]

(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 DC Points
2018 Team Mugen SUZ AUT
C 		SUG FUJ MOT OKA SUZ NC 0
2020 Kondō Racing MOT OKA
DNS 		SUG AUT SUZ SUZ FUJ NC 0
2021 P.mu cerumo・INGING FUJ
9 		SUZ
11 		AUT
2‡ 		SUG
8 		MOT
5 		MOT
2 		SUZ
13 		7th 35.5
2022 FUJ
12 		FUJ
17 		SUZ
12 		AUT
8 		SUG
19 		FUJ
12 		MOT
16 		MOT
9 		SUZ
10 		SUZ
14 		18th 6
2023 FUJ
17 		FUJ
10 		SUZ
6 		AUT
Ret3 		SUG
10 		FUJ
10 		MOT
5 		SUZ
14 		SUZ
11 		12th 15
2024 Vertex Partners Cerumo・INGING SUZ
71 		AUT
 SUG
 FUJ
 MOT
 FUJ
 FUJ
 SUZ
 SUZ
 5th 7

* Season still in progress.

Complete Super GT results

[edit]
Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DC Points
2019 K-tunes Racing Lexus RC F GT3 GT300 OKA
1 		FUJ
16 		SUZ
1 		BUR
14 		FUJ
15 		AUT
5 		SUG
3 		MOT
3 		2nd 58
2020 FUJ
11 		SUZ
28 		MOT
4 		FUJ
26 		SUZ
5 		MOT
17 		FUJ
22 		16th 15
TGR Team SARD Toyota GR Supra GT500 GT500 FUJ
6 		18th 5
2021 TGR Team KeePer TOM'S OKA
3 		FUJ
3 		MOT
7 		SUZ
10 		SUG
11 		14th 28
K-tunes Racing Lexus RC F GT3 GT300 AUT
2 		MOT
14 		FUJ
19 		16th 15
2022 TGR Team WedsSport Bandoh Toyota GR Supra GT500 GT500 OKA
13 		FUJ
6 		SUZ
5 		FUJ
9 		SUZ
7 		SUG
15 		AUT
5 		MOT
7 		11th 28.5
2023 OKA
9 		FUJ
12 		SUZ
1 		FUJ
12 		SUZ
9 		SUG
8 		AUT
13 		MOT
8 		12th 30
2024 OKA
13 		FUJ
 SUZ
 FUJ
 SUZ
 SUG
 AUT
 MOT
 NC* 0*

* Season still in progress.

References

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  1. ^ "Honda takes Makino and Ohtsu from F4 to F3". formulascout.com. 12 February 2016. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  2. ^ "2016 International Formula 4 Season Reviews". thecheckeredflag.co.uk. 4 January 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  3. ^ "Sena Sakaguchi moves to Motopark in Super Formula Lights". formulascout.com. 18 February 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2021. A move to Toda Racing for 2018 resulted in another five podiums and fourth in the points,
  4. ^ a b c Klein, Jamie (12 June 2021). "The junior driver Honda (probably) regrets letting go of". motorsport.com. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  5. ^ "Super Formula Lights attracts 12-car entry for opener". motorsport.com. 26 August 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  6. ^ "Sakaguchi wins inaugural Formula Regional Japan title at Autopolis". formulascout.com. 12 December 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  7. ^ "Race was canceled due to the bad weather conditions". mugen-power.com. 16 May 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  8. ^ "Toyota calls up Super Formula rookies to race at Okayama". motorsport.com. 24 September 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  9. ^ "Miyata and Sakaguchi earn Super Formula and Super GT seats for 2021". formulascout.com. 22 January 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  10. ^ "SARD calls up new driver to replace absent Kovalainen". motorsport.com. 27 July 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  11. ^ Klein, Jamie (25 May 2021). "Super GT: Sena Sakaguchi may stay at TOM'S for full season". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  12. ^ O'Connell, RJ (6 December 2021). "Toyota Announces 2022 Sportscar Racing Activities". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  13. ^ O'Connell, RJ (17 September 2022). "Sakaguchi Soars In Sugo, TGR Team WedsSport Bandoh Grab Fourth Pole Of 2022". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  14. ^ "Sportscar365's GT Drivers of the Year". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. 29 December 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2022. Honorable mentions... Sena Sakaguchi (three pole positions for Toyota)
  15. ^ O'Connell, RJ (25 November 2022). "Toyota Gazoo Racing Confirms Core SUPER GT Lineups For 2023". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  16. ^ O'Connell, RJ (20 June 2023). "It's Official, TGR Team WedsSport Bandoh Wins At Suzuka". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 16 February 2024.
[edit]
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Series Founded
 Formula Regional Japanese Championship
Champion
2020 		Succeeded by
Yuga Furutani
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