Keisuke Kunimoto (国本 京佑, Kunimoto Keisuke, born 9 January 1989) , also known as Lee Kyung-woo (이경우) is a Japanese/Zainichi Korean race car driver who raced with a Japanese racing license.[1]

His mother is Japanese. His father, Yoshihiro Lee (李好廣、이호광 Lee Ho-gwang), also known as Yoshihiro Kunimoto, is the 1983 All Japan Karting Champion and his uncle, Yoshihiko Lee (이호언 Lee Ho-eon), won the same karting championship twice in 1980 and 1981. His younger brother, Yuji, is also a race car driver.

Racing career

Kunimoto began karting in 2001 when he was 12. After winning the All Japan Karting Championship FA Class in 2004, he entered Formula Toyota Racing School and took scholarship of Toyota. He began his car racing career in the 2005 Formula Toyota season, at the seventh round of the season in Tsukuba.

He competed in Formula Toyota and Formula Challenge Japan in 2006 and 2007, and won the championship of Formula Challenge Japan with three wins and ended runner-up in Formula Toyota in 2007.

In 2008, he raced in the All-Japan Formula Three for TOM'S and in the Super GT for apr, as a Toyota young Drivers Program (TDP) driver. He finished runner-up in the first Formula Three season.

2008 Macau Grand Prix

Keisuke Kunimoto driving the Dallara F308 TOM'S Toyota in the 2008 Macau Grand Prix.

At the end of the season, Kunimoto went to Macau with TOM'S and won the Macau F3 Grand Prix, becoming the second Japanese driver to win the race after Takuma Sato.

Formula Nippon

Kunimoto competed in the 2009 Formula Nippon season season for Team LeMans, finishing last in the standings with one point.

A1 Grand Prix

Kunimoto joined A1 Team Korea for the 2008–09 A1 Grand Prix season, and was set to make his debut at the South African round, but political issues regarding a slogan on his car, prevented him from racing on that weekend.[2][3]

Formula Renault 3.5 Series

Kunimoto joined Epsilon Euskadi for the last two Formula Renault 3.5 Series rounds of the 2009 season. He replaced Spaniard Dani Clos in the team's line-up at the Nürburgring and at the season finale at the new Ciudad del Motor de Aragón circuit.[4]

He returned with the team for the 2010 season, partnering 2009 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 champion Albert Costa.[5]

Racing record

Career summary

Season Series Team Races Wins Poles FLaps Podiums Points Position
2005 Formula Toyota TDP Scolarship 1 0 0 0 0 0 14th
2006 Formula Toyota TDP Scolarship FT 10 0 0 0 1 56 7th
Formula Challenge Japan TDP Scolarship 10 0 0 0 1 47 7th
2007 Formula Challenge Japan TDP Scolarship 18 3 3 5 9 189 1st
Formula Toyota A Project Hanashima 7 2 0 0 6 98 2nd
2008 Japanese Formula 3 Championship TOM'S 18 3 2 3 12 219 2nd
Macau Grand Prix 1 1 0 0 1 N/A 1st
Super GT - GT300 apr 9 1 1 0 2 50 9th
2008-09 A1 Grand Prix A1 Team Korea 0 0 0 0 0 4‡ 19th‡
2009 Formula Nippon Team LeMans 8 0 0 1 0 1 13th
24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2 Navi Team Goh 1 0 0 0 0 N/A DNF
Formula Renault 3.5 Series Epsilon Euskadi 4 0 0 0 0 0 32nd
2010 Formula Renault 3.5 Series Epsilon Euskadi 18 0 0 0 0 8 22nd

‡ Team standings

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2009 Japan Navi Team Goh Japan Seiji Ara
Germany Sascha Maassen 		Porsche RS Spyder Evo LMP2 339 DNF DNF
Source:[6]

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

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

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Pos Points
2009 Epsilon Euskadi CAT
1 		CAT
2 		SPA
1 		SPA
2 		MON
1 		HUN
1 		HUN
2 		SIL
1 		SIL
2 		BUG
1 		BUG
2 		ALG
1 		ALG
2 		NÜR
1
16 		NÜR
2
13 		ALC
1
17 		ALC
2
21 		32nd 0
2010 Epsilon Euskadi ALC
1
Ret 		ALC
2
14 		SPA
1
15 		SPA
2
16 		MON
1
18 		BRN
1
5 		BRN
2
Ret 		MAG
1
16 		MAG
2
18 		HUN
1
9 		HUN
2
15 		HOC
1
12 		HOC
2
13 		SIL
1
12 		SIL
2
13 		CAT
1
11 		CAT
2
18 		22nd 8
Sources:[7][8]

References

  1. ^ Ａ１グランプリ韓国代表は在日３世のイ・キョンウ (in Japanese). joins.com. 2008-02-03. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
  2. ^ "한국 A1GP 대표 선수된 재일동포 3세 이경우" (in Korean). donga.com. 2009-02-10. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
  3. ^ "Keisuke Kunimoto: Największa sensacja w historii GP Makau?" (in Polish). https://motohigh.pl. 2009-11-06. Retrieved 2024-01-10. ((cite news)): External link in |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ English, Steven (2009-09-14). "Kunimoto to join Epsilon for two races". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Archived from the original on 2009-09-22. Retrieved 2009-09-14.
  5. ^ "Epsilon Euskadi announces World Series 2010 drivers' line up". Epsilon Euskadi. Consultec. 2010-02-22. Archived from the original on 2011-10-05. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
  6. ^ "Complete Archive of Keisuke Kunimoto". Racing Sports Cars. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  7. ^ "Keisuke Kunimoto Results". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  8. ^ "Keisuke Kunimoto". Motor Sport. Retrieved 26 May 2022.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Keisuke Kunimoto.
Sporting positions Preceded byYuhi Sekiguchi Formula Challenge JapanChampion 2007 Succeeded byYuji Kunimoto Preceded byOliver Jarvis Macau Grand PrixWinner 2008 Succeeded byEdoardo Mortara
Macau Grand Prix winners
Categories