Hayanari Shimoda

Hayanari Shimoda (下田隼成; Shimoda Hayanari; born July 16, 1984) is a Japanese racing driver. He was the 2005 Le Mans Endurance Series runner-up for Zytek Motorsport.

Biography Shimoda's career started in 1997 in karting, Shimoda moving up to Italian Formula Renault in 2001. Happy to travel the world to further his career, he raced part of the 2002 Japanese GT Series and fill-in races in both Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup and British Formula Renault.

A full season in Formula Renault V6 Eurocup followed in 2003, as well as a part season in the World Sportscar Championship and one race in the American Le Mans Series. Shimoda stayed in the V6 Eurocup in 2004, and was also set to drive in the Le Mans Endurance Series before complications prevented him from doing so.

Shimoda was set to be the second driver for the SuperNova team in GP2 Series during 2005. However, at the last minute, he was replaced by Adam Carroll who will now partner ex-Jordan Grand Prix driver Giorgio Pantano.

Shimoda's Zytek 04S crossing the line to win the 2005 1000 km of Spa.

Shimoda finished runner-up in the Le Mans Endurance Series LMP1 championship for Zytek, winning the 1000 km of Spa and 1000 km Nürburgring. In 2005, Shimoda won the Monterey Sports Car Championships, the final race of the season in the ALMS. He was partnered by Tom Chilton in a Zytek 04S LMP1 sports prototype.

Shimoda also represented Japan in the A1 Grand Prix series for the first time at Eastern Creek in November 2005, and was lucky to escape with only a concussion after a spectacular crash in which the engine separated from the chassis. He also occurred in another spectacular crash at the A1 Grand Prix round in Mexico. The cars were under a yellow flag when as they were coming onto the pit straight Shimoda's car was launched airborne after hitting the back of A1 Team New Zealand's car. Shimoda escaped unhurt.

In 2006, Shimoda raced in the World Series by Renault championship for the Victory Engineering team.

Racing record

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete American Le Mans Series results

Complete Le Mans Series results

Complete A1 Grand Prix 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 18 19 20 21 22 DC Points 2005–06 Japan GBRSPR GBRFEA GERSPR GERFEA PORSPR PORFEA AUSSPR AUSFEA MYSSPR MYSFEA UAESPR UAEFEA RSASPR RSAFEA IDNSPR IDNFEA MEXSPR MEXFEA USASPR USAFEA CHNSPR CHNFEA 21st 8

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) † Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.