Kenta Yamashita

is a Japanese racing driver for Toyota Gazoo Racing who is currently competing in Super GT for TOM'S and in Super Formula for Kondō Racing. He won the GT500-class Super GT championship title in 2019, 2024 and 2025. He previously won the 2016 All-Japan Formula 3 Championship and the 2013 Formula Challenge Japan titles.

Career

Karting Yamashita competed in karts before graduating to single-seater cars in 2012.

Formula Super FJ and Formula Challenge Japan Yamashita began his racing car career in the 2012 Motegi Championship Formula Super FJ, which he won in his first season. In all four starts, he took the pole, fastest lap, and race win. In 2013, he progressed to the Formula Challenge Japan series, which was a racing category intended for drivers between entry level and Formula 3. He scored seven podiums and in 12 races, including four wins, and took the championship title.

All-Japan Formula Three In 2014, Yamashita graduated to the All-Japan Formula Three Championship with the Petronas Team TOM'S. He finished runner-up in the championship to the more experienced Nobuharu Matsushita.

In 2015, Yamashita continued to race in the All-Japan Formula Three Championship with TOM'S, he managed to clinch runners up, just lose out to Nick Cassidy the eventual champion. 2016, Yamashita won the title in the final round, pips out Jann Mardenborough to the title.

Super GT In 2015, Yamashita made his debut in GT300 class with Porsche Team KTR alongside Alexandre Imperatori. He then made one off appearance the next season with Tsuchiya Engineering. He stayed with the team full time afterwards. That season, he won his first race alongside Takamitsu Matsui.

Yamashita made a one off appearance with Racing Project Bandoh in Fuji Speedway. Then for 2018, he stepped up to GT500 with Bandoh, as he replaced Yuhi Sekiguchi. Yamashita then transferred to Lexus Team Wako's LeMans, replacing Felix Rosenqvist, who left Super GT to compete in the IndyCar Series. He then with Kazuya Oshima won the title at the final race of the season. That would be Team LeMans final title as the team discontinued their campaign in GT500. For 2020, Yamashita initially did not listed to compete in Super GT as he was focused to do WEC. But because of the pandemic, he only ran a couple of races in that year. He covered up for Heikki Kovalainen at Team SARD for Round 1 because Kovalalinen unable to enter Japan. Then Yamashita would race in two rounds as he replaced Nick Cassidy, as Cassidy began preparations for his debut in the 2021 FIA Formula E World Championship.

In 2021, Yamashita returned to the series full time in 2021, this time with new Rookie Racing with his former champion pair Oshima. During his time with the team, he won two races, and couple of podiums. For 2024, he moved to 2023 champion team Team au TOM'S to pair with Sho Tsuboi as he replaced Ritomo Miyata.

Super Formula

Yamashita made his Super Formula debut in 2017 with Kondo Racing alongside his 2015 title rival Cassidy. Yamashita stayed with the same team for over nine years, and he managed only to win once.

In 2026, Yamashita moved to KCMG with Kalle Rovanperä.

FIA World Endurance Championship

Yamashita made his international racing debut in the 2019-20 FIA World Endurance Championship, driving in the LMP2 class for Danish team High Class Racing alongside Anders Fjordbach and amateur driver Mark Patterson. Yamashita would impress in qualifying sessions throughout the season, outmatching more experienced opponents on a regular basis, but the team would ultimately achieve little success in races and ended the season as the last-placed LMP2 team. Yamashita reached the Hyperpole session in qualifying for the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans before the team was forced to retire with a gearbox problem.

Racing record

Career summary Season still in progress.

‡ Team standings.

Complete Formula Challenge Japan results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Japanese Formula 3 Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 DC Pts 2014 Petronas Team TOM'S Toyota SUZ1 SUZ2 MOT1 MOT2 MOT3 OKA1 OKA2 FUJ1 FUJ2 MOT1 MOT2 SUG1 SUG2 FUJ1 FUJ2 2nd 90 2015 Petronas Team TOM'S Toyota SUZ1 SUZ2 MOT1 MOT2 MOT3 OKA1 OKA2 FUJ1 FUJ2 OKA1 OKA2 FUJ1 FUJ2 MOT1 MOT2 SUG1 SUG2 2nd 113 2016 Zent Team TOM'S Toyota SUZ1 SUZ2 FUJ1 FUJ2 OKA1 OKA2 SUZ1 SUZ2 FUJ1 FUJ2 MOT1 MOT2 OKA1 OKA2 SUG1 SUG2 SUG3 1st 113

Complete Super GT results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 DC Points 2015 Porsche Team KTR Porsche 911 GT3 GT300 OKA FUJ CHA FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT 20th 6 2016 VivaC Team Tsuchiya Toyota 86 MC GT300 OKA FUJ SUG FUJ SUZ CHA MOT MOT NC 0 2017 VivaC Team Tsuchiya Toyota 86 MC GT300 OKA AUT SUG FUJ SUZ CHA MOT 5th 48 Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh Lexus LC 500 GT500 FUJ 20th 1 2018 Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh Lexus LC 500 GT500 OKA FUJ SUZ CHA FUJ SUG AUT MOT 11th 32 2019 Lexus Team LeMans Wako's Lexus LC 500 GT500 OKA FUJ SUZ CHA FUJ AUT SUG MOT 1st 85 2020 TGR Team SARD Toyota GR Supra GT500 GT500 FUJ FUJ SUZ MOT FUJ SUZ 14th 27 TGR Team KeePer Tom's Toyota GR Supra GT500 GT500 MOT FUJ 2021 TGR Team ENEOS ROOKIE Racing Toyota GR Supra GT500 GT500 OKA FUJ MOT SUZ SUG AUT MOT FUJ 5th 52 2022 TGR Team ENEOS ROOKIE Racing Toyota GR Supra GT500 GT500 OKA FUJ SUZ FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT 5th 49 2023 TGR Team ENEOS ROOKIE Racing Toyota GR Supra GT500 GT500 OKA FUJ SUZ FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT 7th 45 2024 TGR Team au TOM'S Toyota GR Supra GT500 GT500 OKA FUJ SUZ FUJ SUG AUT MOT SUZ 1st 97 2025 TGR Team au TOM'S Toyota GR Supra GT500 GT500 OKA FUJ SEP FS1 FS2 SUZ SUG AUT MOT 1st 80.5 2026 TGR Team au TOM'S Toyota GR Supra GT500 GT500 OKA FUJ FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT 1st* 50* † Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance. ‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed. (Number) Driver did not take part in this sprint race, points are still awarded for the teammate's result. Season still in progress.

Complete Super Formula results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 DC Points 2017 Kondo Racing Toyota SUZ OKA OKA FUJ MOT AUT SUG SUZ SUZ 11th 6.5 2018 Kondo Racing Toyota SUZ AUT SUG FUJ MOT OKA SUZ 9th 11.5 2019 Kondo Racing Toyota SUZ AUT SUG FUJ MOT OKA SUZ 5th 21 2020 Kondo Racing Toyota MOT OKA SUG AUT SUZ SUZ FUJ 7th 34 2021 Kondo Racing Toyota FUJ SUZ AUT SUG MOT MOT SUZ 14th 8 2022 Kondo Racing Toyota FUJ FUJ SUZ AUT SUG FUJ MOT MOT SUZ SUZ 15th 19 2023 Kondo Racing Toyota FUJ FUJ SUZ AUT SUG FUJ MOT SUZ SUZ 8th 322024 Kondo Racing Toyota SUZ AUT SUG FUJ MOT FUJ FUJ SUZ SUZ 7th 48.5 2025 Kondo Racing Toyota SUZ SUZ MOT MOT AUT FUJ FUJ SUG FUJ SUZ SUZ SUZ 11th 27.5 2026 KCMG Toyota MOT MOT SUZ SUZ FUJ FUJ FUJ SUG FUJ FUJ SUZ SUZ 18th* 5* ‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed. Season still in progress.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results Year Entrant Class Car Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Rank Points 2019–20 High Class Racing LMP2 Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 SIL FUJ SHA BHR COA SPA LMS BHR 13th 47

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 2020 High Class Racing Anders Fjordbach Mark Patterson Oreca 07 LMP2 88 DNFDNF