Kotaro Shimbara

is a Japanese racing driver who currently races in the F4 Japanese Championship.

Career Formula 4 Shimbara made his racing debut in 2021 race in F4 Japan with TOM'S backed RSS team from the third round onwards. He finished fourteenth in the standings.

Shimbara made his full season debut in Japanese F4 with Zap Speed in 2022. He finished twentieth in the standings with one podium. In 2024, he returned to the series, racing with Kageyama Racing. He claimed pole in the first race, and a win after Ryota Horachi was disqualified in the last race at Suzuka. For 2025, he would stay in the series, moving to HFDP with B-Max Racing Team after winning the Honda Racing School scholarship with Rintaro Sato.

Personal life Shimbara interested to become a racing driver by riding a rental cart at the race cart run by a friend of his father when he was five years old. In Nada Junior High and High School, he joined the rugby club for the purpose of building up his physical strength. He also entered the University of Tokyo in 2023, where he studies economics.

Racing record

Racing career summary Season Series Team Races Wins Poles FLaps Podiums Points Position 2021 F4 Japanese Championship RSS 9 0 0 1 0 3 14th 2022 F4 Japanese Championship Zap Speed 14 0 0 0 0 5 20th 2024 F4 Japanese Championship HYDRANGEA Kageyama Racing 13 1 1 0 5 153 3rd 2025 F4 Japanese Championship HFDP with B-Max Racing Team 14 2 3 1 5 127 4th 2026 Super Formula Lights B-Max Racing Team Super GT - GT300 Team UpGarageSuper Taikyu - ST-QTeam HRC

Complete F4 Japanese Championship 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 DC Pts 2021 RSS FUJ11 FUJ12 SUZ1 SUZ2 MOT11 MOT12 MOT13 SUG1 SUG2 SUG3 MOT21 MOT22 FUJ21 FUJ22 14th 3 2022 Zap Speed FUJ11 FUJ12 SUZ1 SUZ2 FUJ21 FUJ22 SUZ21 SUZ22 SUG1 SUG2 AUT1 AUT2 MOT1 MOT2 20th 5 2024 HYDRANGEA Kageyama Racing FUJ11 FUJ12 SUZ1 SUZ2 FUJ21 FUJ22 SUG1 SUG2 AUT1 MOT1 MOT2 MOT3 SUZ21 SUZ22 3rd 153 2025 HFDP with B-Max Racing Team FUJ11 FUJ12 FUJ13 FUJ21 FUJ22 SUZ1 SUZ2 SUG1 SUG1 SUG2 AUT1 AUT2 MOT1 MOT2 4th 127 Complete Super Formula Lights 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 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Points 2026 B-Max Racing Team FUJ1 FUJ2 FUJ3 AUT1 AUT2 AUT3 SUZ1 SUZ2 SUZ3 OKA1 OKA2 OKA3 SUG1 SUG2 SUG3 MOT1 MOT2 MOT3 7th* 1*

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 DC Points 2026 Team UpGarage Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo GT300 OKA FUJ SEP FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT