Yūichi Nakayama

is a Japanese racing driver for Toyota Gazoo Racing who currently competes in Super GT for TGR Team SARD. He previously competed in Super Formula, primarily for KCMG, and became champion of the All-Japan Formula Three Championship in 2013.

Career

Karting Born in the Setagaya Ward of Tokyo, Nakayama began his racing career in karting at the age of six and raced in various local championships, progressing to the KF2 category in 2007, finishing seventh in the Asia-Pacific Championship.

Early career In 2008, Nakayama graduated to single–seaters into the Formula Challenge Japan mono-series. He finished thirteenth in the series standings, without scoring a podium. He stayed in the series for another season, progressing to fourth position in the standings, collecting six podiums.

Nakayama stayed in the series for a third successive season in 2010. He dominated the whole season and won ten from twelve races, finishing every race in the podium positions and finally taking the championship title. He also contested the final rounds in Formula BMW Pacific, joining the Asia Racing Team.

All-Japan Formula Three In 2011, Nakayama stepped up to the National class of the All-Japan Formula Three Championship with the TOM'S Spirit team. He finished third, taking three class wins.

In 2012, Nakayama switched to the series' Championship class, joining the main TOM'S team. He finished as runner-up to Ryō Hirakawa, winning races at Motegi, Sugo and Fuji. During the season he also appeared in the Macau Grand Prix, finishing 21st.

Nakayama continued his collaboration with TOM'S in 2013. This time he dominated the championship, finishing each of the 13 races he contested – 11 wins and a pair of runner-up placings – on the podium, clinching the championship title before the final round of the season, that he was forced to miss. He also repeated his effort to win the Macau Grand Prix trophy with TOM'S.

Super Formula Nakayama made his début in Super Formula in 2014 with KCMG. He finished in eighteenth position in the championship standings, without scoring a point. Despite this, the team decided to retain him for the 2015 until 2016 season. Nakayama replaced Artem Markelov at the sixth round due to Markelov being called up to race for BWT Arden in the FIA Formula 2 Championship. Nakayama then returned to KCMG for two rounds to substitute for Kamui Kobayashi. Nakayama covered for Sacha Fenestraz at Kondo Racing after Fenestraz was unable to obtain his visa entrance to Japan. Nakayama did not score a point, and competed all but two rounds that season.

Super GT Nakayama made his debut in the series' GT300 Class for apr for one round off in 2013, and 2014. Nakayama joined the team as a full time driver for two seasons, as he was paired with Koki Saga. The pair won three times in those two seasons, and many podiums. Both managed to clinch third place, and runners up place in each season. Nakayama then moved to LM Corsa for 2017 & 2018. Nakayama then stepped up to GT500 with SARD Team in 2019. He is already with the team till now where he raced alongside Heiki Kovalainen for 2019 to 2021, then with GT500 Champion Yuhi Sekiguchi from 2022 onwards.

Racing record

Career summary

†– As Nakayama was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points. Season still in progress.

‡ Team standings.

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 2013 apr Toyota Prius GT300 OKA FUJ SEP SUG SUZ FUJ FUJ AUT MOT NC 0 2014 apr Toyota Prius GT300 OKA FUJ AUT SUG FUJ SUZ CHA MOT 18th 18 2015 apr Toyota Prius GT300 OKA FUJ CHA FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT 3rd 69 2016 apr Toyota Prius GT300 OKA FUJ SUG FUJ SUZ CHA MOT MOT2nd60 2017 LM corsa Lexus RC F GT3 GT300 OKA FUJ AUT SUG FUJ SUZ CHA MOT 3rd 61 2018 K-tunes Racing LM corsa Lexus RC F GT3 GT300 OKA FUJ SUZ CHA FUJ AUT SUG MOT 6th 45 2019 Lexus Team SARD Lexus LC 500 GT500 OKA FUJ SUZ CHA FUJ AUT SUG MOT 5th 44 2020 TGR Team SARD Toyota GR Supra GT500 FUJ FUJ SUZ MOT FUJ SUZ MOT FUJ 9th 42 2021 TGR Team SARD Toyota GR Supra GT500 OKA FUJ SUZ MOT SUG AUT MOT FUJ 13th 34 2022 TGR Team SARD Toyota GR Supra GT500 OKA FUJ SUZ FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT 8th 33 2023 TGR Team SARD Toyota GR Supra GT500 OKA FUJ SUZ FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT 9th 38 2024 TGR Team SARD Toyota GR Supra GT500 OKA FUJ SUZ FUJ SUG AUT MOT SUZ 7th 46 Season still in progress.

Complete Super Formula results (Races in bold indicate pole position) Year Team Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 DC Points 2014 KCMG Toyota SUZ FUJ1 FUJ2 FUJ MOT AUT SUG SUZ1 SUZ2 18th 0 2015 KCMG Toyota SUZ OKA FUJ MOT AUT SUG SUZ SUZ 16th 1.5 2016 KCMG Toyota SUZ OKA FUJ MOT OKA OKA SUG SUZ SUZ 18th 0 2018 carrozzeria Team KCMG Toyota SUZ AUT SUG FUJ MOT OKA SUZ 21st 0 2019 UOMO Sunoco Team LeMans Toyota SUZ AUT SUG FUJ MOT OKA SUZ 22nd 0 2020 carrozzeria Team KCMG Toyota MOT OKA SUG AUT SUZ SUZ FUJ 22nd 0 2021 Kondō Racing Toyota FUJ SUZ AUT SUG MOT OKA SUZ 23rd 0

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Class Car Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Rank Points 2025 Akkodis ASP Team LMGT3 Lexus RC F GT3 Lexus 2UR-GSE 5.0 L V8 QAT IMO SPA LMS SÃO COA FUJ BHR 22nd 15 Season still in progress.