Hiroki Yoshimoto

Hiroki Yoshimoto (吉本 大樹, Yoshimoto Hiroki) (born 2 September 1980 in Osaka) is a Japanese race car driver. He raced in the 2005 GP2 Series for the BCN Competicion team, alongside the Venezuelan E. J. Viso. For 2006 he was initially teamed with the more experienced Timo Glock of Germany. In addition to his racing, he is also the vocalist for Japanese rock band doa under the name Daiki Yoshimoto (吉本 大樹, Yoshimoto Daiki, "Daiki" and "Hiroki" are written identically in Japanese).[1]

Hiroki Yoshimoto
Nationality	Japanese
Born	(1980-09-02) September 2, 1980 Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan
World Touring Car Championship career
Debut season	2011
Current team	NIKA Racing
Car number	67
Former teams	Tuenti Racing Team
Starts	6
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Poles	0
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	NC in 2011–2013
Previous series
2005–06 2008–09	GP2 Series GP2 Asia Series

Daiki Yoshimoto
Also known as	Hiroki Yoshimoto
Born	(1980-09-02) September 2, 1980
Origin	Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan
Genres	Rock
Occupation(s)	Vocalist, Race car driver
Instruments	Vocalist
Years active	2004 -
Labels	Giza Studio
Associated acts	doa

Racing career

Yoshimoto is the only driver in GP2 Series to have driven the bulk of his pre-GP2 career in Asia, the rest of the series mainly moving up the ranks in South America or Europe. Yoshimoto started out in 1999, competing in Japanese Formula Junior 1600. He moved for Japanese Formula Toyota in 2000, racing in Korean F1800 later in the year. A move to Japanese Formula Three for 2001 was his reward for hard work, although his stint with the Yellow Hat team resulted in only two races.

He got his first taste of a full Japanese F3 season in 2002, though, with the Now team. He achieved 1 win, 1 pole position and two other podium finishes, finishing 8th in the championship. He also finished respectively 5th in the prestigious Macau Grand Prix. He stayed with the team for 2003 finishing 10th in the championship before moving on in 2004 for the Japanese GT Series. He also drove two races of the World Series by Nissan of the same year, for the Gabord team.

On 3 and 4 November 2007, Yoshimoto took part in the Formula Asia V6 by Renault Championship at the Zhuhai International Circuit. He won round 11 ahead of James Winslow and Armaan Ebrahim but stalled on the grid for round 12 and eventually finished 5th.

He returned to GP2 for 2008, driving for the Qi-Meritus Mahara team in the GP2 Asia Series. He continued in the series for the 2008–09 season with the BCN Competición team. However, BCN was purchased and renamed as Ocean Racing Technology after the first round of the season, and Yoshimoto was replaced by Yelmer Buurman.[2]

Racing record

Complete GP2 Series 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	19	20	21	22	23	DC	Points
2005	BCN Competición	IMO FEA Ret	IMO SPR 9	CAT FEA Ret	CAT SPR 17	MON FEA DNS	NÜR FEA 11	NÜR SPR Ret	MAG FEA 6	MAG SPR 2	SIL FEA 13	SIL SPR Ret	HOC FEA 12	HOC SPR Ret	HUN FEA 13	HUN SPR 17	IST FEA 8	IST SPR 10	MNZ FEA 10	MNZ SPR 16	SPA FEA Ret	SPA SPR 17	BHR FEA 7	BHR SPR 6	16th	14
2006	BCN Competición	VAL FEA Ret	VAL SPR 12	IMO FEA 8	IMO SPR 3	NÜR FEA 8	NÜR SPR 4	CAT FEA Ret	CAT SPR Ret	MON FEA Ret	SIL FEA Ret	SIL SPR 17	MAG FEA 9	MAG SPR Ret	HOC FEA 23	HOC SPR Ret	HUN FEA Ret	HUN SPR Ret	IST FEA Ret	IST SPR 19	MNZ FEA 8	MNZ SPR 5			15th	12

Complete GP2 Asia Series 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	DC	Points
2008	Qi-Meritus Mahara	DUB FEA 6	DUB SPR 4	SEN FEA Ret	SEN SPR 20	SEP FEA Ret	SEP SPR 10	BHR FEA 12	BHR SPR 4	DUB FEA 5	DUB SPR 13			10th	13
2008–09	BCN Competición	SHI FEA Ret	SHI SPR 8	DUB FEA	DUB SPR	BHR FEA	BHR SPR	LSL FEA	LSL SPR	SEP FEA	SEP SPR	BHR FEA	BHR SPR	24th	0

Complete Super GT results

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	DC	Pts
2004	Team LeyJun	Vemac RD320R	GT300	TAI 6	SUG 6	SEP 14	TOK 22	MOT 19	AUT	SUZ			12th	16
2005	Direxiv	Vemac RD320R	GT300	OKA	FUJ	SEP	SUG	MOT	FUJ	AUT 10	SUZ 14		22nd	1
2006	Cars Tokai Dream28	Mooncraft Shiden	GT300	SUZ	OKA	FUJ	SEP	SUG	SUZ 5	MOT	AUT	FUJ	23rd	11
2007	Cars Tokai Dream28	Mooncraft Shiden	GT300	SUZ	OKA	FUJ	SEP	SUG	SUZ 1	MOT	AUT	FUJ	14th	24
2008	Cars Tokai Dream28	Mooncraft Shiden	GT300	SUZ	OKA	FUJ	SEP	SUG	SUZ Ret	MOT	AUT	FUJ	7th	111
2009	Cars Tokai Dream28	Mooncraft Shiden	GT300	OKA	SUZ 7	FUJ 9	SEP 1	SUG 2	SUZ 3	FUJ 5	AUT 16	MOT 16	8th	58
2010	A speed	Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2	GT300	SUZ DSQ	OKA 15	FUJ 3	SEP 12	SUG 11	SUZ Ret	FUJ C	MOT 23		14th	11
2011	A speed	Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2	GT300	OKA 1	FUJ Ret	SEP Ret	SUG 8	SUZ 12	FUJ 9	AUT 11	MOT 4		8th	33
2012	A speed	Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3	GT300	OKA 11	FUJ 3	SEP 3	SUG Ret	SUZ 1	FUJ Ret	AUT 1	MOT 5		2nd	73
2013	JLOC	Lamborghini Gallardo GT3	GT300	OKA 3	FUJ 7	SEP Ret	SUG 5	SUZ Ret	FUJ 20	FUJ	AUT 10	MOT 8	11th	25
2014	LM corsa	BMW Z4 GT3	GT300	OKA 22	FUJ 21	AUT 7	SUG 10	FUJ 5	SUZ 1	BUR 4	MOT 15		6th	44
2015	LM corsa	Lexus RC F GT3	GT300	OKA 10	FUJ Ret	CHA Ret	FUJ 15	SUZ 19	SUG 22	AUT 10	MOT 17		27th	2

* Season still in progress.

References

1. "::doa official web site ::～PROFILE(プロフィール)～吉本大樹". Retrieved 2010-03-13.
2. "Ocean sign Crestani as second driver". autosport.com. 2008-12-02. Retrieved 2008-12-02.

External links

• Hiroki Yoshimoto career summary at DriverDB.com