| Hideki Mutoh | |
| Nationality: | Japanese |
| Birth Date: | 6 October 1982 |
| Birth Place: | Tokyo, Japan |
| Current Series: | Super GT |
| First Year: | 2006 |
| Car Number: | 55 |
| Former Teams: | Nakajima Racing, Team Mugen, Team Kunimitsu, Real Racing, Autobacs Racing Team Aguri |
| Starts: | 83 |
| Wins: | 3 |
| Poles: | 3 |
| Fastest Laps: | 0 |
| Best Finish: | 1st |
| Year: | 2013 |
| Prev Series: | Japan Formula 3 Formula Nippon Indy Pro Series IndyCar Series Super GT GT300 Super Formula |
| Prev Series Years: | 2003–2004 2006, 2011 2007 2008-2011 2012-2013 2013-2014 |
| Titles: | Super GT - GT300 Formula Dream |
| Title Years: | 2013 2002 |
| Awards: | IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year |
| Award Years: | 2008 |
is a Japanese race car driver from Tokyo who last raced in the 2022 Super GT Season for Autobacs Racing Team Aguri.
He began karting at age 12 in 1996 and quickly moved through the ranks, becoming a part of Honda's Formula Dream Project. He moved to Europe in 1998 to compete in Formula Vauxhall. He then moved on to the Formula Ford European Championship and competed in the Formula Ford Festival, finishing seventh in 2000 and third in 2001. He then moved back to Asia to compete in Asian Formula 2000 and Formula Dream, where he finished second in his rookie season. He won the Formula Dream championship in his second year in 2003. Mutoh then moved to Japan Formula 3, finishing 9th and third in his two seasons there. In 2006, he drove in Formula Nippon and Super GT 500–class.
In 2007, Autobacs Racing Team Aguri (ARTA) announced that Mutoh had been signed to drive their new entry in the Indy Pro Series in a car prepared by Panther Racing, who had last competed in IPS in 2003, winning the championship with driver Mark Taylor. Mutoh captured his first win in Liberty Challenge Race 1 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on United States Grand Prix weekend.
On September 9, Mutoh made his Indy Racing League IndyCar Series debut with Panther Racing at Chicagoland Speedway in the Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 in the one-off entry #60 car, sponsored by the Formula Dream Project. Mutoh finished 8th and clocked the fastest lap of the race. On October 31, 2007, it was announced Mutoh would replace 2007 IndyCar Series champion Dario Franchitti at Andretti Green Racing in the team's full-time #27 IndyCar for 2008.[1]
Mutoh made his debut for Andretti Green Racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway in March and in May was the highest qualifying rookie for the 2008 Indianapolis 500. He finished 7th in the race, the second best finishing position for a Japanese driver in the history of the race.
Mutoh scored his best finish of his IndyCar Series career in June at the Iowa Speedway, finishing second to Dan Wheldon, setting a new mark for best IndyCar finish by a Japanese driver, surpassing the 3rd place of Tora Takagi at Texas Motor Speedway in 2003. He failed to finish higher than 6th in the remainder of the season, but beat transitional driver Justin Wilson to the Rookie of the Year title and 10th place overall in the series.
Mutoh participated in the 2010 IndyCar Series season with Newman/Haas Racing. He finished 18th in the final point standings.
Mutoh has been announced as an Aguri Suzuki Honda driver in the Super GT series in Japan for 2011, alongside Takashi Kobayashi.[2]
On September 1, Mutoh confirmed he would be part of the race at Motegi to drive No. 17 for Sam Schmidt Motorsports/AFS Racing.[3] Mutoh finished 19th on the lead lap.
(key)
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)
| Year | Team | Chassis | No. | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Rank | Points | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Panther Racing | Dallara IR-05 | 60 | Honda HI7R V8 | HMS | STP | MOT | KAN | INDY | MIL | TXS | IOW | RIR | WGL | NSH | MDO | MIS | KTY | SNM | DET | CHI | 25th | 24 | [4] | ||
| 2008 | Andretti Green Racing | 27 | HMS | STP | MOT1 | LBH1 | KAN | INDY | MIL | TXS | IOW | RIR | WGL | NSH | MDO | EDM | KTY | SNM | DET | CHI | SRF2 | 10th | 346 | [5] | ||
| 2009 | STP | LBH | KAN | INDY | MIL | TXS | IOW | RIR | WGL | TOR | EDM | KTY | MDO | SNM | CHI | MOT | HMS | 11th | 353 | [6] | ||||||
| 2010 | Newman/Haas Racing | 06 | SAO | STP | ALA | LBH | KAN | INDY | TXS | IOW | WGL | TOR | EDM | MDO | SNM | CHI | KTY | MOT | HMS | 18th | 250 | [7] | ||||
| 2011 | Sam Schmidt Motorsports AFS Racing | 17 | STP | ALA | LBH | SAO | INDY | TXS1 | TXS2 | MIL | IOW | TOR | EDM | MDO | NHM | SNM | BAL | MOT | KTY | LVS | 43rd | 12 | [8] |
1 Run on same day.
2 Non-points race.
** Podium (Non-win) indicates 2nd or 3rd place finishes.
*** Top 10s (Non-podium) indicates 4th through 10th place finishes.
| Year | Chassis | Engine | Start | Finish | Team | Note | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Dallara | Honda | 9 | align=center style="background:#CFEAFF;" | 7 | Andretti Green | Fastest rookie qualifier 2nd best rookie finisher | |
| 2009 | Dallara | Honda | 16 | align=center style="background:#CFEAFF;" | 10 | Andretti Green | Completed every lap | |
| 2010 | Dallara | Honda | 9 | align=center style="background:#EFCFFF;" | 28 | Newman/Haas Racing | Completed 76 laps |