| Kohta Kawaai | |||||||||||||||
| Nationality: |  Japanese | ||||||||||||||
| Birth Date: | August 7, 1994 | ||||||||||||||
| Birth Place: | Shizuoka, Japan | ||||||||||||||
| Current Series: | Super GT GT300 | ||||||||||||||
| First Year: | 2020 | ||||||||||||||
| Current Team: | Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave | ||||||||||||||
| Car Number: | 52 | ||||||||||||||
| Starts: | 31 | ||||||||||||||
| Wins: | 5 | ||||||||||||||
| Podiums: | 10 | ||||||||||||||
| Poles: | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Fastest Laps: | 2
| ||||||||||||||
| Championships: | 1 | ||||||||||||||
(born August 7, 1994) is a Japanese racing driver. He currently competes for Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave in both the Super GT and Super Taikyu racing series.[1]
Kawaai won the 2023 Super GT Championship in the GT300 class and the 2023 Super Taikyu Championship in the ST-Z class.
In 2016, Kawaai started his formula racing career in F4 Japanese Championship racing with Le Beausset Motorsports. He raced in the same series till 2019 where he claimed 3rd in the standings behind Ren Sato, and Atsushi Miyake.
Kawaii moves up to Super GT - GT300 with Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave, paired up with Hiroki Yoshida.[2] In his debut season, he managed to get a win and podiums which claimed him, and Yoshida to Second in the standings behind to Kondo Racing of Kiyoto Fujinami & João Paulo de Oliveira. Kawaai continue to race with the same team, claimed 9th in the standings and missed 1 race after he tested positive for COVID-19 where he replaced by Taku Bamba.[3] [4] in 2022, with the same team Kawaai managed to clinch a win at Autopolis with also another podium, and gets 4th in the standings.[5]
In 2023 Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave retained both Kawaai & Hiroki Yoshida and they claimed 2 wins and 4 podiums. Kawaai went on to win the 2023 Super GT Championship in the GT300 class alongside Yoshida.
Kawaai returned to formula racing in 2022, competed in Super Formula Lights for Rn-Sports.[6] He claimed his first pole in the series, and competed only 3 rounds where he claimed 8th in the final standings.
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | FLaps | Podiums | Points | Position | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | F4 Japanese Championship | Le Beausset Motorsports | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 56 | 11th | |
| 2017 | F4 Japanese Championship | Le Beausset Motorsports | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 78 | 8th | |
| 2018 | F4 Japanese Championship | Le Beausset Motorsports | 14 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 135 | 4th | |
| 2019 | F4 Japanese Championship | Le Beausset Motorsports | 14 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 131 | 3rd | |
| 2020 | Super GT - GT300 | Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave | 8 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 62 | 2nd | |
| Super Taikyu - ST-3 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 114‡ | 2nd‡ | |||
| 2021 | Super GT - GT300 | Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 34 | 9th | |
| Super Taikyu - ST-3 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 95.5‡ | 4th‡ | |||
| 2022 | Super GT - GT300 | Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 48 | 4th | |
| Super Taikyu - ST-3 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 134‡ | 2nd‡ | |||
| Super Formula Lights | Rn-Sports | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 8th | ||
| 2023 | Super GT - GT300 | Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave | 8 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 74 | 1st | |
| Super Taikyu - ST-Z | 7 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 174‡ | 1st‡ | |||
| 2024 | Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie - VT2-R+4WD |
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
(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 | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave | Toyota GR Supra GT300 | GT300 | FUJ | FUJ | SUZ | MOT | FUJ | SUZ | MOT | FUJ | 2nd | 62 |
| 2021 | OKA | FUJ | MOT | SUZ | SUG | AUT | MOT | FUJ | 9th | 34 | |||
| 2022 | OKA | FUJ | SUZ | FUJ | SUZ | SUG | AUT | MOT | 4th | 48 | |||
| 2023 | OKA | FUJ | SUZ | FUJ | SUZ | SUG | AUT | MOT | 1st | 74 |