Masao Suenaga Explained

Masao Suenaga
Birth Date:13 February 1978
Birth Place:Kagoshima
Current Series:D1 Grand Prix
Current Team:NANKANG TIRE DRIFT TEAM D-MAX
Wins:3
Best Finish:2
Prev Series:D1 Street Legal
Prev Series Years:-

is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for D-MAX. He is the younger brother of Naoto who both were taught by Nobushige Kumakubo.

He began his motorsport career racing minibikes in the Kyūshū area, later winning a title. Following this, his motorcycle racing career ended at the age of 20 caused by injuries. As Naoto was involved in the 'Tono Club' hashiriya group (which one of the members included Katsuhiro Ueo), he also became involved which he was taught how to drift by Naoto. Masao later joined the 'Gowasu?' hashiriya group.[1]

He has been competing in the D1 Grand Prix series since . In 2002 and he was the youngest driver to compete in the top 16 and he was soon picked up by RE Amemiya a renowned tuner of rotary powered cars. So he switched from his Nissan Silvia to a Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) went from strength to strength. The Silvia would be driven by Naoto until he became one of the Kumakubo led Team Orange drivers. Masao took his first win in 2005 and went on to place second overall. He had a slight lull in his performance in, but was back on form in winning twice and finishing the season in third.

He is one of the few D1GP drivers to compete the spinoff D1 Street Legal series in his own FD RX-7 winning the first two rounds of the inaugural season.

Suenaga competed in the M150 20B-Powered FD3S RX-7 in the inaugural Formula Drift: Asia at Fuji Speedway Japan where he would take first place against Masashi Yokoi.

He had been with RE Amemiya for years, but left in 2016. In 2017, he was picked up by Toyo Tires GLION TRUST RACING and became teammate of Masato Kawabata. He drove Nissan GT-R (R35).

From 2020, he belongs to D-MAX and works with Masashi Yokoi.

Complete Drifting Results

D1 Grand Prix

YearEntrantCar12345678PositionPoints
Toyota Corolla Levin AE86BHH
TAN
EBS
DNQ
SGO
6
TKB
16
EBS
DNQ
SEK
TAN
NIK
4
1224
Nissan Silvia PS13TKB
16
BHH
10
SGO
5
FUJ
16
EBS
TAN
SEK
16
TKB
8
1320
RE AmemiyaNissan Silvia S13IRW
16
1614
Mazda RX-7 FD3SSGO
8
EBS
16
APS
TAN
ODB
DNQ
EBS
TAN
TKB
7
RE AmemiyaMazda RX-7 FD3SIRW
6
ODB
5
SGO
6
APS
3
EBS
4
FUJ
1
TKB
4
296
RE AmemiyaMazda RX-7 FD3SIRW
TAN
SGO
3
FUJ
TAN
APS
6
EBS
6
SUZ
10
FUJ
16
IRW
6
851
RE AmemiyaMazda RX-7 FD3SEBS
3
FUJ
2
SUZ
1
SGO
4
EBS
11
APS
13
FUJ
1
392
RE AmemiyaMazda RX-7 FD3SEBS
4
FUJ
4
SUZ
13
OKY
5
APS
6
EBS
NS
FUJ
1
389
TOYO TIRES GLION TRUST RACINGNissan R35ODB
28
ODB
R
TKB
3
MSI
1
EBS
22
EBS
22
ODB
20
1155

D1 Street Legal

YearEntrantCar1234567PositionPoints
Mazda RX-7 FD3SSEK
1
EBS
1
SGO
FUJ
APS
EBS
SEK
Mazda RX-7 FD3SSEK
SUZ
SGO
EBS
SEK

Sources

References

  1. Web site: サービス終了のお知らせ.

External links