Toranosuke Takagi Explained

Toranosuke Takagi
Nationality:	Japanese
Birth Date:	12 February 1974
Birth Place:	Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan
Years:	1998–1999
Team(S):	Tyrrell, Arrows
Races:	32
Championships:	0
Wins:	0
Podiums:	0
Poles:	0
Fastest Laps:	0
Points:	0
First Race:	1998 Australian Grand Prix
Last Race:	1999 Japanese Grand Prix

Toranosuke "Tora" Takagi (高木 虎之介; born 12 February 1974) is a Japanese former racing driver.

Early career

Takagi was heavily influenced by his father, a touring car driver. In the early 1980s he began racing karts, competing in his first championship kart race in 1987. After winning several All Japan National Kart A2 series races, Takagi ended his kart racing career in 1991 and began racing Formula Toyota in 1992. In 1993, he began competing in All Japan Formula Three, finishing 10th in his rookie season.

Formula One

During his performance in a 1994 race he drew the attention of Japanese Formula One driver Satoru Nakajima, joining the Nakajima Racing team and competing in Formula 3000. He was heavily involved in the team from 1995 until he was chosen as Tyrrell's Formula One test driver in 1997. He graduated to a race seat for . Takagi later competed with the Arrows Formula One team, and his European popularity was on the rise. However, there were organizational and communication problems between Takagi and both teams, and he left Formula One at the end of the season.

Post–Formula One career

In 2000, Takagi joined Nakajima Racing's Formula Nippon team, earning eight victories in ten races, the most dominant performance ever by a driver in the series. He later competed in CART for the Walker Racing team in 2001 and 2002 finishing in a career-best 4th place in Houston, Texas. He transferred to Indy Racing League and joined Mo Nunn Racing, finishing 10th in 2003. In the same year, he competed in the Indianapolis 500, starting in 7th place and finishing in 5th, earning him the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award.

After another, largely disappointing season in the IndyCar Series, Takagi returned to Japan in 2005 to compete in Formula Nippon once again, taking part ownership of the Cerumo team and running one of their cars in his own name (Takagi Planning with CERUMO). Takagi also was one of the co-drivers of the #38 Toyota Supra Super GT car, claiming the series title along with Yuji Tachikawa. Takagi's title made him the first Super GT rookie to become champion in the GT500 class since John Nielsen and David Brabham in 1996, as well as the last until Jenson Button in 2018.

Career timeline

• 1987 – Finished 8th in Japanese A2 National Kart Series championship.
• 1988 – Finished 4th in Japanese A2 National Kart Series championship.
• 1989 – Won the Japanese A2 National Kart Series championship.
• 1990 – Won the Japanese A2 National Kart Series championship.
• 1991 – Finished 2nd in Japanese FA National Kart Series championship.
• 1992 – Won two races in Formula Toyota.
• 1993 – Finished 10th in his rookie season in Japanese Formula 3 championship.
• 1994 – Finished 6th in Japanese Formula 3 championship. Spot participation in Japanese Formula 3000 championship from Nakajima Planning, scoring three top-10 finishes.
• 1995 – Finished 2nd in Japanese Formula 3000 championship with Nakajima Planning, scoring three victories.
• 1996 – Finished 4th in Japanese Formula Nippon championship (ex Japanese F3000)with Nakajima Planning, scoring two victories.
• 1997 – Served as test driver for Tyrrell Formula One team. Takagi scored one victory en route to finishing 6th in Japanese Formula Nippon championship with Nakajima Planning.
• 1998 – Drove in Formula One in rookie year driving for Tyrrell. He finished in the top-10 twice, including ninth at Silverstone and Monza.
• 1999 – Competed in Formula One with Arrows, scoring two top-10 finishes, including a career-best seventh at Melbourne (Australian Grand Prix).
• 2000 – Won eight of 10 races en route to winning the Japanese Formula Nippon series title with Nakajima Planning .
• 2001 – Finished 21st in CART point standings in rookie year driving for Walker Racing. He finished in the top-10 three times, including a career-best fourth at Houston.
• 2002 – Finished 15th in CART point standings with Walker Racing. He finished in the top-10 seven times, including tying career-best finish with a fourth place at Chicago.
• 2003 – Finished 10th in Indy Racing League point standings in rookie year driving for Mo Nunn Racing. He scored nine top-10 finishes, including a season-best third in June at Texas. He started seventh and finished fifth in first Indianapolis 500, the highest-finishing rookie. He won the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award.
• 2004 – Competed in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series with Mo Nunn Racing.
• 2005 – Competed in Formula Nippon as owner-driver of Takagi Planning with CERUMO.

Career results

Complete Formula Nippon 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	DC	Points
1994	Nakajima Racing	SUZ	FUJ	MIN	SUZ	SUG	FUJ	SUZ	FUJ	FUJ	SUZ	NC	0
1995	Nakajima Racing	SUZ	FUJ	MIN	SUZ	SUG	FUJ	TOK	FUJ	SUZ		2nd	29
1996	PIAA Nakajima Racing	SUZ	MIN	FUJ	TOK	SUZ	SUG	FUJ	MIN	SUZ	FUJ	4th	25
1997	PIAA Nakajima Racing	SUZ	MIN	FUJ	SUZ	SUG	FUJ	MIN	MOT	FUJ	SUZ	6th	18
2000	PIAA Nakajima Racing	SUZ	MOT	MIN	FUJ	SUZ	SUG	MOT	FUJ	MIN	SUZ	1st	86
2005	Team Cerumo	MOT	SUZ	SUG	FUJ	SUZ	MIN	FUJ	MOT	SUZ		15th	0
2006	Team LeMans	FUJ	SUZ	MOT	SUZ	AUT	FUJ	SUG	MOT	SUZ		18th	0
2007	Forum Engineering Team LeMans	FUJ	SUZ	MOT	OKA	SUZ	FUJ	SUG	MOT	SUZ		16th	3

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
1998	PIAA Tyrrell Ford	Tyrrell 026	Ford V10	AUS	BRA	ARG	SMR	ESP	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	AUT	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	LUX	JPN	NC	0
1999	Repsol Arrows F1 Team	Arrows A20	Arrows V10	AUS	BRA	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	AUT	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	EUR	MAL	JPN	NC	0

Complete American Open Wheel racing results

(key)

CART

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Rank	Points	Ref
2001	Walker Racing	Reynard 01i	Toyota RV8F V8t	MTY	LBH	TXS NH	NZR	MOT	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MIS	CHI	MDO	ROA	VAN	LSZ	ROC	HOU	LS	SRF	FON	21st	29	^[1]
2002	Walker Racing	Reynard 02i	Toyota RV8F V8t	MTY	LBH	MOT	MIL	LS	POR	CHI	TOR	CLE	VAN	MDO	ROA	MTL	DEN	ROC	MIA	SRF	FON	MXC			15th	53	^[2]

IndyCar Series

Year	Team	Chassis	No.	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Rank	Points	Ref
2003	Mo Nunn Racing	G-Force GF09	12	Toyota Indy V8	HMS	PHX	MOT	INDY	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIS			NZR	CHI	FON	TX2	10th	317	^[3]
		Dallara IR-03													STL	KTY
2004	Mo Nunn Racing	Dallara IR-04			HMS	PHX	MOT	INDY	TXS	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIL	MIS	KTY	PPIR	NZR	CHI	FON	TX2	15th	263	^[4]

Indianapolis 500

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
2003	G-Force	Toyota	7	5	Mo Nunn Racing
2004	Dallara	Toyota	26	19	Mo Nunn Racing

Complete Super GT results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	DC	Points
2005	ZENT Toyota Team Cerumo	Toyota Supra	GT500	OKA	FUJ	SEP	SUG	MOT	FUJ	AUT	SUZ		1st	67
2006	Toyota Team Cerumo	Lexus SC430	GT500	SUZ	OKA	FUJ	SEP	SUG	SUZ	MOT	AUT	FUJ	5th	71
2007	ZENT Toyota Team Cerumo	Lexus SC430	GT500	SUZ	OKA	FUJ	SEP	SUG	SUZ	MOT	AUT	FUJ	7th	53
2008	Toyota Team SARD	Lexus SC430	GT500	SUZ	OKA	FUJ	SEP	SUG	SUZ	MOT	AUT	FUJ	21st	11

External links

• Toranosuke Takagi official website

Notes and References

1. Web site: Tora Takagi – 2001 CART Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. August 15, 2023.
2. Web site: Tora Takagi – 2002 CART Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. August 15, 2023.
3. Web site: Toranosuke Takagi – 2003 IndyCar Series Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. August 2, 2023.
4. Web site: Toranosuke Takagi – 2004 IndyCar Series Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. August 2, 2023.