Kazuto Kotaka
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| Kazuto Kotaka | |
|---|---|
_-_Kotaka_Cropped.png) Kotaka at Suzuka Circuit in November 2024 | |
| Nationality |  Japanese |
| Born | 17 April 1999 |
| Super GT - GT300 career | |
| Debut season | 2019 |
| Current team | apr |
| Racing licence |  FIA Gold |
| Car number | 31 |
| Former teams | KCMG, Kondo Racing |
| Starts | 34 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 4 |
| Poles | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| Best finish | 6th in 2024 |
| Previous series | |
| 2023–2025 2020–2022 2019 2018–2019 2015–2018 | Super Formula Super Formula Lights Toyota Racing Series Formula 3 Japan Formula 4 Japan |
| Championship titles | |
| 2022 | Super Formula Lights |
Kazuto Kotaka (小高一斗, Kotaka Kazuto; born 17 April 1999) is a Japanese racing driver for Toyota Gazoo Racing who currently competes in the Super GT for apr. He won the Super Formula Lights championship in 2022, and is a part of the TGR Driver Challenge Program. Kotaka has previously raced in the Super Formula Championship for Kondo Racing in 2023 and 2024, and for team TGR-DC in 2025.
Early career
Kotaka made his debut in formula racing in 2015, racing for TOM'S from the second race weekend in the F4 Japanese Championship. He regularly finished in the top-ten, with a fourth-place finish at the Suzuka International Racing Course as his best result. He finished sixth in the championship with 50 points.
In 2016, Kotaka remained active in Japanese Formula 4 with TOM'S. He won two races at Fuji Speedway and another at Sportsland SUGO. He later took another podium finish at Fuji, but achieved erratic results for the remainder of the season. He finished fifth overall with 113 points.
In 2017, Kotaka did not race, but in 2018 he returned to Japanese Formula 4 at TOM's. He missed the first race weekend, but nevertheless he won two races at Fuji and was on the podium in seven other races. With 188 points, he finished third in the standings behind Yuki Tsunoda and Teppei Natori. At the end of the season, he made his Japanese Formula 3 Championship debut with Hanashima Racing over the weekend at SUGO. He scored a point with sixth in the final race and was classified thirteenth in the final standings.
In 2019, Kotaka started the year in the New Zealand racing in the Toyota Racing Series with the team MTEC Motorsport.[1] He took a podium finish in the season finale at the Manfeild: Circuit Chris Amon, finishing the season in tenth place with 176 points. He then made his debut as a full-time driver in Japanese Formula 3 with the Corolla Chukyo Kuo TOM'S team. He took five podiums: one at Suzuka, three at SUGO and one at the Twin Ring Motegi, but he also had to miss two race weekends. He finished fifth in the final standings with 48 points.
In 2020, Kotaka remained active in Japanese Formula 3, which had changed its name to Super Formula Lights,[2] with the TOM'S team. He won one race in the final race weekend at Fuji and was on the podium in ten other races. With 73 points, he finished third in the final standings behind Ritomo Miyata and Sena Sakaguchi.
Kotaka still raced in Super Formula Lights in 2021, albeit only for one round, where he managed to get two podiums. For 2022, Kotaka stayed with TOM'S. He then won the title with eight wins and eleven podiums, as he beat Kakunoshin Ohta and Iori Kimura.[3]
Super GT
GT300
Kotaka made debut in GT300 class for apr in Super GT for two races at Fuji Sweedway, sharing a Toyota GR Sport Prius PHV apr GT with Hiroaki Nagai and Manabu Orido, but scored no points. He also appeared in Non Championship round in Fuji Speedway, where he raced with McLaren 720S GT3 with Hanashima Racing alongside Katsuaki Kubota.[4] Kotaka also competed full-time in the GT300 class of the Super GT with the team Advics muta Racing INGING, sharing a Toyota 86 MC GT300 with Ryohei Sakaguchi. The two took two pole positions at Fuji and two podiums at Suzuka and Fuji. They finished ninth in the championship with 34 points. For 2021 and 2022, he only appeared for three rounds with INGING and K-Tunes Racing for 2 races each respectively, and 2022 for apr with Koki Saga and Yuhki Nakayama.
Kotaka made his full season debut with apr number 31 new Lexus LC 500h GT alongside Saga and Yuki Nemoto where both claimed one podium.[5] Kotaka continues with the same team, and paired with debutant Jin Nakamura.[6]
During the 2025 season, he ran with Toyota Gazoo Racing in all races as the reserve driver for the GT500 class. He was registered as the third driver for TGR TEAM WedsSport Bandoh in the second round at Fuji and would also compete in the GT500 class.
Super Formula
In 2021 Kotaka would continue to drive in the 2021 Super Formula Lights at TOM'S. However, he missed the first two race weekends as he made his Super Formula debut that year with the carrozzeria Team KCMG as a replacement for Kamui Kobayashi, who was unable to fly to Japan due to travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[7] He ended up competing in all but one round of the series, but didn't manage to score a single point.
After He won the Super Formula Lights title, he returns to the series in 2023 with Kondo Racing.[8]
Kotaka then switch to rebranded TGMGP TGR-DC with Hibiki Taira as his team mate.[9]
