Kenta Yamashita

Yamashita competed in karts before graduating to single-seater cars in 2012.^{[citation needed]}

Yamashita began his racing car career in the 2012 Motegi Championship Formula Super FJ, which he won in his first season. In all four starts, he took the pole, fastest lap, and race win.^[1] In 2013, he progressed to the Formula Challenge Japan series, which was a racing category intended for drivers between entry level and Formula 3. He scored seven podiums and in 12 races, including four wins, and took the championship title.^[2]

In 2014, Yamashita graduated to the All-Japan Formula Three Championship with the Petronas Team TOM'S. He finished runner-up in the championship to the more experienced Nobuharu Matsushita.^[3]

In 2015, Yamashita continued to race in the All-Japan Formula Three Championship with TOM'S, he managed to clinch runners up, just lose out to Nick Cassidy the eventual champion. 2016, Yamashita won the title in the final round, pips out Jann Mardenborough to the title.

In 2015, Yamashita made his debut in GT300 class with Porsche Team KTR alongside Alexandre Imperatori. He then made one off appearance the next season with Tsuchiya Engineering. He stayed with the team full time afterwards. That season, he won his first race alongside Takamitsu Matsui.

Yamashita made a one off appearance with Racing Project Bandoh in Fuji Speedway.^[4] Then for 2018, he steped up to GT500 with Bandoh, as he replaced Yuhi Sekiguchi.^[5] Yamashita then transferred to Lexus Team Wako's LeMans, replacing Felix Rosenqvist, who left Super GT to compete in the IndyCar Series.^[6] He then with Kazuya Oshima won the title at the final race of the season. That would be Team LeMans final title as the team discontinued their campaign in GT500. For 2020, Yamashita initially did not listed to compete in Super GT as he was focused to do WEC. But because of the pandemic, he only ran a couple of races in that year. He covered up for Heikki Kovalainen at Team SARD for Round 1 because Kovalalinen unable to enter Japan. Then Yamashita would race in two rounds as he replaced Nick Cassidy, as Cassidy began preparations for his debut in the 2021 FIA Formula E World Championship.

In 2021, Yamashita returned to the series full time in 2021, this time with new Rookie Racing with his former champion pair Oshima.^[7] During his time with the team, he won two races, and couple of podiums. For 2024, he moved to 2023 champion team Team au TOM'S to pair with Sho Tsuboi as he replaced Ritomo Miyata.^[8]

Yamashita made his Super Formula debut in 2017 with Kondo Racing alongside his 2015 title rival Cassidy.^[4] Yamashita stayed with the same team for over nine years, and he managed only to win once.

In 2026, Yamashita moved to KCMG with Kalle Rovanperä.^[9][10]

Yamashita made his international racing debut in the 2019-20 FIA World Endurance Championship, driving in the LMP2 class for Danish team High Class Racing alongside Anders Fjordbach and amateur driver Mark Patterson.^[11] Yamashita would impress in qualifying sessions throughout the season, outmatching more experienced opponents on a regular basis, but the team would ultimately achieve little success in races and ended the season as the last-placed LMP2 team. Yamashita reached the Hyperpole session in qualifying for the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans before the team was forced to retire with a gearbox problem.