Rei Wakamatsu

Wakamatsu was born in the Katsushika ward of Tokyo, Japan.^[2] He started riding bikes at the age of 5, influenced by his father Hiroki, who was an All Japan Road Race 125cc rider at the time.^[3] He was a student of the MFJ Road Race Academy and Musashi HARC-Pro Scholarship, where he was mentored by former 125cc world champion Kazuto Sakata, who sponsored him for a wildcard appearance in the 2018 All Japan Road Race Championship at Tsukuba Circuit.^[4]

Wakamatsu was selected to compete in the 2019 Asia Talent Cup season, at the age of 13.^[5] His best result in his debut year was a 12th place at Sepang. He was set to start his second Cup season in 2020 but the championship was cancelled after just one round at Qatar due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[6] Wakamatsu faced his second full-time Asia Talent Cup season in 2021, where his best results were two fourth-place finishes at Lusail.^[7]

In 2022, Wakamatsu would participate in his third and final Asia Talent Cup season. He earned his maiden podium with a second-place finish at Sepang, only milliseconds off first, and finished in ninth place overall.^[8]

In October 2020, Wakamatsu made a wildcard appearance in the J-GP3 class of the All Japan Road Race Championship at Motegi, where he claimed a tenth-place finish.^[9] In 2021, Wakamatsu competed part-time in the J-GP3 class, where he achieved a fifth best place finish at Suzuka.^[10][11]

In 2022, Wakamatsu entered his first full-time J-GP3 season, where he scored his first class podium at Sportsland Sugo.^[12][13] He ended the season in seventh place in the standings, despite missing two rounds due to his participation in the Asia Talent Cup. Wakamatsu signed with Kohara Racing TP for the 2023 J-GP3 season. He clinched three podiums in total, one being his maiden win at Okayama, and finished third in the overall standings.^[14][15] In 2024, he stayed with the same team. He won the opening round at Motegi, in front of Ryota Ogiwara, and claimed a second win at Okayama later that season. He finished on the podium in every round except for the final one at Suzuka, which placed him as runner-up in the final standings.^[16][17]

Wakamatsu won the opening round of the 2025 J-GP3 championship in front of Hiroki Ono at Sportsland Sugo, where he scored his first class podium in 2022.^[18] However, due to an injury, he missed the final round at Suzuka and finished the season in fourth place.

Wakamatsu made his Grand Prix debut at the 2024 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix in Moto3, riding aboard a Honda NSF250RW, similar to the one in J-GP3, as a replacement rider for MLav Racing. He finished the race in 20th place.^[19][20]

(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)

* Season still in progress.

• † – Rider did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed more than ~75% of the race distance.
• ‡ – Half points were awarded based on the qualifying results at the 2025 Autopolis round, after the race was cancelled due to low visibility.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)