Kohei Hirate

Kohei Hirate
Hirate at the 2010 Fuji 400km Super GT race.
Nationality	Japanese
Born	(1986-03-24) March 24, 1986
Formula Nippon career
Debut season	2008
Current team	Team Impul
Car number	20
Starts	17
Wins	1
Poles	1
Fastest laps	1
Best finish	4th in 2008
Previous series
2008–10 2007 2006–07 2004–06 2004 2003–04 2003–04 2003 2003 2002	Super GT GP2 Series Formula One testing Formula Three Euroseries Asian Formula Renault FR2000 Germany Formula Renault 2000 Italia FR2000 Netherlands FR2000 Masters Formula Toyota

Kohei Hirate (born 24 March 1986) is a Japanese race car driver.

Career

Hirate began karting in 1999 when he was 13. After winning the All Japan Junior Kart Championship, coming third and fifth in the All Japan Kart Championship and coming third in the FIA Oceania Championship, he moved on to Formula Toyota, where he raced for the Tom's Spirit team and came second with four wins to his name.

Hirate during free practice for the first Motegi round of the 2010 Formula Nippon season.

In 2003, he moved to Formula Renault, at the Prema Power team. In his two year spell here he won 7 races and came second in the 2004 season. In 2004 he also raced for Prema Power's Formula Three Euroseries team twice, and in 2005 made the decision to race here. After coming twelfth for Team Rosberg, he was made a Toyota F1 test driver in 2006 and came third in the Formula Three Euroseries. In 2007 he continued as a Toyota test driver and also drove for GP2 team Trident Racing.

Hirate returned to Japan in 2008, where he competed in both Formula Nippon and Super GT. He finished fourth in the 2008 Formula Nippon season and fifth in 2009, both times driving for Team Impul.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2002	Formula Toyota	TOM'S Spirit	?	4	2	?	?	?	2nd
2003	Formula Renault 2000 Italia	Prema Powerteam	12	1	0	1	2	113	8th
	Formula Renault 2000 Masters		8	0	0	0	0	8	21st
	Formula Renault 2000 Germany	Franken Racing	4	0	0	0	0	33	24th
	Formula Renault 2000 Netherlands	?	?	?	?	?	?	15	21st
2004	Formula Three Euroseries	Prema Powerteam	4	0	0	0	0	0	28th
	Bahrain Superprix		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	12th
	Formula Renault 2000 Italia		15	6	6	2	10	266	2nd
	Formula Renault 2000 Germany		2	0	0	0	0	25	25th
	Asian Formula Renault Challenge	Asia Racing Team	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2005	Formula Three Euroseries	Team Rosberg	20	0	0	0	1	18	11th
	Masters of Formula 3		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	5th
	Macau Grand Prix		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC
2006	Formula Three Euroseries	Manor Motorsport	20	1	0	2	5	61	3rd
	Masters of Formula 3		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	4th
	Macau Grand Prix		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	27th
	Formula One	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Test driver
2007	GP2 Series	Trident Racing	21	0	0	0	1	9	19th
	Formula One	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Test driver
2008	Formula Nippon	Team Impul	8	1	0	0	3	42	4th
	Super GT - GT300	apr	7	1	1	0	1	33	15th
2009	Formula Nippon	Team Impul	8	0	1	0	2	32	5th
	Super GT - GT500	Lexus Team SARD	9	0	0	0	1	27	14th
2010	Formula Nippon	Team Impul	1	0	0	1	0	5*	4th*
	Super GT - GT500	Lexus Team SARD	2	0	0	0	0	7*	9th*

• * Season in progress.

Complete GP2 Series 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	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	DC	Points
2007	Trident Racing	BHR FEA 18	BHR SPR Ret	ESP FEA 13	ESP SPR 10	MON FEA 12	FRA FEA Ret	FRA SPR 11	GBR FEA 18	GBR SPR Ret	EUR FEA 5	EUR SPR 2	HUN FEA 11	HUN SPR 10	TUR FEA Ret	TUR SPR Ret	ITA FEA Ret	ITA SPR 10	BEL FEA Ret	BEL SPR 13	VAL FEA Ret	VAL SPR 16	19th	9

External links

• Kohei Hirate official website