Masahiro Hasemi

Masahiro Hasemi

Born	(1945-11-13) 13 November 1945 Tokyo, Japan
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Japanese
Active years	1976
Teams	Kojima
Entries	1
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	11
First entry	1976 Japanese Grand Prix
Last entry	1976 Japanese Grand Prix

Masahiro Hasemi (Shinjitai: 長谷見 昌弘, Hasemi Masahiro, born 13 November 1945, in Tokyo) is a former racing driver and team owner from Japan. He started racing motocross when he was 15 years old. In 1964 he signed to drive for Nissan. After establishing himself in saloon car and GT races in Japan, he participated in his only Formula One race at the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix for Kojima on 24 October 1976. He qualified 10th after an error which cost him his chance of a pole position and finished 11th, seven laps behind the winner. Notably, however, he also set the fastest lap of the race¹.

Hasemi became the Japanese Formula 2 champion in 1980, and got two titles in the Fuji Grand Champion Series in 1974 and 1980. After that he reverted to racing Skylines, which he became heavily synonymous with in Group 5, touring cars and JGTC. He won the Japanese Touring Car Championship in 1989, 1991 and 1992. He also won the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship in 1990, with the controversial win at the Guia Touring Car race at the Macau Grand Prix in 1990 and Daytona 24 hour in 1992. Hasemi retired from driving in 2001 and now runs Hasemi Sport, a JGTC racing team and Nissan aftermarket parts company.

Hasemi is the most recent Japanese driver to win his home grand prix, winning it in 1975, when it was a non-Championship race.

Racing record

Japanese Top Formula Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	DC	Points
1974	Kojima Engineering	SUZ	SUZ 1	SUZ 3	SUZ 9					2nd	20
1975	Sakai Racing Team	FUJ 1	SUZ 1	FUJ	SUZ Ret					3rd	45
	Kojima Engineering					SUZ 5
1976	Kojima Engineering	FUJ 5	SUZ	FUJ 2	SUZ 2	SUZ 4				2nd	52
1977	Kojima Engineering	SUZ	SUZ	MIN	SUZ 1	FUJ 3				4th	46
	Private Hasemi						FUJ 9	SUZ 4	SUZ 9

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Pts
1976	Kojima Engineering	Kojima KE007	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA	JPN 11	NC	0

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1981	Nissan Motor Co.	Kazuyoshi Hoshino	Nissan Bluebird Turbo	4 Cylinder	66	DNF	DNF
1982	Nissan Motor Co.	Kazuyoshi Hoshino	Nissan Bluebird Turbo	B	153	8th	1st

Fastest lap in Formula One

^ It was initially announced that Hasemi set the fastest lap at the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix, but it was set on a lap where he cut the course due a mistake, and, several days later, the circuit issued a press release to correct the fastest lap holder of the race to Jacques Laffite. This fact is widely known in Japan, but not known well outside Japan, thus, Hasemi has been treated as the fastest lap record holder of the race in many record books. The Formula One Management never issued a correction for the mistake so the official record has Hasemi as fatest lap.

External links

• Masahiro Hasemi profile at the Japan Automobile Federation
• Hasemi Sport Deals with Nissan aftermarket parts (Japanese)
• Kojima F1 Project 1976 Japanese Grand prix page, partially dedicated to Hasemi-san and the car
• Gzox Hasemi's Super GT sponsor's page (Japanese)
• Team profile