Yojiro Terada (寺田陽次郎, Terada Yōjirō, born 26 March 1947) is a Japanese racing driver from Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture. He is known for holding the record for the second most participations in the 24 Hours of Le Mans without an overall win (behind Bob Wollek), having run on 29 occasions (28 of which were consecutive) since 1974. He is also third behind Henri Pescarolo and Bob Wollek for the drivers with the most participations.[1] He scored class victories at the event in 1983, 1988, 1990 and 1996, while his best overall finish was seventh in 1995.
| Nationality |  Japanese |
|---|---|
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
| Years | 1974, 1981–2008 |
| Teams | Mazda Automotive, Mazdaspeed, Lotus Sport, Team Artnature, T.D.R., Courage Compétition, Autoexe, Welter Racing, Binnie Motorsports, T2M Motorsport, Terramos |
| Best finish | 7th (1995) |
| Class wins | 4 (1983, 1988, 1990, 1996) |
He began his racing career in a Honda S600[2] in 1969, before he was taken on as Mazda's factory driver, a position he held through the 1990s including participating in the World Sportscar Championship and All Japan Sports Prototype Championship.
He also took class wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona on two occasions, including in the Mazda RX-7's debut race in 1979, scoring a GTU class win at fifth place overall.[3] The other occasion was a fourth place overall finish and a GTO class win in 1982.[4]
When he is not racing, he runs the Tokyo-based AutoExe (オートエクゼ) tuning business, specialising in tuning parts and accessories for Mazda.[5][6] and instructs on driving at NATS (Nihon Automobile High Technical School)[7]
He is the father of voice actress Haruhi Nanao.
24 Hours of Le Mans results
References
External links
- Official website (in Japanese)
- Terada's blog page (in Japanese)
- AutoExe
- Yojiro Terada at 24 Hours of Le Mans (in French)