Seiji Ara

24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	2001–2005, 2009, 2012
Teams	Viper Team Oreca, Audi Sport Japan Team Goh, Jim Gainer International, NAVI Team Goh
Best finish	1st (2004)
Class wins	1

Seiji Ara
Seiji Ara
	Ara in 2010.
Nationality	Japanese
Born	May 5, 1974 (age 50); Chiba (Japan)
FIA GT1 World Championship career
Debut season	2010
Current team	Swiss Racing Team
Racing licence	FIA Gold
Car number	4
Starts	20
Wins	0
Poles	0
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	42nd in 2010
Previous series
2009; 2004; 2001–02, 06–08; 2000–09; 1998-00; 1996	WTCC; Le Mans Series; Formula Nippon; Super GT; Japanese F3; Barber Pro Series

Seiji Ara (荒聖治; Ara Seiji) (born May 5, 1974 in Chiba, Japan) is a Japanese race car driver.

He was the winner of the 24-hour Le Mans race in 2004, driving an Audi R8.^[1] In the same year he also raced in the Le Mans Endurance Series and Japanese GT Championship.

In earlier years he had competed in Formula Nippon (2001–2002), Japanese Formula 3 (1997–2000) and the Barber Dodge Pro Series (1995).

He made his World Touring Car Championship debut with Wiechers-Sport at the 2009 FIA WTCC Race of Japan.

Racing record

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2001	Viper Team Oreca	Masahiko Kondo Ni Amorim	Chrysler LMP	LMP900	243	DNF	DNF
2002	Audi Sport Japan Team Goh	Hiroki Katoh Yannick Dalmas	Audi R8	LMP900	358	7th	6th
2003	Audi Sport Japan Team Goh	Jan Magnussen Marco Werner	Audi R8	LMP900	370	4th	2nd
2004	Audi Sport Japan Team Goh	Rinaldo Capello Tom Kristensen	Audi R8	LMP900	379	1st	1st
2005	Jim Gainer International	Ryo Michigami Katsutomo Kaneishi	Dome S101Hb-Mugen	LMP1	193	DNF	DNF
2009	Navi Team Goh	Keisuke Kunimoto Sascha Maassen	Porsche RS Spyder Evo	LMP2	339	DNF	DNF
2012	Pescarolo Team	Nicolas Minassian Sébastien Bourdais	Dome S102.5-Judd	LMP1	203	NC	NC

Complete GT1 World Championship results

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pos	Points
2010	Swiss Racing Team	Nissan	ABU QR 12	ABU CR Ret	SIL QR 14	SIL CR 9	BRN QR 15	BRN CR 14	PRI QR 12	PRI CR Ret	SPA QR 17	SPA CR 16	NÜR QR 17	NÜR CR 21	ALG QR 11	ALG CR 18	NAV QR 13	NAV CR Ret	INT QR 13	INT CR 16	SAN QR Ret	SAN CR 13	42nd	2

Complete JGTC/Super GT results

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

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	DC	Pts
2000	TOM'S	Toyota Supra	GT500	MOT 9	FUJ Ret	SUG 8	FUJ 14	TAI 12	MIN 9	SUZ 12			21st	7
2001	Tsuchiya Engineering	Toyota Supra	GT500	TAI 9	FUJ 11	SUG 11	FUJ DNQ	MOT 7	SUZ 7	MIN 10			19th	11
2002	Tsuchiya Engineering	Toyota Supra	GT500	TAI 6	FUJ	SUG 11	SEP Ret	FUJ 3	MOT 9	MIN 5	SUZ 7		16th	32
2003	Tsuchiya Racing	Toyota Supra	GT500	TAI 10	FUJ	SUG 4	FUJ 14	FUJ 17	MOT 3	AUT 12	SUZ Ret		13th	26
2004	Team Cerumo	Toyota Supra	GT500	TAI 5	SUG 1	SEP 7	TOK 14	MOT 10	AUT 11	SUZ 4			5th	45
2005	Kraft	Toyota Supra	GT500	OKA Ret	FUJ 7	SEP 12	SUG 14	MOT 11	FUJ 16	AUT 12	SUZ 16		19th	4
2006	Kondo Racing	Nissan Z	GT500	SUZ	OKA	FUJ	SEP	SUG 10	SUZ 5	MOT 6	AUT 14	FUJ 3	16th	28
2007	Kondo Racing	Nissan Z	GT500	SUZ Ret	OKA 15	FUJ Ret	SEP 1	SUG 10	SUZ 10	MOT 5	AUT Ret	FUJ 5	10th	34
2008	Kondo Racing	Nissan GT-R	GT500	SUZ 5	OKA 8	FUJ 11	SEP 1	SUG 8	SUZ 7	MOT 14	AUT 16	FUJ 15	14th	34
2009	Kondo Racing	Nissan GT-R	GT500	OKA 1	SUZ 8	FUJ 4	SEP 5	SUG 13	SUZ 11	FUJ 13	AUT 3	MOT 11	8th	48
2011	Lexus Team WedsSport BANDOH	Lexus SC430	GT500	OKA 15	FUJ 3	SEP 11	SUG 8	SUZ 11	FUJ 13	AUT 7	MOT 11		13th	18
2012	Lexus Team WedsSport BANDOH	Lexus SC430	GT500	OKA 12	FUJ 13	SEP 9	SUG Ret	SUZ 6	FUJ 3	AUT 3	MOT 5		9th	36
2013	Lexus Team WedsSport BANDOH	Lexus SC430	GT500	OKA 14	FUJ 11	SEP 15	SUG 9	SUZ 6	FUJ Ret	AUT 13	MOT 10		14th	9
2014	BMW Sports Trophy Team Studie	BMW Z4 GT3	GT300	OKA 2	FUJ 4	AUT 15	SUG 8	SUZ 7	FUJ 3	BUR 2	MOT 7		3rd	62
2015	BMW Sports Trophy Team Studie	BMW Z4 GT3	GT300	OKA Ret	FUJ 6	CHA 3	FUJ Ret	SUZ 2	SUG 19	AUT 3	MOT 9		7th	47
2016	BMW Team Studie	BMW M6 GT3	GT300	OKA 3	FUJ 24	SUG 10	FUJ 20	SUZ DNS	CHA 6	MOT 15	MOT 12		15th	17
2017	BMW Team Studie	BMW M6 GT3	GT300	OKA 13	FUJ 7	AUT 4	SUG 16	SUZ 6	FUJ 11	BUR 10	MOT 13		15th	18
2019	McLaren Customer Racing Japan	McLaren 720S GT3	GT300	OKA 19	FUJ 14	SUZ 13	CHA	FUJ Ret	AUT 2	SUG 12	MOT 7		15th	20
2020	BMW Team Studie × CSL	BMW M6 GT3	GT300	OKA 15	FUJ 22	SUZ 21	CHA Ret	SEP 9	SUG 8	AUT 18	MOT 19		26th	5
2021	BMW Team Studie × CSL	BMW M6 GT3	GT300	OKA 17	FUJ 20	SUZ 25	MOT 25	SUG 11	AUT 13	MOT 15	FUJ Ret		NC	0
2022	BMW Team Studie × CSL	BMW M4 GT3	GT300	OKA 24	FSW Ret	SUZ 1	FSW 21	SUZ 12	SUG 5	AUT 12	TRM 9		11th	29
2023	BMW M Team Studie x CRS	BMW M4 GT3	GT300	OKA 6	FUJ 13	SUZ 1	FUJ 2	SUZ 16	SUG 13	AUT 8	MOT 12		6th	43
2024	BMW M Team Studie x CRS	BMW M4 GT3	GT300	OKA	FUJ	SUZ	FUJ	SUZ	SUG	AUT	MOT

* Season still in progress.

Complete Formula Nippon 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	DC	Points
2001	Cosmo Oil Racing Team Cerumo	SUZ 3	MOT Ret	MIN Ret	FUJ Ret	SUZ 9	SUG 10	FUJ 8	MIN Ret	MOT 12	SUZ Ret		12th	4
2002	Olympic Kondo Racing Team	SUZ 8	FUJ 4	MIN 9	SUZ 10	MOT Ret	SUG Ret	FUJ Ret	MIN 9	MOT 11	SUZ 10		11th	3
2006	Kondo Racing Team	FUJ	SUZ	MOT	SUZ 10	AUT 10	FUJ 18	SUG 13	MOT Ret	SUZ Ret			NC	0
2007	TOM'S	FUJ 11	SUZ Ret	MOT 15	OKA 7	SUZ 10	FUJ 4	SUG Ret	MOT 13	SUZ 5			11th	11
2008	TOM'S	FUJ Ret	SUZ 11	MOT 10	OKA 10	SUZ1 13	SUZ2 11	MOT1 7	MOT2 1	FUJ1 10	FUJ2 10	SUG 16	15th	9

Complete Japanese Formula 3 results

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

Year	Team	engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	DC	Pts
1998	Team G.R.P	Toyota	SUZ	TSU	MIN	FUJ	MOT	SUZ	SUG 7	TAI 9	SEN 10	SUG Ret	NC	0
1999	TOM'S	Toyota	SUZ 1	TSU Ret	FUJ 3	MIN Ret	FUJ 3	SUZ 8	SUG Ret	TAI 10	MOT 4	SUZ	6th	20
2000	Toda Racing	Mugen	SUZ Ret	TSU 2	FUJ 4	MIN 5	TAI 2	SUZ 4	SUG 3	MOT 9	SEN 3	SUZ 3	3rd	30

References

^ Williams, Jack (2004-06-13). "Audi, Corvette steal the show at Le Mans". USA Today. Retrieved 2010-11-21.

Sporting positions
Preceded by Tom Kristensen Rinaldo Capello Guy Smith	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2004 with: Tom Kristensen Rinaldo Capello	Succeeded by J.J. Lehto Marco Werner Tom Kristensen

[1] Williams, Jack (2004-06-13). "Audi, Corvette steal the show at Le Mans". USA Today. Retrieved 2010-11-21.

[1]

v t e Winners of the 24 Hours of Le Mans
Nine-time	Tom Kristensen
Six-time	Jacky Ickx
Five-time	Derek Bell Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro
Four-time	Sébastien Buemi Yannick Dalmas Olivier Gendebien Henri Pescarolo
Three-time	Woolf Barnato Rinaldo Capello Luigi Chinetti Marcel Fässler Brendon Hartley Hurley Haywood Phil Hill Al Holbert André Lotterer Klaus Ludwig Allan McNish Kazuki Nakajima Benoît Tréluyer Marco Werner
Two-time	Fernando Alonso Earl Bamber Timo Bernhard Tim Birkin Ivor Bueb Romain Dumas Ron Flockhart Jean-Pierre Jaussaud Gérard Larrousse JJ Lehto Manuel Reuter André Rossignol Raymond Sommer Hans-Joachim Stuck Gijs van Lennep Jean-Pierre Wimille Alexander Wurz
One-time	Aïello Alboreto Amon Ara Attwood Baldi Bandini Barilla Barth Benjafield Benoist Bianchi Bloch Blundell Bouchut D. Brabham G. Brabham Brundle Calado Chaboud Clement Cobb Conway Davis de Courcelles Dickens Duff Dumfries Duval Étancelin Fontés Foyt Frère Fuoco Gachot Gené Giovinazzi González Gregory Guichet Gurney Hamilton Hawthorn Hélary Herbert Herrmann G. Hill Hindmarsh Hirakawa Howe Hülkenberg Jani Johansson Jones Kidston Kobayashi Krages Lagache Lammers Lang Léonard Lieb López Marko Martini Mass McLaren Mitchell-Thomson Molina J. Nielsen N. Nielsen Nuvolari Oliver Ortelli Pier Guidi Pironi Riess Rindt Rockenfeller Rodríguez Rolt Rondeau J. Rosier L. Rosier Rubin Salvadori Sanderson Scarfiotti Schuppan Sekiya Shelby Smith Tandy Trémoulet Trintignant Vaccarella Veyron Walker Wallace Warwick Weidler Whitehead B. Whittington D. Whittington Winkelhock