Kenji Takahashi (racing driver)

Kenji Takahashi
Kenji Takahashi
Nationality	Japanese
Born	18 May 1946; Tokyo, Japan
Died	1 January 2005 (aged 58)
Previous series
1974–1976; 1976–1986; 1984–1990; 1986–1991; 1996–1997	FJ1300 Championship; All-Japan Formula Two Championship; All Japan Endurance Championship; Japanese Touring Car Championship; All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship
Championship titles
1985–1986; 1990	All Japan Endurance Championship; Japanese Touring Car Championship
Years
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	1987
Teams	NISMO
Best finish	DNF (1987)
Class wins	0

Kenji Takahashi (高橋健二, Takahashi Kenji, 18 May 1946 – 1 January 2005) was a Japanese racing driver.

Racing career

Takahashi began his racing career in 1969, driving a Datsun Sports in Minor Touring, a companion championship to the Fuji Grand Champion Series; he also raced a Nissan Fairlady Z and Sunny Coupe in these championships and winning a championship in the Sunny.^[1]

Takahashi was most commonly associated with the ADVAN brand of tires;^[2] he would most often be found racing a Porsche 956 or 962 alongside compatriot Kunimitsu Takahashi (no relation), usually with ADVAN branding. Takahashi won the 1985 and 1986 All Japan Endurance Championships as well as the 1990 Japanese Touring Car Championship; he is a two-time winner of the Suzuka 1000 km. Takahashi retired from racing in 1997.^{[citation needed]}

Takahashi died of liver cirrhosis on 1 January 2005; he was 58 years old. Kunimitsu Takahashi, a close friend, eulogized him at his funeral.^[3]

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

Year	Chassis	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	DC	Points
1974	March 733	SUZ	FUJ 1	SUZ 6	SUZ	SUZ	SUZ			?	?
1975	March 733	SUZ	SUZ 3	SUZ 2	FUJ	FUJ				?	?
1975	Alpine A364						MIN 3	SUZ Ret	SUZ	?	?
1976	March 733	SUZ	FUJ	SUZ 2	SUZ	SUZ				?	?

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

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	Tire	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	DC	Points
1976	Murakami & Co. Tomei Jidosha	March 742	BMW M12/7 2.0 I4	D	FUJ Ret	SUZ 3	FUJ Ret	SUZ Ret	SUZ 4				5th	28
1977	Murakami & Co. Tomei Jidosha	March 742		D	SUZ 12	SUZ 8	MIN Ret	SUZ 15	FUJ 6	FUJ 6	SUZ 2	SUZ 5	7th	36
1978	Murakami Shokai RS Watanabe Tomei	March 742 Kai		D	SUZ 8	FUJ Ret	SUZ 2	SUZ 2	SUZ	MIN 3	SUZ 3		4th	55
1979	Murakami Shokai RS Watanabe Tomei	March 782			SUZ 5	MIN 3	SUZ 1	FUJ Ret	SUZ 8	SUZ 2	SUZ 5		3rd	63 (66)
1980	Murakami & Co. Tomei Jidosha	March 782			SUZ 5	MIN DNS	SUZ	SUZ	C				12th	7
1980	Team ADVAN	March 802		Y					C	SUZ 10	SUZ Ret		12th	7
1981	ADVAN Tomei Jidosha	March 802 March 812		Y	SUZ 8	SUZ 9	SUZ 8	SUZ 2	SUZ 6				6th	29
1982	ADVAN Tomei Jidosha	March 822			SUZ 4	FUJ 1	SUZ 3	SUZ 5	SUZ 6	SUZ 9			4th	50 (58)
1983	ADVAN PIAA Tomei	March 822 March 832			SUZ 8	FUJ 1	MIN 6	SUZ 5	SUZ 3	FUJ 2	SUZ 3	SUZ 14	3rd	71 (74)
1984	ADVAN PIAA Nova Tomei	March 842			SUZ Ret	FUJ 9	MIN 10	SUZ 6	SUZ 12	FUJ 7	SUZ 12	SUZ 9	11th	15
1985	Team ADVAN	March 85J			SUZ 6	FUJ 5	MIN	SUZ Ret	SUZ 8	FUJ 3	SUZ 9	SUZ 6	9th	37
1986	Team ADVAN	March 86J	Yamaha OX66 2.0 V6		SUZ Ret	FUJ 6	MIN 7	SUZ 10	SUZ 10	FUJ 8	SUZ Ret	SUZ 10	12th	16

Year	Team	Car	Qualifying	Quali Race	Main race
1979	Tomei Motor	Nova 53P	DNS	NC	NC

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

Year	Team	Co-driver(s)	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	DC	Points
1984	ADVAN Sport Nova	Kunimitsu Takahashi Geoff Lees	Porsche 956	C1	SUZ	TSU	SUZ 1	FUJ				9th	20
1985		Kunimitsu Takahashi	Porsche 962C	C1	SUZ 3	FUJ Ret	FUJ 1	SUZ 1	FUJ Ret	FUJ 1		1st	72
1986		Kunimitsu Takahashi	Porsche 962C	C1	SUZ 1	FUJ 1	FUJ 2	SUZ Ret	FUJ 8	FUJ 2		1st	70
1987	Hoshino Racing	Kazuyoshi Hoshino Dave Scott	Nissan R87E	C1	SUZ Ret		FUJ Ret	SUZ 6	FUJ 16	SEN C	FUJ Ret	30th	9
1987	Hoshino Racing	Kazuyoshi Hoshino	Nissan R86V	C1		FUJ 8						30th	9
1988	Calsonic NISMO	Kazuyoshi Hoshino Toshio Suzuki	Nissan R88C	C1	FUJ Ret	SUZ 6	FUJ 7	FUJ 5	SUZ Ret	FUJ 9		18th	20
1989	Ba-Tsu ADVAN Alpha Tomei	Kazuo Mogi Giovanni Lavaggi	Porsche 962C	C1	FUJ 9	FUJ 10	FUJ Ret	SUZ Ret	FUJ 10			?	?
1990	Taisan SG Alpha Racing	Will Hoy Stanley Dickens	Porsche 962C	C1	FUJ	FUJ C	FUJ	SUZ	SUG 2	FUJ		?	?

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1987	NISMO	Kazuyoshi Hoshino Keiji Matsumoto	Nissan R87E	C1	181	DNF	DNF

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

Year	Team	Co-driver	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	DC	Points
1986	STP/Ralliart	Kunimitsu Takahashi	Mitsubishi Starion	DIV.3	MIN	SUG	TSU	SEN	FUJ Ret	SUZ	NC	0
1987	ADVAN Sports Tomei	Takao Wada	Nissan Skyline RS Turbo	DIV.3	MIN Ret	SEN 3	TSU 3	SUG 4	FUJ 7	SUZ 7	?	?
1988	Reebok Hasemi MS	Masahiro Hasemi	Nissan Skyline GTS-R	JTC-1	SUZ 5	MIN Ret	SEN Ret	TSU 8	SUG 5	FUJ Ret	?	?
1989	Taisan ADVAN Alpha	Stanley Dickens	BMW M3 (E30)	JTC-2	MIN 1	SEN 1	TSU 1	SUG 1	SUZ Ret	FUJ 1	1st	126
1990	Team Taisan	Will Hoy	BMW M3 (E30)	JTC-2	MIN 7	SUG Ret	SUZ 2	TSU 2	SEN 1	FUJ Ret	5th	62
1991	Team Taisan	Keiichi Tsuchiya	Nissan Skyline GT-R (R32)	JTC-1	SUG Ret	SUZ 2	TSU 2	SEN 3	AUT 4	FUJ 3	6th	128

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

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	DC	Points
1996	AI Auto Racing	Porsche 911 RS	GT300	SUZ 6	FUJ Ret	SEN	FUJ 4	SUG 11	MIN 9	12th	18
1997	AI Auto Racing	Porsche 911 RS	GT300	SUZ Ret	FUJ Ret	SEN 11	FUJ 9	MIN 5	SUG 11	19th	10