is a Japanese former racing driver, most famous for being the first Japanese driver to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in 1995.

Sekiya drove in single-seaters in his early career, contesting the Japanese Formula 3000 Championship and Formula Nippon from 1987 to 1993, mostly for the Leyton House team. He never achieved any victories, but finished fourth in the standings in 1988 and 1989, scoring three and four podiums, respectively.

A long-time works Toyota driver, Sekiya drove in the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship, All Japan Grand Touring Championship and Japanese Touring Car Championship, a series which he won in 1994, driving a Toyota Chaser for the Tom's team. He was also runner-up the following year.

As Sekiya is rather fond of Le Mans, in 1987, he got married in the town prior to the race. His best result in international sports car racing was winning the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans, at the wheel of a McLaren F1 GTR for Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing. He became the first Japanese-born driver to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He was also fourth in the 1993 edition. He competed in the JGTC until the 2000 season and now works as team manager for the Super GT division of the Toyota Team TOM'S and also runs a racing school at Fuji Speedway. In 1998, Sekiya also appeared in a TV commercial in Japan driving a JZA80 Supra promoting its handling package.

Sekiya retired from professional motorsports in October 2000 and is now involved in team management.

Racing Record

24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 1985 Tom's Team Satoru Nakajima Kaoru Hoshino Tom's 85C-L-Toyota C1 330 12th 12th 1986 Tom's Co. Ltd. Satoru Nakajima Geoff Lees Tom's (Dome) 86C-L-Toyota C1 105 DNF DNF 1987 Toyota Team Tom's Tiff Needell Kaoru Hoshino Toyota 87C-L C1 39 DNF DNF 1988 Toyota Team Tom's Geoff Lees Kaoru Hoshino Toyota 88C C1 351 12th 12th 1989 Porsche Kremer Racing Hideki Okada George Fouché Porsche 962CK6 C1 42 DNF DNF 1990 Toyota Team Tom's Geoff Lees Hitoshi Ogawa Toyota 90C-V C1 347 6th 6th 1992 Toyota Team Tom's Pierre-Henri Raphanel Kenny Acheson Toyota TS010 C1 346 2nd 2nd 1993 Toyota Team Tom's Eddie Irvine Toshio Suzuki Toyota TS010 C1 364 4th 4th 1995 Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing Yannick Dalmas JJ Lehto McLaren F1 GTR GT1 298 1st 1st 1996 Team SARD Toyota Hidetoshi Mitsusada Masami Kageyama Toyota Supra LM GT1 205 DNF DNF 1997 Gulf Team Davidoff GTC Racing Ray Bellm Andrew Gilbert-Scott McLaren F1 GTR GT1 326 DNF DNF

Japanese Formula 3000 Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 DC Pts 1987 Leyton House Racing Team SUZ FUJ MIN SUZ SUZ SUG FUJ SUZ SUZ10th32 1988Leyton House Racing Team SUZ FUJ MIN SUZ SUG FUJ SUZ SUZ4th18 1989Leyton House Racing Team SUZ FUJ MIN SUZ SUG FUJ SUZ SUZ5th21 1990Leyton House Racing Team SUZ FUJ MIN SUZ SUG FUJ FUJ SUZ FUJ SUZNC0 1991Leyton House Racing Team SUZ AUT FUJ MIN SUZ SUG FUJ SUZ FUJ17th3 Team LeMans SUZ FUJ 1992 Hagiwara Racing SUZ FUJ MIN SUZ AUT SUG FUJ FUJ SUZ FUJ FUJNC0 1993 TOM'S SUZ FUJ MIN SUZ AUT SUG FUJ FUJ SUZ FUJ SUZ16th3

Complete JTCC results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 DC Pts 1994 Toyota Team Tom's Toyota Corona AUT1 AUT2 SUG1 SUG2 TOK1 TOK2 SUZ1 SUZ2 MIN1 MIN2 TAI1 TAI2 TSU1 TSU2 SEN1 SEN2 FUJ1 FUJ21st135 1995Toyota Team Tom's Toyota Corona EXiV FUJ1 FUJ2 SUG1 SUG2 TOK1 TOK2 SUZ1 SUZ2 MIN1 MIN2 TAI1 TAI2 SEN1 SEN2 FUJ1 FUJ22nd117 1996Toyota Team Tom'sToyota Corona EXiV FUJ1 FUJ2 SUG1 SUG2 SUZ1 SUZ2 MIN1 MIN2 SEN1 SEN2 TOK1 TOK2 FUJ1 FUJ27th55 1997Toyota Team Tom's Toyota Chaser FUJ1 FUJ2 TAI1 TAI2 SUG1 SUG2 SUZ1 SUZ2 MIN1 MIN2 SEN1 SEN2 TOK1 TOK2 FUJ1 FUJ213th25 1998Toyota Team Tom'sToyota Chaser FUJ1 FUJ2 MOT SUG1 SUG2 SUZ1 SUZ2 MIN1 MIN2 TAI FUJ1st128

Complete JGTC 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 DC Pts 1995Toyota Castrol Team Tom'sToyota SupraGT1SUZ6FUJ6SEN1FUJRetSUG7MIN46th42 1996Toyota Castrol TeamToyota SupraGT500SUZ5FUJ2SEN3MINRetSUG9MINRet8th38 1997Toyota Castrol TeamToyota Supra GT500SUZ3FUJ6SEN3FUJ3MIN3SUG43rd64 1998Toyota Castrol Team Tom'sToyota SupraGT500SUZ6FUJCSEN3FUJ8MOT3MIN16SUGRet7th33 1999Toyota Castrol Team Tom'sToyota SupraGT500SUZ4FUJ9SUG1MIN10FUJ4TAI4MOT12nd73 2000Toyota Castrol Team Tom'sToyota SupraGT500MOTRetFUJ12SUG9FUJ5TAI14MINRetSUZ917th12

Sources

Japanese Sports Prototype Championship tables Toyota Team TOM'S profile