# Keiko Ihara

Keiko Ihara (井原 慶子, Ihara Keiko) (born July 4, 1973) is a Japanese race car driver. She was a former race queen, a model who appears in a swimsuit or other fashionable apparel at race circuits, before deciding to become a racing driver. She is one of the few Japanese women nationals to race internationally at a high level. Her best finishes in the British Formula Three Championship are two 8th places finishes in 2005, which helped her to a final championship standing position of 16th with 12 points. In the 2006 series, she finished in 17th and last position in the Championship Class, with 4 points.
Ihara joined the Gulf Racing Middle East to compete at the FIA World Endurance Championship in the LMP2 class with Jean-Denis Délétraz and Fabien Giroix as codrivers. In 2013, she raced two rounds for Gulf Racing Middle East and four with OAK Racing, both in the LMP2 class. The driver won the Fuji round of the 2014 Asian Le Mans Series for Oak Racing, together with Ho-Pin Tung and David Cheng.

## Racing record
### Career summary

| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | Podiums | F/Laps | Points | Position |
| 2000 | Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship | | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 2001 | French Formula 3 Championship | ARTA/Signature | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 13th |
| 2002 | Asian Formula 2000 | Autosports Racing Team | ? | 2 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| 2002 | Macau Asian Formula 2000 Challenge | Autosports Racing Team | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | N/A | 3rd |
| 2003 | JGTC - GT300 | R&D Sports | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 2003 | Formula BMW Asia | Team Yellow Hat | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 139 | 3rd |
| 2004 | Le Mans Endurance Series - GT | T2M Motorsport | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 2005 | British Formula 3 International Series | Carlin Motorsport | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 17th |
| 2005 | Masters of Formula 3 | Carlin Motorsport | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 25th |
| 2006 | British Formula 3 International Series | Carlin Motorsport | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 17th |
| 2008 | Aston Martin Asia Cup | | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A† |
| 2009 | Formula Le Mans Cup | Exagon Engineering | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 49th |
| 2012 | FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2 | Gulf Racing Middle East | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ? | ? |
| 2012 | 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2 | Gulf Racing Middle East | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | DNF |
| 2013 | FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2 | Gulf Racing Middle East | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 10th |
| 2013 | FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2 | OAK Racing | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 10th |
| 2013 | 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2 | Gulf Racing Middle East | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | DNF |
| 2014 | Asian Le Mans Series - LMP2 | OAK Racing Team Total | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 25 | 5th |
| 2014 | European Le Mans Series - LMP2 | Larbre Compétition | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 26th |
| 2014 | 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2 | Larbre Compétition | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 9th |
| 2016 | IMSA SportsCar Championship - Prototype | Mazda Motorsports | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 32nd |
| 2017-18 | Asian Le Mans Series - LMP2 | Eurasia Motorsport | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 10th |
| 2018-19 | FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2 | Larbre Compétition | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 18th |
$^*$ Season still in progress. † – Charity race guest.

### 24 Hours of Le Mans results

| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
| 2012 | Gulf Racing Middle East | Jean-Denis Délétraz Marc Rostan | Lola B12/80-Nissan | LMP2 | 17 | DNF | DNF |
| 2013 | Gulf Racing Middle East | Fabien Giroix Philippe Haezebrouck | Lola B12/80-Nissan | LMP2 | 22 | DNF | DNF |
| 2014 | Larbre Compétition | Pierre Ragues Ricky Taylor | Morgan LMP2-Judd | LMP2 | 341 | 14th | 9th |

### Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

| Year | Entrant | Class | Car | Engine | Tyres | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Rank | Points |
| 2012 | Gulf Racing Middle East | LMP2 | Lola B12/80 | Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 | D | SEB EX | SPA 9 | LMS Ret | SIL 11 | SÃO 9 | BHR Ret | FUJ 6 | SHA Ret | 70th | 2 |
| 2013 | Gulf Racing Middle East | LMP2 | Lola B12/80 | Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 | D | SIL | SPA 9 | LMS Ret | | | | | | 22nd | 12 |
| 2013 | OAK Racing | LMP2 | Morgan LMP2 | Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 | D | | | | SÃO 5 | COA | FUJ 9 | SHA 6 | BHR 5 | 22nd | 12 |
| 2014 | Larbre Compétition | LMP2 | Morgan LMP2 | Judd HK 3.6 L V8 | M | SIL | SPA | LMS 9 | | | | | | N/A | N/A |
| 2014 | OAK Racing | LMP2 | Morgan LMP2 | Judd HK 3.6 L V8 | D | | | | COA | FUJ 3 | SHA | BHR 3 | SÃO | N/A | N/A |
| 2018–19 | Larbre Compétition | LMP2 | Ligier JS P217 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | M | SPA | LMS | SIL | FUJ 5 | SHA | SEB | SPA | LMS | 18th | 10 |

### IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series results

| Year | Team | Class | Make | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Rank | Points |
| 2016 | Mazda Motorsports | P | Mazda Prototype | Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L I4 Turbo | DAY | SIR 8 | LBH | LAG | DET | WAT | MSP | ELK | COA | PET | 32nd | 24 |
* Season still in progress