# Toshio Suzuki (racing driver)

Toshio Suzuki (鈴木 利男, Suzuki Toshio, born 10 March 1955) is a former racing driver from Saitama Prefecture, Japan.

## Racing career

As a youth, Suzuki won the All-Japan Kart Championships in 1975 and 1976. In 1979, he took the title of the first All-Japan Formula Three Championship.
In 1992, he won the 24 Hours of Daytona with Kazuyoshi Hoshino and Masahiro Hasemi. In the same year, he was runner-up in the Japanese F3000 championship.

### Formula One

In 1993, he participated in two Formula One Grands Prix, standing in for Philippe Alliot at the Larrousse team. Though he scored no championship points, Suzuki finished both races.

### After Formula One

Suzuki competed mainly in national championships, including the Japanese Formula 3000 Championship (later Formula Nippon), Japanese Touring Car Championship (JTCC) and All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC). He also participated into the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 1996, he made a single start in the NASCAR Busch Series, driving for Joe Bessey at Nazareth Speedway; an accident during the race left him with a concussion.
In 2006, he became director of the R&D SPORT in Super GT to continue the team that Direxiv abandoned.

## GT-R

Most recently, he worked for Nissan as a test driver to help in the development of the R35 Nissan GT-R.

## Motorsports career results
### 24 Hours of Le Mans results

| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
| 1985 | Dome Team | Eje Elgh Geoff Lees | Dome 85C-L-Toyota | C1 | 141 | DNF | DNF |
| 1986 | Dome Co. Ltd. | Eje Elgh Beppe Gabbiani | Dome 86C-L-Toyota | C1 | 296 | DNF | DNF |
| 1988 | Italiya Sport Team Le Mans | Michel Trollé Danny Ongais | March 88S-Nissan | C1 | 74 | DNF | DNF |
| 1989 | Nissan Motorsports | Masahiro Hasemi Kazuyoshi Hoshino | Nissan R89C | C1 | 167 | DNF | DNF |
| 1990 | Nissan Motorsports International | Masahiro Hasemi Kazuyoshi Hoshino | Nissan R90CP | C1 | 348 | 5th | 5th |
| 1993 | Toyota Team Tom's | Eddie Irvine Masanori Sekiya | Toyota TS010 | C1 | 364 | 4th | 4th |
| 1995 | NISMO | Kazuyoshi Hoshino Masahiko Kageyama | Nissan Skyline GT-R LM | GT1 | 157 | DNF | DNF |
| 1996 | NISMO | Kazuyoshi Hoshino Masahiro Hasemi | Nissan Skyline GT-R LM | GT1 | 307 | 15th | 10th |
| 1998 | Toyota Motorsport Toyota Team Europe | Ukyo Katayama Keiichi Tsuchiya | Toyota GT-One | GT1 | 326 | 9th | 8th |
| 1999 | Toyota Motorsport Toyota Team Europe | Ukyo Katayama Keiichi Tsuchiya | Toyota GT-One | LMGTP | 364 | 2nd | 1st |
| 2000 | TV Asahi Team Dragon | Masami Kageyama Masahiko Kageyama | Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S-Élan | LMP900 | 340 | 6th | 6th |
| 2008 | Tōkai University YGK Power | Haruki Kurosawa Masami Kageyama | Courage-Oreca LC70-YGK | LMP1 | 185 | DNF | DNF |

### Japanese Formula Two/Formula 3000/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 |
| 1980 | Heroes Racing Corporation | SUZ | MIN | SUZ | SUZ | SUZ Ret | SUZ | | | | | | NC | 0 |
| 1982 | Heroes Racing Corporation | SUZ | FUJ | SUZ | SUZ | SUZ 9 | SUZ 12 | | | | | | 21st | 2 |
| 1983 | Kondou Racing | SUZ | FUJ | MIN | SUZ Ret | SUZ 6 | FUJ Ret | SUZ 9 | SUZ 10 | | | | 14th | 9 |
| 1984 | Team Le Mans | SUZ 5 | FUJ 8 | MIN 3 | SUZ 7 | SUZ 9 | FUJ Ret | SUZ 10 | SUZ Ret | | | | 8th | 30 |
| 1987 | Heroes Racing Corporation | SUZ 3 | FUJ Ret | MIN 1 | SUZ 5 | SUZ 6 | SUG 8 | FUJ 2 | SUZ Ret | SUZ 5 | | | 5th | 72 |
| 1989 | Cabin Racing Heroes | SUZ 7 | FUJ Ret | MIN 12 | SUZ 13 | SUG 8 | FUJ 20 | SUZ 17 | SUZ 6 | | | | 19th | 1 |
| 1990 | Super Evolution Racing | SUZ 20 | FUJ | MIN 14 | SUZ 11 | SUG 8 | FUJ 11 | FUJ Ret | SUZ 22 | FUJ 11 | SUZ 12 | | NC | 0 |
| 1991 | Universal Racing | SUZ 11 | AUT DNS | FUJ 8 | MIN 5 | SUZ 5 | SUG 9 | FUJ DNQ | SUZ 11 | FUJ C | SUZ 12 | FUJ 11 | 15th | 4 |
| 1992 | Universal Racing | SUZ Ret | FUJ Ret | MIN Ret | SUZ 7 | AUT Ret | SUG 2 | FUJ 2 | FUJ 1 | SUZ 17 | FUJ 1 | SUZ Ret | 2nd | 30 |
| 1993 | Universal Racing | SUZ 6 | FUJ 4 | MIN Ret | SUZ Ret | AUT C | SUG 4 | FUJ C | FUJ 1 | SUZ 3 | FUJ 5 | SUZ Ret | 5th | 22 |
| 1994 | Mirai Corporation | SUZ 7 | FUJ 6 | MIN | SUZ | SUG | FUJ | SUZ | FUJ | FUJ | SUZ | | 16th | 1 |
| 1995 | Hoshino Racing | SUZ 5 | FUJ C | MIN 2 | SUZ 1 | SUG Ret | FUJ 3 | TOK 6 | FUJ 3 | SUZ 1 | | | 1st | 34 |
| 1996 | Team Impul | SUZ 18 | MIN Ret | FUJ 12 | TOK 11 | SUZ 9 | SUG 10 | FUJ 7 | MIN 4 | SUZ 3 | FUJ Ret | | 12th | 7 |
| 1997 | Mirai | SUZ 8 | MIN 5 | FUJ 7 | SUZ Ret | SUG 4 | FUJ 16 | MIN 9 | MOT 8 | FUJ Ret | SUZ 9 | | 13th | 5 |

### Complete Japanese Touring Car Championship 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 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | DC | Pts |
| 1990 | Impul | Nissan Skyline GT-R | JTC-1 | NIS 1 | SUG 1 | SUZ 2 | TSU 1 | SEN 1 | FUJ 1 | | | | | | | | | | | 1st | 230 |
| 1991 | Impul | Nissan Skyline GT-R | JTC-1 | SUG 1 | SUZ Ret | TSU 3 | SEN 1 | AUT 2 | FUJ 1 | | | | | | | | | | | 3rd | 174 |
| 1993 | Nismo | Nissan Skyline GT-R | JTC-1 | MIN 14 | AUT 5 | SUG 3 | SUZ 5 | AID 2 | TSU 1 | TOK 2 | SEN 18 | FUJ 3 | | | | | | | | 3rd | 106 |
| 1995 | Nismo | Nissan Sunny | | FUJ 1 | FUJ 2 | SUG 1 23 | SUG 2 Ret | TOK 1 11 | TOK 2 6 | SUZ 1 7 | SUZ 2 21 | MIN 1 Ret | MIN 2 Ret | AID 1 21 | AID 2 14 | SEN 1 8 | SEN 2 7 | FUJ 1 NC | FUJ 2 Ret | 17th | 16 |

### 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 |
| 1994 | Team Zexel | Nissan Skyline GT-R | GT1 | FUJ Ret | SEN 6 | FUJ 6 | SUG 2 | MIN Ret | | | 10th | 27 |
| 1995 | Nismo | Nissan Skyline GT-R | GT1 | SUZ 2 | FUJ 4 | SEN 6 | FUJ 2 | SUG 5 | MIN 7 | | 3th | 58 |
| 1996 | Nismo | Nissan Skyline GT-R | GT500 | SUZ 6 | FUJ Ret | SEN 17 | FUJ 5 | SUG 3 | MIN 10 | | 11th | 27 |
| 1997 | TOYOTA Castrol TEAM | Toyota Supra | GT500 | SUZ 3 | FUJ 6 | SEN 3 | FUJ 3 | MIN 3 | SUG 4 | | 3th | 64 |
| 1998 | Toyota Castrol Team TOM'S | Toyota Supra | GT500 | SUZ 7 | FUJ* C | SEN 6 | FUJ 11 | MOT Ret | MIN 10 | SUG 2 | 9th | 26 |
| 1999 | Toyota Castrol Team TOM'S | Toyota Supra | GT500 | SUZ 3 | FUJ 4 | SUG 11 | MIN 2 | FUJ 15 | TAI 15 | MOT 10 | 9th | 38 |
| 2000 | Toyota Castrol Team TOM'S | Toyota Supra | GT500 | MOT 9 | FUJ Ret | SUG 8 | FUJ 14 | TAI 12 | MIN 9 | SUZ 12 | 21st | 7 |
*The race at Fuji Speedway was cancelled due to a large crash on the first lap and heavy fog afterwards.

### Complete Formula One results

(key)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | WDC | Points |
| 1993 | Larrousse F1 | Larrousse LH93 | Lamborghini V12 | RSA | BRA | EUR | SMR | ESP | MON | CAN | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | POR | JPN 12 | AUS 14 | NC | 0 |

### NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

#### Busch Series

NASCAR Busch Series results :
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | NBGNC | Pts | Ref |
| 1996 | Joe Bessey Motorsports | 9 | Chevy | DAY | CAR | RCH | ATL | NSV | DAR | BRI | HCY | NZH 33 | CLT | DOV | SBO | MYB | GLN | MLW | NHA | TAL | IRP | MCH | BRI | DAR | RCH | DOV | CLT | CAR | HOM | 96th | 64 | |