# Kondo Racing

Kondo Racing is an automobile racing team founded, owned and headed by Masahiko Kondo. The operating body is MK Company Co., Ltd. MK is an abbreviation for Masahiko Kondo. The team competes in Super Formula as well as in Super GT in both the GT500 and GT300 classes.

## History

Kondo Racing was founded in 2000 by Japanese pop star Masahiko Kondo, also known as "Matchy". Kondo himself had raced for many years since the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. In 1998 Kondo launched "Masahiko Kondo Racing Project" together with Teams TMS, a team with which he raced at the time, to compete in the Japanese Formula 3 Championship in 1998 and 1999. While working to develop young drivers, Kondo himself learned how of run a racing team as a team manager. Based on that experience, in 2000 he established the "Kondo Racing Team" and began participating in Formula Nippon.

### Super Formula

In 2000, Kondo Racing began competing in Formula Nippon, the premier Japanese open-wheel series, and the team has continued racing in the series ever since, with the series having rebranded as Super Formula in 2013. Since 2006, Kondo Racing has raced with Toyota engines. The team has not won a drivers' championship title, but came second overall with Nick Cassidy in 2018 and with Sacha Fenestraz in 2022. Kenta Yamashita has been one of the long standing driver for Kondo's Super Formula, as he has competed since 2017 with one win to his name, along with couple of podiums. For 2024 Yamashita, paired once again with last season's driver Kazuto Kotaka.

### Super GT – GT500

Kondo Racing entered Super GT in the top GT500 class with Nissan in 2006. From the first year, Yokohama Tire joined Kondo till now. Also with the introduction of a strong lineup of former F1 driver Eric Comas and Nissan's own driver Masataka Yanagida. Since there was no data available, the first priority was to develop tires. Comas temporarily withdrew due to back pain and was replaced by Seiji Ara. Although Comas returned for the sixth race, he was unable to regain his form and was forced to stay out for the rest of the season, leaving Ara to team up with Yanagida until the final race. In the final race, he fought for 2nd place with some help from his machine, and then finished in 3rd place, earning his long-awaited first podium. Throughout the years the team has won several races, but has never been a serious championship contender.

### Super GT – GT300

Since 2012, it has been participating in the Super Taikyu together with five Nissan Automobile College schools (Tochigi, Yokohama, Aichi, Kyoto, and Ehime). Kondo Racing also participated in the Nürburgring 24 endurance race with a Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, marking the team’s first overseas competition. Kondo’s Nurburgring 24 driver lineup was Tsugio Matsuda, Mitsunori Takaboshi, Tomonobu Fujii and Tom Coronel.
In 2019, Kondo Racing entered the GT300 class of Super GT with Kazuki Hiramine and Sacha Fenestraz as their drivers in the class in the second-generation Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3. The pair came close to winning the fourth round in Buriram, battling for the win until the final lap, but ultimately finished second.
In 2020, Kondo Racing won its first titles in the category with the driver pairing of Kiyoto Fujinami & João Paulo de Oliveira. After being in title contention again in 2021, the team returned to the top of the standings in 2022, clinching the titles after their main rivals lost a decisive position on the final lap of the last race. For 2023, de Oliveira stayed with the team, while Fujinami was replaced by Teppei Natori after he was reportedly involved in a physical altercation with another driver in the smaller Vita Pro series.

### Nürburgring 24 Hours
## Race results
### Complete Super GT Results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Car | Tyres | Class | No. | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Pos | Points |
| 2006 | Nissan Fairlady Z | Y | GT500 | 24 | Masataka Yanagida Érik Comas Seiji Ara | SUZ 10 | OKA 10 | FUJ 10 | SEP 8 | SUG 10 | SUZ 5 | MOT 6 | AUT 14 | FUJ 3 | | 12th | 33 |
| 2007 | Nissan Fairlady Z | Y | GT500 | 24 | João Paulo de Oliveira Seiji Ara | SUZ Ret | OKA 15 | FUJ Ret | SEP 1 | SUG 10 | SUZ 10 | MOT 5 | AUT Ret | FUJ 5 | | 12th | 47 |
| 2008 | Nissan GT-R | Y | GT500 | 24 | João Paulo de Oliveira Seiji Ara | SUZ 5 | OKA 8 | FUJ 11 | SEP 1 | SUG 8 | SUZ 7 | MOT 14 | AUT 16 | FUJ 15 | | 11th | 56 |
| 2009 | Nissan GT-R | Y | GT500 | 24 | João Paulo de Oliveira Seiji Ara | OKA 1 | SUZ 8 | FUJ 4 | SEP 5 | SUG 13 | SUZ 11 | FUJ 13 | AUT 3 | MOT 11 | | 7th | 69 |
| 2010 | Nissan GT-R | Y | GT500 | 24 | João Paulo de Oliveira Hironobu Yasuda | SUZ 1 | OKA 12 | FUJ 8 | SEP 9 | SUG 5 | SUZ Ret | FUJ C | MOT 10 | NC1 4 | NC2 10 | 10th | 48 |
| 2011 | Nissan GT-R | Y | GT500 | 24 | Hironobu Yasuda Björn Wirdheim | OKA 9 | FUJ 7 | SEP 4 | SUG 4 | SUZ 10 | FUJ 11 | AUT 5 | MOT 12 | NC1 Ret | NC2 9 | 11th | 50 |
| 2012 | Nissan GT-R | Y | GT500 | 24 | Hironobu Yasuda Björn Wirdheim | OKA 11 | FUJ 14 | SEP Ret | SUG 10 | SUZ 3 | FUJ 13 | AUT 4 | MOT 11 | NC1 9 | NC2 5 | 14th | 38 |
| 2013 | Nissan GT-R | Y | GT500 | 24 | Hironobu Yasuda Michael Krumm | OKA 13 | FUJ 12 | SEP 13 | SUG 5 | SUZ Ret | FUJ 10 | AUT 6 | MOT 9 | NC1 10 | NC2 10 | 13th | 32 |
| 2014 | Nissan GT-R | Y | GT500 | 24 | Michael Krumm Daiki Sasaki | OKA 12 | FUJ 4 | AUT 13 | SUG 10 | FUJ 15 | SUZ 9 | BUR 2 | MOT 4 | | | 8th | 51 |
| 2015 | Nissan GT-R | Y | GT500 | 24 | Daiki Sasaki Lucas Ordóñez Michael Krumm | OKA 11 | FUJ 11 | CHA Ret | FUJ 1 | SUZ 13 | SUG 3 | AUT 15 | MOT 12 | | | 12th | 43 |
| 2016 | Nissan GT-R | Y | GT500 | 24 | Daiki Sasaki Masataka Yanagida | OKA 13 | FUJ 9 | SUG 1 | FUJ Ret | SUZ 12 | CHA 13 | MOT 1 | MOT 10 | | | 7th | 57 |
| 2017 | Nissan GT-R | Y | GT500 | 24 | Daiki Sasaki João Paulo de Oliveira | OKA 10 | FUJ 12 | AUT 9 | SUG Ret | FUJ 13 | SUZ 5 | CHA Ret | MOT 12 | | | 14th | 24 |
| 2018 | Nissan GT-R | Y | GT500 | 24 | João Paulo de Oliveira Mitsunori Takaboshi | OKA 6 | FUJ 13 | SUZ 9 | CHA Ret | FUJ 6 | SUG 6 | AUT 7 | MOT 10 | | | 12th | 42 |
| 2019 | Nissan GT-R | Y | GT500 | 24 | Mitsunori Takaboshi Jann Mardenborough | OKA 5 | FUJ 14 | SUZ 8 | BUR 4 | FUJ Ret | AUT 9 | SUG 15 | MOT 10 | NC1 17 | NC2 12 | 13th | 34 |
| 2019 | Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 | Y | GT300 | 56 | Kazuki Hiramine Sacha Fenestraz | OKA 5 | FUJ 4 | SUZ 18 | BUR 2 | FUJ 7 | AUT 8 | SUG 5 | MOT 6 | NC1 | NC2 | 5th | 69 |
| 2020 | Nissan GT-R | Y | GT500 | 24 | Mitsunori Takaboshi Jann Mardenborough | FUJ 10 | FUJ 12 | SUZ 11 | MOT 13 | FUJ 14 | SUZ 8 | MOT 14 | FUJ 13 | | | 15th | 19 |
| 2020 | Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 | Y | GT300 | 56 | Kiyoto Fujinami João Paulo de Oliveira | FUJ 4 | FUJ 5 | SUZ 9 | MOT 20 | FUJ 1 | SUZ 16 | MOT 1 | FUJ 2 | | | 1st | 95 |
| 2021 | Nissan GT-R | Y | GT500 | 24 | Mitsunori Takaboshi Daiki Sasaki | OKA 14 | FUJ 12 | MOT 12 | SUZ 3 | SUG 6 | AUT 14 | MOT 7 | FUJ 11 | | | 13th | 40 |
| 2021 | Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 | Y | GT300 | 56 | Kiyoto Fujinami João Paulo de Oliveira | OKA 1 | FUJ 7 | MOT 26 | SUZ 8 | SUG 3 | AUT 11 | MOT 3 | FUJ 5 | | | 2nd | 77 |
| 2022 | Nissan Z | Y | GT500 | 24 | Daiki Sasaki Kohei Hirate | OKA 14 | FUJ 8 | SUZ 6 | FUJ 3 | SUZ 10 | SUG 14 | AUT 3 | MOT Ret | | | 10th | 46 |
| 2022 | Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 | Y | GT300 | 56 | Kiyoto Fujinami João Paulo de Oliveira | OKA 1 | FUJ 7 | SUZ 3 | FUJ 6 | SUZ 13 | SUG 4 | AUT 5 | MOT 19 | | | 1st | 74.5 |
| 2023 | Nissan Z | Y | GT500 | 24 | Daiki Sasaki Kohei Hirate | OKA 14 | FUJ 15 | SUZ 8 | FUJ 10 | SUZ 13 | SUG 5 | AUT 12 | MOT 14 | | | 15th | 25 |
| 2023 | Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 | Y | GT300 | 56 | João Paulo de Oliveira Teppei Natori | OKA 10 | FUJ 1 | SUZ 4 | FUJ 4 | SUZ Ret | SUG 10 | AUT 5 | MOT 6 | | | 3rd | 70 |
| 2024 | Nissan Z | Y | GT500 | 24 | Tsugio Matsuda Teppei Natori | OKA 12 | FUJ 13 | SUZ 9 | FUJ 14 | SUG 13 | AUT 12† | MOT 8 | SUZ 15 | | | 14th | 22 |
| 2024 | Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 | Y | GT300 | 56 | Daiki Sasaki João Paulo de Oliveira | OKA 15 | FUJ 2 | SUZ 16 | FUJ 3 | SUG 11 | AUT 12 | MOT 8 | SUZ Ret | | | 6th | 49 |
$^‡$ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed. * Season still in progress.
Note: Non-championship races (NC1,NC2) are major races that do not count towards the championship.