# Hiroki Otsu

Hiroki Otsu (大津弘樹, Ōtsu Hiroki, born 25 May 1994) is a Japanese racing driver who is currently competing in Super GT with ARTA, and in Super Formula for TCS Nakajima Racing as a substitute driver for Naoki Yamamoto.

## Career
### Early career

Otsu started his motorsport career in karting in 2007, in which he remained active until 2010. In 2013, he switched to formula racing to participate in the Suzuka Circuit Racing School Formula, which is only intended to train drivers. In 2014, he competed in the JAP Japanese Formula 4 Championship and finished fifth in the FC class. In 2015, he made the move to the new Japanese Formula 4 Championship, where he raced as a Honda protégé for the Honda Formula Dream Project team. He took five podiums and finished third in the final standings with 108 points, behind Sho Tsuboi and Tadasuke Makino.

### Japanese Formula 3

In 2016, Otsu made the move to the Japanese Formula 3 Championship, racing for the HFDP Racing team. He achieved five points finishes, with fifth place on the Okayama International Circuit as the best result. As a result, he finished tenth in the final standings with 6 points. In 2017, he made the move to the TODA Racing team within the class. During the season, he was on the podium six times before winning the season finale at the Sportsland SUGO. With 79 points, he finished fifth in the final standings behind Mitsunori Takaboshi, Sho Tsuboi, Álex Palou and Ritomo Miyata.
In 2019, Otsu returned to the series race with the ThreeBond Racing team. He took three podium finishes at Autopolis, Fuji Speedway and Twin Ring Motegi, finishing sixth in the standings with 36 points.

### Super GT
#### GT300

In 2018, Otsu made his Super GT debut, sharing a Honda NSX GT3 with Ryo Michigami in the GT300 class for the Modulo Drago Corse team that Michigami owned. They achieved a podium finish at Autopolis and were fourteenth in the championship with 24 points. In 2019, He took a podium place at Fuji with Michigami and finished seventeenth in the championship with 19 points.

#### GT500

In 2020, Otsu made the move to the GT500 class in Super GT, sharing a Honda NSX-GT GT500 with Takuya Izawa for the Modulo Nakajima Racing team. They achieved two pole positions at the Suzuka International Racing Course and Motegi, but were only on the podium at Motegi. With 31 points, the duo finished twelfth in the final standings.
For 2023, Otsu joined ARTA after the team expanded to two cars, he paired with Nirei Fukuzumi. Both pairs won a race, and 3 podiums as they ended up fourth place. Otsu stays with the team, but he paired with Ren Sato.

### Super Formula

At the end of the year, he made his debut in the Super Formula season finale with the TCS Nakajima Racing team at Fuji, replacing Tadasuke Makino who suffered from meningitis and needed rest. He finished thirteenth in the race.
In 2021 Otsu made his full-time debut in Super Formula with Team Mugen together with Team Goh under the Red Bull colours. He went on to get his first pole position in the series and win the race in the sixth round of the season at Motegi.
For 2022, Otsu moves to Dandelion Racing, but was underwhelming from his previous season. He ended up in ninth place with one podium. Otsu did not have a full time seat for 2023. But he comes up as replacement for drivers that not available due to illness, and injuries. He replaces Tomoki Nojiri, Toshiki Oyu, and Naoki Yamamoto at Mugen, TGM Grand Prix, and Nakajima Racing respectively. Otsu would race for 6 rounds in 2024 with TGM Grand Prix as he replaces Nobuharu Matsushita.

## Racing record
### Career summary

| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
| 2015 | F4 Japanese Championship | Honda Formula Dream Project | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 108 | 3rd |
| 2016 | Japanese Formula 3 Championship | Honda Formula Dream Project | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 10th |
| 2017 | Japanese Formula 3 Championship | TODA Racing | 20 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 64 | 5th |
| 2018 | Super GT - GT300 | Drago Corse | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 14th |
| 2018 | Super Taikyu - ST-TCR | Modulo Racing with Dome | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 156‡ | 1st‡ |
| 2019 | Japanese Formula 3 Championship | ThreeBond Racing | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 36 | 6th |
| 2019 | Super GT - GT300 | Drago Corse | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 17th |
| 2019 | Intercontinental GT Challenge | Modulo Drago Corse | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 2019 | Super Taikyu - ST-TCR | Modulo Racing with Dome | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 88‡ | 2nd‡ |
| 2020 | Super GT - GT500 | Modulo Nakajima Racing | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 31 | 12th |
| 2020 | Super Formula | TCS Nakajima Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25th |
| 2020 | Super Taikyu - ST-TCR | Racer Dome Racing | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 77.5‡ | 4th‡ |
| 2021 | Super Formula | Red Bull Mugen Team Goh | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 38.5 | 6th |
| 2021 | Super GT - GT500 | Modulo Nakajima Racing | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 18th |
| 2022 | Super Formula | Docomo Team Dandelion Racing | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 33 | 9th |
| 2022 | Super GT - GT500 | Modulo Nakajima Racing | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 15th |
| 2023 | Super GT - GT500 | ARTA | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 53 | 4th |
| 2023 | Super Formula | Team Mugen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24th |
| 2023 | Super Formula | TGM Grand Prix | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24th |
| 2023 | Super Formula | TCS Nakajima Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24th |
| 2023 | Super Taikyu - ST-Q | Team HRC | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | N/A | NC‡ |
| 2024 | Super GT - GT500 | ARTA | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 35 | 12th |
| 2024 | Super Formula | TGM Grand Prix | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22nd |
| 2024 | Super Taikyu - ST-Q | Team HRC | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | NC |
| 2025 | Super GT - GT500 | ARTA | | | | | | | |
$^‡$ Team standings. $^*$ Season still in progress.

### Complete F4 Japanese 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 | 12 | 13 | 14 | DC | Pts |
| 2015 | Honda Formula Dream Project | OKA 1 9 | OKA 2 3 | FUJ1 1 4 | FUJ1 2 11 | FUJ2 1 2 | FUJ2 2 4 | SUZ 1 4 | SUZ 2 17 | SUG 1 5 | SUG 2 7 | AUT 1 2 | AUT 2 2 | MOT 1 3 | MOT 2 24 | 3rd | 108 |

### Complete Japanese Formula 3 Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | DC | Pts |
| 2016 | Honda Formula Dream Project | Mugen Honda | SUZ 1 | SUZ 2 | FUJ 1 | FUJ 2 | OKA 1 | OKA 2 | SUZ 1 | SUZ 2 | FUJ 1 | FUJ 2 | MOT 1 | MOT 2 | OKA 1 | OKA 2 | SUG 1 | SUG 2 | SUG 3 | | | | 10th | 6 |
| 2017 | Toda Racing | Toda | OKA 1 | OKA 2 | OKA 3 | SUZ 1 | SUZ 2 | FUJ 1 | FUJ 2 | OKA 1 | OKA 2 | SUZ 1 | SUZ 2 | FUJ 1 | FUJ 2 | MOT 1 | MOT 2 | MOT 3 | AUT 1 | AUT 2 | SUG 1 | SUG 2 | 5th | 64 |
| 2019 | ThreeBond Racing | Tomei | SUZ 1 6 | SUZ 2 7 | AUT 1 5 | AUT 2 5 | AUT 3 3 | OKA 1 9 | OKA 2 Ret | OKA 3 9 | SUG 1 4 | SUG 2 6 | FUJ 1 2 | FUJ 2 4 | SUG 1 9 | SUG 2 10 | SUG 3 8 | MOT 1 4 | MOT 2 8 | MOT 3 3 | OKA 1 4 | OKA 2 6 | 6th | 36 |

### Complete Super GT results

| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | DC | Points |
| 2018 | Modulo Drago Corse | Honda NSX GT3 | GT300 | OKA Ret | FUJ 8 | SUZ 26 | CHA 9 | FUJ DNS | SUG 4 | AUT 3 | MOT 14 | 14th | 24 |
| 2019 | Modulo Drago Corse | Honda NSX GT3 Evo | GT300 | OKA 9† | FUJ 26 | SUZ 7 | CHA 10 | FUJ 3 | AUT 11 | SUG 13 | MOT 29 | 17th | 19 |
| 2020 | Modulo Nakajima Racing | Honda NSX-GT | GT500 | FUJ 13 | FUJ 13 | SUZ 4 | MOT 10 | FUJ 13 | SUZ 6 | MOT 2 | FUJ 11 | 12th | 31 |
| 2021 | Modulo Nakajima Racing | Honda NSX-GT | GT500 | OKA 13 | FUJ 10 | MOT Ret | SUZ Ret | SUG 8 | AUT 12 | MOT 13 | FUJ 12 | 18th | 5 |
| 2022 | Modulo Nakajima Racing | Honda NSX-GT | GT500 | OKA 15 | FUJ 11 | SUZ 11 | FUJ 11 | SUZ 12 | SUG 7 | AUT 13 | MOT 12 | 15th | 4 |
| 2023 | ARTA | Honda NSX-GT | GT500 | OKA 11 | FUJ 10 | SUZ 7 | FUJ 3 | SUZ 1 | SUG 12 | AUT 2 | MOT 12 | 4th | 53 |
| 2024 | ARTA | Honda Civic Type R-GT GT500 | GT500 | OKA 9 | FUJ 15 | SUZ 3$^2$ | FUJ 11 | SUZ 10 | SUG 6 | AUT 4 | MOT 5 | 12th | 35 |
| 2025 | ARTA | Honda Civic Type R-GT GT500 | GT500 | OKA | FUJ | SEP | FUJ | SUZ | SUG | AUT | MOT | | |
$^*$ Season still in progress.

### Complete Super Formula results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | DC | Points |
| 2020 | TCS Nakajima Racing | Honda | MOT | OKA | SUG | AUT | SUZ | SUZ | FUJ 13 | | | | 25th | 0 |
| 2021 | Red Bull Mugen Team Goh | Honda | FUJ 16 | SUZ 5 | AUT 6 | SUG 10 | MOT 10 | MOT 1$^1$ | SUZ 5 | | | | 6th | 38.5 |
| 2022 | Docomo Team Dandelion Racing | Honda | FUJ 16 | FUJ 7 | SUZ 8 | AUT 9 | SUG 5$^3$ | FUJ 15 | MOT 10 | MOT 13 | SUZ 13 | SUZ 2$^3$ | 9th | 33 |
| 2023 | Team Mugen | Honda | FUJ | FUJ | SUZ | AUT 14 | SUG | | | | | | 24th | 0 |
| 2023 | TGM Grand Prix | Honda | | | | | | FUJ 21† | MOT | | | | | | 24th | 0 |
| 2023 | TCS Nakajima Racing | Honda | | | | | | | | SUZ 17 | SUZ WD | | 24th | 0 |
| 2024 | TGM Grand Prix | Honda | SUZ | AUT | SUG | FUJ 14 | MOT 15 | FUJ 19 | FUJ 13 | SUZ Ret | SUZ Ret | | 22nd | 0 |
$^*$ Season still in progress.