# Kakunoshin Ohta

Kakunoshin "Kaku" Ohta (太田格之進, Ōta Kakunoshin, born 22 June 1999) is a Japanese racing driver for Honda Motor Company who currently competes in Super GT for Astemo Real Racing and in Super Formula for docomo Team Dandelion Racing.

## Career
### Early career

Ohta made his single-seater racing debut in 2018, racing at a single round of the F4 Japanese Championship with MYST [ja]. The following season, he made his full-time debut in the 2019 championship with backing from the Honda Formula Dream Project, claiming 2 wins but finishing 6th in the standings. That year, Ohta also made a guest appearance in the French F4 championship alongside Honda stablemate Ren Satō, where he finished in the top ten in the three races he competed in and secured one podium. He would also make an appearance in Japan Formula 4 at the end of the year, winning the "All-Japan Deciding Race" over the likes of Satō, Atsushi Miyake, and Riki Ōkusa.
In 2020, Ohta returned to the F4 Japanese Championship, albeit having lost his manufacturer backing. He regained support from Honda and rejoined the Honda Formula Dream project for 2021 to contest his third season in the championship, eventually finishing fifth in the standings.
Ohta stepped up to Super Formula Lights for the 2022 season, driving for Toda Racing. Belying his past record, he impressed immediately, claiming four wins and twelve podiums to finish second in the championship, behind only the returning Kazuto Kotaka.

### Super GT
#### GT300

Ohta began his Super GT career in GT300 with Team UpGarage, paired with veteran driver Takashi Kobayashi. Ohta claimed his maiden podium on debut at the first round in Okayama, and would go on to finish on the podium once more to end the season eighth in the standings.

#### GT500

For the 2023 season, Ohta was promoted to the GT500 class, driving for Modulo Nakajima Racing alongside series veteran Takuya Izawa. After promising season, Ohta moves to Real Racing as he replaces Nobuharu Matsushita, and race along with Koudai Tsukakoshi.

### Super Formula
#### 2023

Following his performance in Super Formula Lights, Ohta was promoted to a top-level drive in the Super Formula Championship for 2023, racing for docomo Dandelion Racing alongside Tadasuke Makino and in place of Hiroki Ōtsu. Ohta struggled during the first half of the season but proved to be a revalation following the summer break, qualifying in the top ten for the first time at the fifth round at Sportsland SUGO and proceeding to qualify in the top four in each of the season's four remaining rounds. He claimed his first podium in the championship in a shortened penultimate round at Suzuka, and followed it up by fending off the challenge of heavily favored championship contender Liam Lawson and eventual series champion Ritomo Miyata to claim his first race victory in the season finale.

#### 2024

Ohta returned to Dandelion in 2024. He began the year by finishing fourth at Suzuka, where he qualified second before dropping multiple places owing to a poor start. Fifth at Autopolis preceded a non-score at SUGO, as Ohta went off at the final corner during a restart in wet conditions. He failed to start the next race at Fuji before experiencing a strong run at Motegi, qualifying second and progressing to the lead thanks to an undercut strategy. However, he was chased down by teammate Makino in the closing stages and lost the victory on the penultimate lap, as a throttle issue caused him to spin out of the race. Ohta had another strong qualifying session in Fuji, as he started from second, but dropped to ninth by the flag due to degrading tyres in the final laps. He finished the second race of the weekend in fourth. At the final event in Suzuka, Ohta qualified on pole for race 1 before cruising to a dominant victory. Starting from second the following day, he took the lead at turn one and later defended against Sho Tsuboi right after the pit stop phase to clinch his second successive victory. He ended the year fourth in the standings.

#### 2025

Ohta continue to stay with Dandelion Racing for 2025 season.

### Endurance racing

Ohta was given a chance to test the Acura ARX-06 in the IMSA Sanctioned Test at Daytona International Speedway in November 2024.
On December 11, 2024, it was announced that he would be driving 3 races during the 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship in the 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06, alongside Renger van Der Zande and Nick Yelloly, for the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, Six Hours of the Glen at Watkins Glen and the Battle of the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and Alex Palou for the Rolex 24 exclusively.

## Karting record
### Karting career summary

| Season | Series | Team | Position |
| 2013 | IAME International Final — X30 Junior | Super Winforce RT | NC |
| 2014 | CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy — Academy | Ota Masatoshi | 2nd |
| 2014 | IAME International Final — X30 Junior | | 34th |
| 2015 | Asia Pacific Championship — KF | Toyota Yamaha RT | 17th |
| Sources: ||||

## Racing record
### Career summary

| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
| 2018 | F4 Japanese Championship | MYST | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 47th |
| 2019 | F4 Japanese Championship | Honda Formula Dream Project | 14 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 125 | 6th |
| 2019 | French F4 Championship | FFSA Academy | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | NC† |
| 2020 | F4 Japanese Championship | Vegaplus | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 68 | 7th |
| 2021 | F4 Japanese Championship | Honda Formula Dream Project | 14 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 150 | 5th |
| 2021 | Formula Regional Japanese Championship | Rn-sports | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 27 | 14th |
| 2021 | Super Taikyu - ST-Z | Team 5Zigen | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 80.5‡ | 3rd‡ |
| 2022 | Super Formula Lights | Toda Racing | 18 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 12 | 108 | 2nd |
| 2022 | Super GT - GT300 | Team UpGarage | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 34 | 8th |
| 2022 | Super Taikyu - ST-Z | Team 5Zigen | 6 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 131.5‡ | 1st‡ |
| 2023 | Super Formula | docomo Team Dandelion Racing | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 35.5 | 7th |
| 2023 | Super GT - GT500 | Modulo Nakajima Racing | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 14th |
| 2024 | Super Formula | docomo Team Dandelion Racing | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 75 | 4th |
| 2024 | Super GT - GT500 | Astemo Real Racing | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 43 | 10th |
| 2024 | Super Taikyu - ST-X | Craft-Bamboo Racing | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 110‡ | 2nd‡ |
| 2025 | Super Formula | docomo Team Dandelion Racing | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 22 | 3rd* |
| 2025 | IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTP | Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian | | | | | | | |
| 2025 | IMSA SportsCar Championship - LMP2 | Era Motorsport | | | | | | | |
† As he was a guest driver, Ohta was ineligible to score points. $^*$ Season still in progress. ‡ Team standings.

### Complete F4 Japanese Championship results

| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | DC | Points |
| 2018 | MYST | OKA 1 | OKA 2 | FUJ1 1 | FUJ1 2 | SUZ 1 | SUZ 2 | FUJ2 1 27 | FUJ2 2 Ret | SUG 1 | SUG 2 | AUT 1 | AUT 2 | MOT 1 | MOT 2 | 47th | 0 |
| 2019 | Honda Formula Dream Project | OKA 1 Ret | OKA 2 Ret | FUJ1 1 2 | FUJ1 2 5 | SUZ 1 1 | SUZ 2 1 | FUJ2 1 4 | FUJ2 2 9 | AUT 1 3 | AUT 2 6 | SUG 1 18 | SUG 2 27 | MOT 1 8 | MOT 2 7 | 6th | 125 |
| 2020 | Vegaplus | FUJ1 1 | FUJ1 2 | FUJ1 3 | SUZ 1 5 | SUZ 2 2 | SUZ 3 3 | MOT 1 6 | MOT 2 9 | MOT 3 8 | FUJ2 1 9 | FUJ2 2 7 | FUJ2 3 4 | | | 7th | 68 |
| 2021 | Honda Formula Dream Project | FUJ1 1 4 | FUJ1 2 31 | SUZ 1 2 | SUZ 2 2 | MOT1 1 3 | MOT1 2 5 | MOT1 3 2 | SUG 1 8 | SUG 2 9 | SUG 3 6 | MOT2 1 3 | MOT2 2 2 | FUJ2 1 Ret | FUJ2 2 4 | 5th | 150 |

### Complete Formula Regional 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 | Rank | Points |
| 2021 | Rn-sports | OKA 1 | OKA 2 | OKA 3 | MOT 1 | MOT 2 | MOT 3 | FUJ 1 | FUJ 2 | FUJ 3 | SUG 1 4 | SUG 2 3 | SUZ 1 | SUZ 2 | 14th | 27 |

### Complete Super Formula Lights 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 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Pos | Points |
| 2022 | Toda Racing | FUJ 1 Ret | FUJ 2 2 | FUJ 3 4 | SUZ 1 2 | SUZ 2 1 | SUZ 3 2 | AUT 1 2 | AUT 2 1 | AUT 3 2 | SUG 1 Ret | SUG 2 3 | SUG 3 5 | MOT 1 2 | MOT 2 9 | MOT 3 4 | OKA 1 1 | OKA 2 3 | OKA 3 1 | 2nd | 113 |

### Complete Super GT results

| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | DC | Pts |
| 2022 | Team UpGarage | Honda NSX GT3 Evo | GT300 | OKA 2 | FUJ 13 | SUZ Ret | FUJ 3 | SUZ 14 | SUG 11 | AUT 19 | MOT 4 | 8th | 34 |
| 2023 | Modulo Nakajima Racing | Honda NSX-Type S GT500 | GT500 | OKA 10 | FUJ 14 | SUZ 14 | FUJ 2 | SUZ 8 | SUG 11 | AUT 11 | MOT Ret | 14th | 19 |
| 2024 | Astemo Real Racing | Honda Civic Type R-GT GT500 | GT500 | OKA Ret | FUJ 3$^1$ | SUZ 6 | FUJ 8 | SUZ 7 | SUG Ret | AUT 14† | MOT 2$^2$ | 10th | 43 |

### 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 | 11 | 12 | DC | Points |
| 2023 | docomo Team Dandelion Racing | Honda | FUJ 15 | FUJ 19 | SUZ 17 | AUT 16 | SUG 15 | FUJ 6$^3$ | MOT Ret$^2$ | SUZ 3 | SUZ 1$^2$ | | | | 7th | 35.5 |
| 2024 | docomo Team Dandelion Racing | Honda | SUZ 4$^2$ | AUT 5 | SUG 14 | FUJ DNS | MOT 19†$^2$ | FUJ 9$^2$ | FUJ 4 | SUZ 1$^1$ | SUZ 1$^2$ | | | | 4th | 75 |
| 2025 | docomo Team Dandelion Racing | Honda | SUZ 1$^3$ | SUZ 12$^3$ | MOT | MOT | AUT | FUJ | FUJ | SUG | FUJ | FUJ | SUZ | SUZ | 3rd* | 22 |
$^*$ Season still in progress.

### Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Class | Make | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Rank | Points |
| 2025 | Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian | GTP | Acura ARX-06 | Honda AR24e 2.4 L turbo V6 | DAY 8 | | LBH | LGA | DET | WGL | | IMS | PET | 8th* | 262* |
| 2025 | Era Motorsport | LMP2 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | | SEB | | | | | ELK | | | * | * |
$^*$ Season still in progress.