# Natsu Sakaguchi

Natsu Sakaguchi (坂口 夏月, Sakaguchi Natsu, born 8 September 1995 in Fukuoka Prefecture) is a Japanese racing driver racing for JLOC in Super GT.
He is the 2021 Fuji 24 Hours winner.

## Early career

In late 2013, Sakaguchi was awarded the Honda SRS-F scolarship to compete in JAF Formula 4 in 2014.

## Super GT

Following three years not racing, Sakaguchi made his racing return in 2017 by joining Team Mach in the GT300 class of Super GT alongside Kiyoto Fujinami. At Autopolis, Sakaguchi finished eighth, scoring his first points in the series and the team's first in seven years.
Remaining with Team Mach for 2018, Sakaguchi was joined by Yuya Hiraki for his second season in the series. At the penultimate round of the season at Autopolis, Sakaguchi ran as high as second and finished the race a then-career best seventh.
In 2019, Sakaguchi was retained by Team Mach alongside Hiraki. Three rounds into the season, Sakaguchi took his maiden podium in GT300, finishing second at Suzuka and taking Team Mach's best result in Super GT.
Sakaguchi remained with Team Mach for 2020, pairing up with Hiraki for the third season in a row. At the opening round of the season at Fuji, Sakaguchi scored his second career podium by finishing third, which enabled him to end the season 14th in the standings.
After spending four seasons with Team Mach, Sakaguchi switched to JLOC for 2021, partnering Kosuke Matsuura. Sakaguchi's best result of the season came at Sugo, where he finished fourth in what was his only points scoring result of the season.
Sakaguchi remained with JLOC and Matsuura for the 2022 season. Having finished in the points three times in the first part of the season, Sakaguchi scored a podium at Motegi, finishing runner-up in the season-finale.
In early 2023, JLOC retained both Sakaguchi and Matsuura for that year's Super GT season. At the fifth round of the season at Suzuka, Sakaguchi took his fourth career podium by taking second place behind Team UpGarage.
For the third consecutive season, JLOC retained the Sakaguchi-Matsuura pairing for their number 87 car. Having qualified second for the Fuji 350km race, Sakaguchi finished sixth in his last race with the Huracan Evo before switching to the Evo2 from the fifth round onwards. With the Evo2, Sakaguchi finished fourth in the penultimate round of the season at Motegi and ended the season 11th in the standings.
Ahead of the 2025 season, it was announced that Sakaguchi would remain with JLOC and Matsuura as they would drive the Huracan Evo2 for the full season.

## Racing record
### Racing career summary

| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
| 2012 | Super FJ – Suzuka Series | | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 50 | 4th |
| 2013 | F1 Grand Prix Super FJ Challenge Cup | ART GP Japan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | N/A | 2nd |
| 2014 | JAF Formula 4 East - FC | HFDP Racing | 5 | 0 | –** | –** | 0 | 42 | 6th |
| 2014 | JAF Formula 4 West - FC | HFDP Racing | 6 | 0 | –** | –** | 2 | 55 | 5th |
| 2014 | JAF Formula 4 Overall - FC | HFDP Racing | 11 | 0 | –** | –** | 2 | 97 | 6th |
| 2017 | Super GT – GT300 | Team Mach | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 23rd |
| 2018 | Super GT – GT300 | Team Mach | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 20th |
| 2019 | Super GT – GT300 | Team Mach | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 21st |
| 2020 | Super GT – GT300 | Team Mach | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 14th |
| 2020 | Super Taikyu – ST-X | GTNET Motor Sports | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 82.5‡ | 3rd‡ |
| 2021 | Super GT – GT300 | JLOC | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 20th |
| 2021 | Super Taikyu – ST-X | GTNET Motor Sports | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 82‡ | 4th‡ |
| 2022 | Super GT – GT300 | JLOC | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 23 | 15th |
| 2022 | Super Taikyu – ST-X | GTNET Motor Sports | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 97.5‡ | 4th‡ |
| 2023 | Super GT – GT300 | JLOC | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 15th |
| 2023 | Super Taikyu – ST-X | GTNET Motor Sports | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 89‡ | 5th‡ |
| 2024 | Super GT – GT300 | JLOC | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 26 | 11th |
| 2024 | Super Taikyu – ST-X | GTNET Motor Sports | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 107.5‡ | 5th‡ |
| 2024 | Toyota Gazoo Racing GR86/BRZ Cup | 4MINUTES Co., Ltd. R&D | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 2025 | Super GT – GT300 | JLOC | | | | | | | |
| 2025 | Super Taikyu – ST-X | GTNET Motor Sports | | | | | | *‡ | *‡ |
| Sources: ||||||||||
‡ Team standings
** The FC class was a class using modified Formula Challenge Japan's FC106 chassis and running with the JAF Formula 4's "C" class, an upper grade class. So, there were neither pole position nor fastest lap.

### Complete Super GT 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 | DC | Pts |
| 2017 | Team Mach | Toyota 86 MC | GT300 | OKA 17 | FSW 19 | AUT 8 | SUG 12 | FSW 28 | SUZ 22 | CHA | TRM 15 | 23rd | 3 |
| 2018 | Team Mach | Toyota 86 MC | GT300 | OKA Ret | FUJ 12 | SUZ Ret | CHA | FUJ 19 | SUG 22 | AUT 7 | MOT 18 | 20th | 4 |
| 2019 | Team Mach | Toyota 86 MC GT300 | GT300 | OKA Ret | FUJ Ret | SUZ 2 | CHA | FUJ 17 | AUT 17 | SUG 18 | MOT 14 | 21st | 15 |
| 2020 | Team Mach | Toyota 86 MC GT300 | GT300 | FUJ 3 | FUJ 11 | SUZ 29 | MOT 23 | FUJ 15 | SUZ 4 | MOT Ret | FUJ Ret | 14th | 19 |
| 2021 | JLOC | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo | GT300 | OKA 21 | FSW 15 | TRM Ret | SUZ 16 | SUG 4 | AUT 25 | TRM Ret | FSW 15 | 20th | 8 |
| 2022 | JLOC | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo | GT300 | OKA 8 | FSW 12 | SUZ 16 | FSW 8 | SUZ 9 | SUG 19 | AUT 11 | TRM 2 | 15th | 23 |
| 2023 | JLOC | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo | GT300 | OKA 7 | FSW Ret | SUZ 23 | FSW 16 | SUZ 2 | SUG 19 | AUT 19 | TRM 21 | 15th | 19 |
| 2024 | JLOC | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo | GT300 | OKA 7 | FSW 8 | SUZ 21 | FSW 6$^2$ | | | | | 11th | 26 |
| 2024 | JLOC | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 | GT300 | | | | | SUG 7 | AUT 13 | MOT 4 | SUZ Ret | 11th | 26 |
| 2025 | JLOC | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 | GT300 | OKA | FUJ | SEP | FUJ | SUZ | SUG | AUT | MOT | | |