Tatsuno Takamori

Tatsuno Takamori (born 17th August 1977) is a Japanese racing driver, currently driving for Lotus in Formula One.
== Early Life ==
Tatsuno Hideki Takamori was born in Koseikai Takeda Hospital in Kyoto on 17th August 1977 to Tatsuno Yukio and Yoshihara Kei. Tatsuno's father was raised in the ruined countryside of post-war Japan, deciding that a move to the city was neccesary to survive the increasingly metropolitan economy of Japan. There he met Tatsuno's mother Yoshihara Kei, a sales representitive for Yamaha. 
== Early Racing Career ==
Tatsuno was raised watching the "Golden Years" of Formula One in the 1980's, and has cited Stefan Wolff, Fabiano Margheriti and Chuck Dingley as his heroes. Despite this interest in Formula One, Tatsuno did not begin karting until age 14, but soon progressed up the Japanese motorsport ladder from 1991, winning the FJ1600, Formula Toyota, Formula Crane 45 and Japanese Super Formula Championships in four consecutive years. These emphatic successes lead to significant national media coverage of the young driver.
Following his domination of Japanese motorsports, Tatsuno attracted significant European attention, and signed for the DAMS Formula 3000 team for the 1996 season. Despite several victories, Tatsuno was defeated by his French teammate Jean-Luc Olivon, in what many commentators saw as a result of preferential treatment for Olivon by the French DAMS team. Despite this defeat, Tatsuno was poached by Arrows for the upcoming 1997 Formula One Season by new owner Tom Walkinshaw, and Tatsuno's mother helped the team secure their Yamaha engines. 
== Formula One ==
=== Arrows (1997-1998) ===
Tatsuno partnered South Korean Joon-Ho Kang at Arrows for the 1997 season. When the linup was announced, some wondered how the two teammates would get along due to the tensions between their two nations. At the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Tatsuno crashed out in qualifying, forcing him to start at the very back of the grid. Despite this, Tatsuno avoided the chaos of the early laps to come home in 7th. Similar fortunes would follow at the Brazilian Grand Prix, as Tatsuno would qualify in 9th and run a quiet but consistent race to come home for consecutive sixth place finishes.
=== Williams (1999-2003) ===
Category:Drivers
Category:Active Drivers
Category:F1
Category:Japanese
Category:World Champion