years birth_place nationality birth_date article_title name
1985 -- 1997 -- 1990 , 1992 -- 1993 , 1995 ikawa , shizuoka , japan japan japanese 27 november 1949 masanori sekiya
 masanori sekiya
masanori sekiya

, born 27 november 1949 -rrb- is a racing car driver , most famous for being the first japanese driver to win the 24 hours of le mans , in 1995 .
sekiya drove in single-seaters in his early career , contesting the japanese formula 3000 championship and formula nippon from 1987 to 1993 , mostly for the leyton house team .
he never achieved any victories , but finished 4th in the standings in 1988 and 1989 , scoring three and four podiums , respectively .
a long-time works toyota driver , sekiya drove in the all japan sports prototype championship , all japan grand touring championship and japanese touring car championship , a series which he won in 1994 , driving a toyota chaser for the tom 's team .
he was also runner-up the following year .
as sekiya is rather fond of le mans , in 1987 , he got married in the town prior to the race .
his best result in international sports car racing was winning the 1995 24 hours of le mans , at the wheel of a mclaren f1 gtr for kokusai kaihatsu racing .
he became the first japanese-born driver to win the 24 hours of le mans .
he was also fourth in the 1993 edition .
he competed in the jgtc until the 2000 season and now works as team manager for the super gt division of the toyota team tom 's and also runs a racing school at fuji speedway .
in 1998 , sekiya also appeared in a tv commercial in japan driving a jza80 supra promoting its handling package .
