Kumi Sato

Kumi Sato is a well-travelled Japanese driver and motoring journalist. In 1997 she became the first female driver to race in Japanese Super GTs. 

Between 1997 and 2001, she raced GTs in the B class of the Japanese championship. The first car she used was a Toyota Cavalier. The Cavalier was a rebadged Toyota-engined Vauxhall that she raced in 1997 in the GT300 class. The car was shared with Minoru Tanaka and was not able to compete with the fastest in the class but it managed a best finish of fourth at Mine. Kumi raced the Cavalier again in 1998, sharing it with a rota of drivers including Junko Mihara. It was not overly reliable and did not better its fourth place. Kumi is still Super GT’s highest-finishing woman driver.

Her cars included a Tom's Spirit Toyota MR-S, which she used in 2000 and 2001, and a Celica. 

Her best finish in 2001 was 19th, at Suzuka. The MR-S was not particularly reliable and only finished four of its seven races that year.

Although her first Super GT races were in 1997, she had been competing for some time in Japan, having started her career shortly after graduating in pharmacy. She raced in the Super Taikyu series in 1990 and then moved into the Japanese Touring Car Championship for the next three seasons. Her car was a Honda Civic and she managed a couple of podium positions in 1991 and 1993. 

In 1994, she spent some time in the UK, racing another Honda Civic in the Snetterton 24 Hour race for Mardi Gras Motorsport. She also competed in the Spa 24 Hours in a similar car run by Team Honda Challenge. She and her team-mates were thirteenth overall. A second attempt at the Spa 24 in 1995, in a Toyota Corolla this time, led to a 19th place. She was part of an all-female team with Junko Mihara and Michiko Okuyama. The same year, she entered her second Suzuka 1000km in a Porsche 964, but this was not a race that she ever managed to finish.

Her Super GT adventures ended in 2001 but this was only the beginning of a long co-operation between Kumi and the Toyota Gazoo Racing team. She was regular fixture in the Nürburgring 24 Hours until very recently, usually driving a car built by the Toyota group. Her first outing was in 2003, when she was 61st in a Toyota Altezza with two other Japanese drivers.

Her 2004 24 Hours was something of an exception, as she drove a Mazda RX7 for the D-Dream team. They were third in class, 20th overall.

2005 was another exception. She drove a Subaru Impreza in Germany, coming 14th overall and second in class at the Nürburgring 24 Hours. Her co-drivers were Stephane Sarrazin, Kazuo Shimizu and Toshihiro Yoshida. 

She returned to the 24 Hours in 2008 and 2011, driving a hybrid-technology Lexus for Toyota Gazoo Racing. 

In 2012 and 2013, she drove for the team in some rounds of the VLN, in preparation for the Nürburgring 24 Hours. 

In 2014, she raced in the 24 Hours again, in a Toyota GT86. She was 54th, with an all-Japanese team. This followed a taste of rallying in TRD Rally Challenge in Japan in a GT86.

She has continued to race newer Toyota cars at the Nürburgring, including a run in the 2016 race in a C-HR SUV.